The Judas Kiss star Rupert Everett, who has been enjoying phenomenal stage success in the biographical tale of Oscar Wilde, has won the 2013 Sheridan Morley Prize for his own biography Vanished Years.
Everett’s triumph in the awards, which were created to celebrate excellence in theatre biography, was announced this morning in a ceremony held at the Garrick Club.
Vanished Years, Everett’s second volume of memoirs following the successful Red Carpets And Other Banana Skins, offers more razor-sharp wit as the stage and screen star recounts stories of astonishing encounters and the celebrity circus of his life.
Vanished Years had been nominated alongside Simon Callow’s Charles Dickens And The Great Theatre Of The World, Arthur Laurents’ The Rest Of The Story, Michael Pennington’s Sweet William, Sue Prideaux’s Strindberg, A Life and Kate Bassett’s In Two Minds: A Biography Of Jonathan Miller.
Commenting on their choice of winner, the jury, which comprised Ruth Leon, Mark Shenton, Braham Murray and Isla Blair, said: “It has been an extraordinary year for theatre biographies, but even in a very strong field, Rupert Everett’s Vanished Years was a clear winner. It’s just plain fun to read, and is a firsthand account of the everyday life of a working and highly successful actor from the inside. Surprising, hilarious and wise.”
The prize, which comes with a £2,000 cheque, is the latest accolade to be heaped on Everett in a year in which he has not been short of praise. His performance alongside Freddie Fox in David Hare’s play about Wilde’s fall from grace was lauded when the show first opened at the Hampstead theatre in 2012 and continues to attract commendations aplenty following the production’s transfer to the West End’s Duke of York’s theatre, where it is due to play until 6 April.