Ray Cooney Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Ray Cooney
Writing
Biography
Raymond George Alfred Cooney (born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright, actor, and director. His biggest success, Run for Your Wife (1983), ran for nine years in London's West End and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 of his plays performed there. Cooney began to act in 1946, appearing in many of the Whitehall farces of Brian Rix throughout the 1950s and 1960s. It was during this time that he co-wrote his first play, One For The Pot. With Tony Hilton, he co-wrote the screenplay for the British comedy film What a Carve Up! (1961), which features Sid James and Kenneth Connor. In 1968 and 1969, Cooney adapted Richard Gordon's Doctor novels for BBC radio, as series starring Richard Briers. He also took parts in them. Cooney has also appeared on TV and in several films, including a film adaptation of his successful theatrical farce Not Now, Darling (1973), which he co-wrote with John Chapman. In 1983, Cooney created the Theatre of Comedy Company and became its artistic director. During his tenure the company produced over twenty plays such as Pygmalion (starring Peter O'Toole and John Thaw), Loot and Run For Your Wife. He co-wrote a farce with his son Michael, Tom, Dick and Harry (1993). Cooney produced and directed the film Run For Your Wife (2012), based on his own play. The film however was not a success: it was savaged by critics and has been referred to as one of the worst films of all time. Cooney's farces combine a traditional British bawdiness with structural complication, as characters leap to assumptions, are forced to pretend to be things that they are not, and often talk at cross-purposes. He is greatly admired in France where he is known as "Le Feydeau Anglais", ("The English Feydeau"), in reference to the French farceur Georges Feydeau. Many of his plays have been first produced, or revived, at the Théâtre de la Michodière in Paris. In January 1975, Cooney was the subject of This Is Your Life when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at London's Savoy Hotel. In 2005, Cooney was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to drama. Cooney married Linda Dixon in 1962. One of their two sons, Michael, is a screenwriter. Source: Article "Ray Cooney" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Not Now Darling
A married British furrier gives a mobster's mistress a cheap mink coat.
The Hand
During World War II, a group of British soldiers are captured by the Japanese, tortured and their hands are cut off. Years later, a mad killer terrorizes London by cutting off the hands of his victims.
Wife Begins at 40
George and Linda Harper's 17 year marriage has gone stale, but George doesn't seem to be aware of it. When confronted with the problem, he gets a vasectomy, which solves nothing, so he moves out. Linda rearranges her life by enrolling in self improvement courses. Trying for an amicable divorce, they agree to use one lawyer and hire their closest friend. When this backfires, George attempts reconciliation by trying to seduce Linda on their living room couch. George botches the seduction due to the pressure of trying to perform well and due to the unexpected return of their son from a date. But it does result in their realizing they still care about each other...and that marriages need working at, need to be renewed and renegotiated from time to time and that their's is certainly worth a second chance. Based on the hit West End play.
My Brother Jonathan
Jonathan Dakers' early ambition was to become a great surgeon and to marry Edie Martyn. But, on the death of his father, he is obliged to start work as a partner in a poor general practice in the Black Country. Edie falls in love with Jonathan's brother, Harold, who is killed in the Great War, and Jonathan marries her as planned. It is only afterwards that he realises he now loves another.
Nothing Barred
Penniless Lord Whitebait's plan to save his sinking fortunes is to open stately Whitebait Manor to the public. But the public ignores his gesture, and his fortunes fade even further, with a stream of debts threatening to run into a deluge when his daughter's fiancé demands a plush and costly wedding. Where is the cash to come from? Whitebait and his servant Spankforth's answer is a scam involving the theft of a valuable painting from the Manor. How could such a cunningly original ruse fail?
Jack Frost 2: The Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman
The sheriff and his deputies from the first movie decide to take a vacation in the Caribbean. Their holiday will be short-lived, however, as the thawed murderer gets inadvertently re-frozen and brought back to life. As if that weren't bad enough, he now has the ability to remain frozen even in tropical temperatures, and he's headed south to settle some old scores.
The Guinea Pig
A working-class boy wins a scholarship to a public school, as part of a post-World War Two experiment in bringing boys of different social classes together.
Not Now, Comrade
Not Now, Comrade tells the story of Rudi, a Russian ballet star who defects to the West, and the chaos that befalls those who try to help him... not least London stripper Barbara, with whom he decides to take refuge!
The Night We Got the Bird
Good natured comic caper charting the misadventures of a hapless bunch of Brighton based petty crooks dogged with disaster at every turn.
Production
Le Saut du lit
Funny Money
Henry Perkins, a mild-mannered accountant, accidentally trades briefcases with another man, to find out that there's a million dollars inside. Henry tells his unsuspecting wife of their new-found fortune, but she doesn't embrace it as well as he does. Soon they're joined by their best friends, a cop on the take, a cop on the hunt, and the dreaded Mr. Big, who has come to claim his money.
Funny Money
Henry Perkins, a mild-mannered accountant, accidentally trades briefcases with another man, to find out that there's a million dollars inside. Henry tells his unsuspecting wife of their new-found fortune, but she doesn't embrace it as well as he does. Soon they're joined by their best friends, a cop on the take, a cop on the hunt, and the dreaded Mr. Big, who has come to claim his money.
The Hand
During World War II, a group of British soldiers are captured by the Japanese, tortured and their hands are cut off. Years later, a mad killer terrorizes London by cutting off the hands of his victims.
Why Not Stay For Breakfast?
The peaceful existence of a New York post-office clerk is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of a heavily pregnant girl on his doorstep
Out of Order
A Minister and the Secretary of the Opposition party go to a 5 star hotel to conduct a secret affair. Their plans are ruined when they discover a corpse lodged in the window of their room.
Not Now, Comrade
Not Now, Comrade tells the story of Rudi, a Russian ballet star who defects to the West, and the chaos that befalls those who try to help him... not least London stripper Barbara, with whom he decides to take refuge!
Run For Your Wife
John Smith has been happily involved in a bigamous marriage for five years. He lives with Stephanie in Finsbury and Michelle in Stockwell. Fortunately, for John, he's a taxi driver which involves varying shift work! Simple? Well, when John unwittingly becomes a have-a-go hero and the Finsbury and Stockwell police forces discover something suspicious in their paperwork, John's happy bubble is about to be burst. The action of the movie takes place during the next hectic 24 hours as John, with the assistance of his gullible neighbor Gary, rush between North and South London attempting to thwart the police and prevent the two loving wives coming face to face!
Run For Your Wife
John Smith has been happily involved in a bigamous marriage for five years. He lives with Stephanie in Finsbury and Michelle in Stockwell. Fortunately, for John, he's a taxi driver which involves varying shift work! Simple? Well, when John unwittingly becomes a have-a-go hero and the Finsbury and Stockwell police forces discover something suspicious in their paperwork, John's happy bubble is about to be burst. The action of the movie takes place during the next hectic 24 hours as John, with the assistance of his gullible neighbor Gary, rush between North and South London attempting to thwart the police and prevent the two loving wives coming face to face!
Gallery
