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Willy Russell

Author profile

born

August 23, 1943 in Liverpool, The United Kingdom

website

http://www.willyrussell.com

genre

Drama, Comedy, Literature & Fiction

About this author

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William Russell is a British dramatist, lyricist, and composer. His best-known works are Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine, and Blood Brothers.

Willy Russell was born in Whiston, on the outskirts of Liverpool, where he grew up. His parents worked in a book publisher's and often encouraged him to read. After leaving school with one O-level in English, he first became a ladies' hairdresser and ran his own salon. Russell then undertook a variety of jobs, also the first play he wrote was Keep Your Eyes Down Low (1975). His first success was a play about The Beatles called John, Paul, George, Ringo … and Bert. Originally commissioned for the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool was transferring to the West End in 1974. Educating Rita (1980) concerned a fe...more William Russell is a British dramatist, lyricist, and composer. His best-known works are Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine, and Blood Brothers.

Willy Russell was born in Whiston, on the outskirts of Liverpool, where he grew up. His parents worked in a book publisher's and often encouraged him to read. After leaving school with one O-level in English, he first became a ladies' hairdresser and ran his own salon. Russell then undertook a variety of jobs, also the first play he wrote was Keep Your Eyes Down Low (1975). His first success was a play about The Beatles called John, Paul, George, Ringo … and Bert. Originally commissioned for the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool was transferring to the West End in 1974. Educating Rita (1980) concerned a female hairdresser and her Open University teacher. The semi-autobiographical Educating Rita was turned into a 1983 film with Michael Caine and Julie Walters. The musical Blood Brothers (1983), for which Russell also composed the music, first opened in Liverpool and transferred to London's Phoenix Theatre. It won the best actress award at the Lawrence Olivier awards. Bill Kenwright produced a revival in 1988 which has run for more than twenty years; the show was produced on Broadway in 1993. Shirley Valentine, which first opened in Liverpool in 1986 before a new production opened in London in 1988 starring Pauline Collins. It was also made into a successful film, in 1989, again with Collins in the title role. Russell received BAFTA and Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for both Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine.

Russell has also written television projects, including the one-off drama, Our Day Out, which aired in 1977. He penned another television drama, One Summer, which aired as a five-part series on Channel 4 in 1983, starring a young David Morrissey.

In 2000, Russell published his first novel, The Wrong Boy. In epistolary form, main character Raymond Marks, a 19-year old from Manchester, tells the story of his life in letters to his hero Morrissey.

Russell has written songs since the early 1960s, and has written the music to most of his plays and musicals. He also co-wrote "The Show", the theme song to the 1985 ITV drama series Connie, which became a top 30 hit for vocalist Rebecca Storm. His first album, Hoovering the Moon, was released in 2003.

The Willy Russell Centre for Children and Adults Who Stammer, was opened by Russell in Liverpool, 1996. The centre took Russell's name as his writing in many of his plays puts forward the philosophy that anyone is capable of change whatever obstacles may be in their path, a theory shared by the centre.(less)

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Books by Willy Russell

Average rating: 3.68 · 1,277 ratings · 101 reviews · 16 distinct works

	Educating Rita 3.48 avg rating — 551 ratings — published 1980 — 9 editions	My rating:
	The Wrong Boy 4.11 avg rating — 305 ratings — 8 editions	My rating:
	Blood Brothers 3.69 avg rating — 274 ratings — published 1985 — 7 editions	My rating:
	Our Day Out 3.16 avg rating — 50 ratings — published 1984 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Shirley Valentine: Longman Literature Series by Willy Russell, Roy Blatchford (Editor) 3.66 avg rating — 35 ratings — 3 editions	My rating:
	Stags and Hens 3.37 avg rating — 19 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	Two Plays and a Musical: Educating Rita / Stags and Hens / Blood Brothers 4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1986	My rating:
	Our Day Out and Other Plays 3.60 avg rating — 5 ratings	My rating:
	Bedroom Farce A Comedy In Two Acts 3.35 avg rating — 23 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	Shirley Valentine & One for the Road 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Willy Russell

“One of the few certainties in life is that persons of certainty should certainly be avoided.”
― Willy Russell, The Wrong Boy

tags: certainty

6 people liked it

“FRANK: Do you know Yeats?
RITA: The wine lodge?
FRANK: No, WB Yeats, the poet.
RITA: No.
FRANK: Well, in his poem 'The Wild Swans At Coole',Yeats rhymes the word "swan" with the word "stone". You see? That's an example of assonance.
RITA: Yeah, means getting the rhyme wrong.”
― Willy Russell, Educating Rita

2 people liked it

“She divorced her husband, y' know. I never knew him, it was before I met Jane. Apparently she came back from work one mornin' an' found her husband in bed with the milkman. With the milkman, honest to God. Well, apparently, from that day forward Jane was a feminist. An' I've noticed, she never takes milk in her tea.”
― Willy Russell, Shirley Valentine: Longman Literature Series

tags: divorce , feminism , feminist , homosexuality