Tim Bevan

Timothy John Bevan, (born 20 December 1957) is a New Zealand-British film producer, the co-chairman (with Eric Fellner) of the production company Working Title Films. Bevan and Fellner are the most successful British producers of their era. Through 2017, the films he has co-produced have grossed a total of almost $7 billion worldwide. As of 2017, films by Working Title Films have won 12 Academy Awards and 39 British Academy Film Awards.

Early life and education

Bevan was born in 1957 in Queenstown, New Zealand. From 1969—1974, he was educated at Sidcot School, a Quaker boarding independent school in the Mendip Hills, near the village of Winscombe in North Somerset, in South West England. He then attended Cheltenham College, a boarding independent school in the spa town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, in the West of England.

Life and career

Bevan co-founded Working Title Films in London with Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. Radclyffe left the company in 1991 and Eric Fellner joined to partner Bevan. Among Bevan's more than 40 films as producer or executive producer include Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Elizabeth (1998), Notting Hill (1999), Billy Elliot (2000), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Love Actually (2003), Atonement (2007), Frost/Nixon (2008), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), The Theory of Everything (2014), and Darkest Hour (2017). Working Title are also notable for their long-time collaboration with American filmmakers the Coen brothers, having produced Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? among others.

Working Title signed a deal with Universal Studios in 1999 for a reported US$600 million, which gave Bevan and Fellner the power to commission projects with a budget of up to $35 million without having to consult their paymasters.

Bevan is a co-producer of the West End musical Billy Elliot.

Bevan was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2005 Birthday Honours for services to the British film industry.

In 2013, he and Fellner received the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures from the Producers Guild of America.

Along with Fellner, Lisa Bryer, David Heyman, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, he founded the London Screen Academy in September 2019, a sixth form school teaching behind the camera skills to a student body of 800.

Personal life

Bevan is divorced from English actress Joely Richardson; the two have a daughter, Daisy, born in 1992. Bevan is now married to Amy Gadney, and they have a daughter Nell, born 2001, and a son Jago, born 2003.

Filmography

Film

Producer

Executive producer

As an actor

• Elizabeth (1998) (As the "Handsome Man")

Thanks

• The Land Girls (1998)
• Following (1998)

Television

Executive producer

Awards and honours

• 2005: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
• 2013 received the degree of Doctor honoris causa from The University of York
• 2018: Cinematic Production Award of the Royal Photographic Society

References

External links

• Tim Bevan at IMDb