Ray Winstone
Raymond Andrew Winstone (/ˈwɪnstən/; born 19 February 1957)[2] is an English television, stage and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is perhaps best known for his "hard man" roles, usually delivered in his distinctive London accent. The first of these was That Summer! (1979) for which he received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer. He rose to prominence starring as Will Scarlet in the series Robin of Sherwood from 1984 to 1986.
Winstone received a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role nomination for his performance in Nil by Mouth (1997). He also starred in the British independent films Scum (1979), Quadrophenia (1979), The War Zone (1999), Last Orders (2001), Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010). Winstone's other notable films include Sexy Beast (2000), Ripley's Game (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), King Arthur (2004), The Departed (2006), Beowulf (2007), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), Hugo (2011), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Black Widow (2021), and Damsel (2024).
Scum[edit]
Winstone was not popular with the establishment at his secondary school, who considered him a bad influence. When he discovered that he was the only pupil not invited to the Christmas party he decided to take revenge for this slight. Hammering some pins through a piece of wood, he placed it under the wheel of his headmistress's car and blew out the tyre, for which he was expelled.[6] As a joke, he went up to the BBC, where his schoolmates were involved in an audition and got one of his own by flirting with the secretary.[2] The audition was for one of the most notorious plays in history – Alan Clarke's Scum – and, because Clarke liked Winstone's cocky, aggressive boxer's walk,[2] he got the part, even though it had been written for a Glaswegian.[6]
The play, written by Roy Minton and directed by Clarke, was a brutal depiction of a young offender's institution. Winstone was cast in the leading role of Carlin, a young offender who struggles against both his captors and his fellow cons to become the "Daddy" of the institution. Hard hitting and often violent (particularly during the infamous "billiards" scene in which Carlin uses two billiard balls stuffed in a sock to beat one of his fellow inmates over the head) the play was judged unsuitable for broadcast by the BBC, and was not shown until 1991. The banned television play was entirely re-filmed in 1979 for cinematic release with many of the original actors playing the same roles, including Winstone. In a commentary for the Scum DVD, Winstone cites Clarke as a major influence on his career and laments the director's death in 1990 from cancer.[9]
While Winstone has portrayed many characters who share the "hard man" nature of his performance in Scum, he has also explored a variety of other roles, including comedy (Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence) and as the romantic lead (Fanny and Elvis). His favourite role was Henry VIII in the 2003 TV serial of the same name, remarking at the time: "It's really flattering for me to be asked to play a king. I mean, I'm a kid out of Plaistow, and I'm playing one of the most famous kings of England. It's fantastic!"[10]
Career[edit]
1970–1988[edit]
In 1975, Winstone landed his first professional role in What a Crazy World at the Theatre Royal, Stratford in London.[11] One of his first TV appearances came in the 1976 "Loving Arms" episode of the popular police series The Sweeney,[12] where he was credited as "Raymond Winstone" (as he was in What a Crazy World[11]) and played a minor part as an unnamed young thug. After a short run in the TV series Fox (1980), and a role in Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1982),[12] alongside Diane Lane, and Laura Dern. He starred in the opening episode of the third season of Bergerac (1983), as Will Scarlet in Robin of Sherwood.[6] He again teamed up with Jason Connery in a film which also featured Amanda Donohoe and Maria Whittaker, in Tank Malling (1984).[12]
Over the years he has appeared in many TV shows, including The Bill,[6] Boon, Fairly Secret Army (as Stubby Collins), Ever Decreasing Circles, One Foot in the Grave,[6] ‘’Home To Roost, (Se4, Ep6)’’, Murder Most Horrid, Birds of a Feather, Minder, Kavanagh QC,[6] Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, and Get Back (with the fledgling Kate Winslet). During this period, he was increasingly drawn to the theatre, playing in Hinkemann in 1988, Some Voices in 1994 and Dealer's Choice and Pale Horse the following year. Ray also added his London accent to a dance track in 1982 by "Marsha Raven" called "I Like Plastic".
1990–2003[edit]
Winstone was asked to appear in Mr Thomas,[6] a play written by his friend and fellow Londoner Kathy Burke. The reviews were good, and led to Winstone being cast, alongside Burke in Gary Oldman's drama Nil By Mouth (1997).[12] He was widely lauded for his performance as an alcoholic wife-batterer, receiving a BAFTA nomination (17 years after his Best Newcomer award for That Summer).[12] He continued to play "tough guy" roles in Face and The War Zone – the latter especially controversial, as he played a man who rapes his own daughter – but that obvious toughness would also allow him to play loved-up nice-guys in romantic comedies Fanny and Elvis and There's Only One Jimmy Grimble. In Last Christmas, he played a dead man, now a trainee angel, who returns from heaven to help his young son cope with his bereavement which was written by Tony Grounds. In 1995, he played the sinister and mysterious Thane in the comedy drama series The Ghostbusters of East Finchley. The series was also written by Grounds, with whom Winstone worked again on Births, Marriages & Deaths and Our Boy, the latter winning him the Royal Television Society Best Actor Award. They worked together again in 2006 on All in the Game where Winstone portrayed a football manager. He did a series of Holsten Pils advertisements where he played upon the phrase "Who's the Daddy", coined in the film Scum.
In 2000, Winstone starred alongside Jude Law in Love, Honour and Obey.[12] He then played lead role in Sexy Beast (2001),[6] which earned him great acclaim from UK and international audiences and brought him to the attention of the American film industry. Winstone plays "Gal" Dove, a retired and happily married former thief dragged back into London's underworld by a psychopathic former associate (Ben Kingsley, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance). In 2000, he starred in To the Green Fields Beyond at the Donmar Warehouse and directed by Sam Mendes. In 2002, he performed at the Royal Court as Griffin in The Night Heron. Two years later, he joined Kevin Spacey for 24 Hour Plays at the Old Vic, a series of productions that were written, rehearsed and performed in a single day.
After a brief role alongside Burke again in the tragi-comic The Martins (2001),[12] he appeared in Last Orders (2001) where he starred alongside Michael Caine, Helen Mirren, David Hemmings, and Tom Courtenay. Next Winstone would get a prime part in Ripley's Game (2002), the semi-sequel to The Talented Mr. Ripley, in which he once again played a gangster. He followed up with Lenny Blue, the sequel to Tough Love, and the short The Bouncer. Now internationally known, Winstone was next chosen by Anthony Minghella to play Teague, a sinister Home Guard boss in the American Civil War drama Cold Mountain (2003).[12]
Legacy[edit]
Winstone has been described as one of the UK's "seminal screen hard nuts",[22] while The Guardian has said that he "plays troubled hard men with such conviction, it's easy to believe he's not acting", adding that he is "the East End's answer to George Clooney".[22]
Personal life[edit]
Winstone met his wife, Elaine McCausland, while filming That Summer in 1979.[6][3] They have three daughters; the eldest two, Lois and Jaime, are actresses.[23] Winstone lives with his wife in Roydon, Essex.[3][6]
He is a fan of West Ham United and promoted their 2009 home kit.[24]
Winstone was declared bankrupt on 4 October 1988 and again on 19 March 1993.[25][26]
In March 2019, in the context of Brexit, Winstone expressed a preference for leaving the European Union without a deal and argued against holding a second referendum, stating that it would lead to "rebellion" and that "The country voted to leave. Then that's democracy, you leave."[27]