Bruce Robinson

Bruce Robinson is an English actor turned screenwriter, director and novelist. He grew up in Broadstairs, Kent, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. His first film role was Benvolio in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968), and he went on to appear in Ken Russell's The Music Lovers (1971) and Francois Truffaut's The Story of Adele H. (1975). After years out of work, he turned to writing, and The Killing Fields (1984), which he wrote for Roland Joffe, brought him a BAFTA and an Academy Award nomination. Withnail and I (1987), which he wrote and directed, drew on his time as a struggling actor and became a cult film on video. Later directing credits include How to Get Ahead in Advertising, Jennifer 8 and The Rum Diary, and he wrote the novel The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman and the Jack the Ripper study They All Love Jack. He acted again in Still Crazy (1998).