Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller

Born: July 21, 1934
Died: November 27, 2019
in London, England
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 1950s, he came to prominence in the early 1960s in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett.

Miller began directing operas in the 1970s. His 1982 production of a "Mafia"-styled Rigoletto was set in 1950s Little Italy, Manhattan. In its early days, he was an associate director at the National Theatre. He later ran the Old Vic Theatre. As a writer and presenter of more than a dozen BBC documentaries, Miller became a television personality and public intellectual in Britain and the United States.

Movies for Jonathan Miller...

Discovering Hamlet
Title: Discovering Hamlet
Character: Self
Released: November 1, 2011
Type: Movie
Journey into "Hamlet"-the play and the man-through the experiences of some of the major actors and directors who have brought Shakespeare's great tragedy to life. Christopher Plummer, David Tennant, John Nettles, John Simm, Sir Trevor Nunn, Franco Zeffirelli, Philip Saville, and others explore the enduring appeal of the Prince of Denmark more than 400 years after his stage debut.
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The Weird World of Eadweard Muybridge
Title: The Weird World of Eadweard Muybridge
Released: November 30, 2010
Type: Movie
Pioneer photographer, forefather of cinema, showman, murderer - Eadweard Muybridge was a Victorian enigma. He was born and died in Kingston upon Thames, but did his most famous work in California - freezing time and starting it up again, so that for the first time people could see how a racing horse's legs moved. He went on to animate the movements of naked ladies, wrestlers, athletes, elephants, cockatoos and his own naked body, projecting his images publicly with a machine he invented and astounding audiences worldwide with the first flickerings of cinema. Alan Yentob follows in Muybridge's footsteps as he makes - and often changes - his name, and sets off to kill his young wife's lover. With Andy Serkis as Muybridge
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Ghosts in the Machine
Title: Ghosts in the Machine
Character: Himself
Released: October 27, 2009
Type: Movie
Documentary charting the history of the supernatural on British TV, revisiting classic ghost stories and controversial shows. Contributors include Derren Brown and Yvette Fielding.
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Title: Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief
Character: Self - Host
Released: October 11, 2004
Type: TV
Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief – known in the United States as A Brief History of Disbelief – is a 2004 television documentary series written and presented by Jonathan Miller for the BBC and tracing the history of atheism.
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Christopher Plummer: A Man For All Stages
Title: Christopher Plummer: A Man For All Stages
Character: Self
Released: November 7, 2002
Type: Movie
Veteran radio, theatre, television and film actor Christopher Plummer has played a thousand parts, but beneath that elegant stage presence lies the restless heart of a risk-taker. Don't miss this engaging biography.
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Title: Timeshift
Character: self
Released: October 10, 2002
Type: TV
Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.
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Title: Timeshift
Character: Self - BBC Breakfast Time, 1983 (archive footage)
Released: October 10, 2002
Type: TV
Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.
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Peter Cook: At a Slight Angle to the Universe
Title: Peter Cook: At a Slight Angle to the Universe
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 2002
Type: Movie
TV documentary tracing the life of the comedian and satirist from his school days, through the Cambridge Footlights, to Beyond the Fringe and his partnership with Dudley Moore. With contributions from Cook's school friends Peter Rabey and Jonathan Harlow; Cook's first wife Wendy Cook; Cambridge University friends Tim Harrold and Roger Law; Adrian Slade (ex-president of Cambridge Footlights); Jonathan Miller; Sir David Frost; Ned Sherrin; John Bassett (creator, Beyond The Fringe); Willie Donaldson (producer, Beyond The Fringe); John Cleese; Eric Idle; Michael Parkinson; Brenda Vaccaro; John Fortune; Nicholas Luard (co-owner with Cook of The Establishment club); actress Gaye Brown; Christopher Booker; Ian Hislop; Victor Lownes and Michael Bawtree (friends of Cook); Joe McGrath; Dick Clement; Mel Smith; Clive Anderson; tv producer and executive Paul Jackson; Harry Enfield, radio presenter Clive Bull, and archival interview footage of both Cook and Dudley Moore. (Synopsis BFI)
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Title: Ruby
Character: Self
Released: May 12, 1997
Type: TV
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Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
Title: Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
Character: Self
Released: December 19, 1995
Type: Movie
A documentary about the life of British satirist and founder of 'Private Eye' Peter Cook. “marvelous, engrossing tribute” Allison Pearson, The Observer “painstakingly constructed.. sharp yet sensitive” Victor Lewis-Smith
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The English National Opera Rehearse The Mikado
Title: The English National Opera Rehearse The Mikado
Character: Self
Released: October 2, 1987
Type: Movie
A chance to see director Jonathan Miller at work on his acclaimed staging of Gilbert and Sullivan's famous comic opera.
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Title: Acting
Released: August 28, 1987
Type: TV
A series of workshops led by leading actors on the techniques of acting in film, opera, and on stage
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Title: States of Mind
Character: Self - Presenter
Released: February 20, 1983
Type: TV
Series of programmes about psychology, in which Jonathan Miller talks to eminent psychologists about their theories and beliefs.
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Title: Timewatch
Character: Self - Narrator (voice)
Released: September 29, 1982
Type: TV
Timewatch is a long-running British television series showing documentaries on historical subjects, spanning all human history. It was first broadcast on 29 September 1982 and is produced by the BBC, the Timewatch brandname is used as a banner title in the UK, but many of the individual documentaries can be found on US cable channels without the branding.
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Title: The Body in Question
Released: November 6, 1978
Type: TV
The Body in Question is a landmark British medical documentary series of 13 shows made for the BBC. It was a groundbreaking show, being the first to ever televise an autopsy (in the final show on 29 Jan 1979). Dr Jonathan Miller considers the functioning of the body as a subject of private experience. He explores our attitudes towards our bodies, our ignorance of them, and our inability to read our body's signals. The first episode starts with vox populi asking where various organs in the body are located. By the final episode we are left in no doubt. Taking as his starting point the experience of pain, Dr Miller analyses the elaborate social process of "falling ill", considers the physical foundations of "disease" and looks at the types of individuals humankind has historically attributed with the power of healing. The series was nominated for two 1979 BAFTAs: Best Factual Television Series and Most Original Programme/Series.
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Title: The Secret Policeman's Ball
Character: Self
Released: April 1, 1976
Type: TV
A series of benefit shows staged initially in the United Kingdom to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started in 1976 featuring popular British comedians but later included leading musicians and actors. The Secret Policeman's Ball shows are credited by many prominent entertainers with having galvanised them to become involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years.
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West Side Stories
Title: West Side Stories
Released: November 20, 1971
Type: Movie
Two impressions of New York - a city of dreams or nightmares. The Outsider: Jonathan Miller 'If you enter New York in the first place in a show business context every time you return you have to justify your existence in show business terms. If you haven't got something to sell you become almost transparent...' The Insider: Patti Smith, poet, singer, actress. 'People come to New York to see the stars, but there ain't no stars in the sky. I lived in the city and I haven't seen a constellation since.'
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The Zoo in Winter
Title: The Zoo in Winter
Released: September 23, 1969
Type: Movie
Jonathan Miller visits the Regent's Park Zoo and gives his personal opinions on the animals and their enclosures.
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Title: The Dick Cavett Show
Character: Self - Guest
Released: June 6, 1968
Type: TV
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.
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One Way Pendulum
Title: One Way Pendulum
Character: Kirby
Released: January 21, 1965
Type: Movie
A study of absurdity in a suburban family: father recreates the Old Bailey in the living room while the son teaches speak-your-weight machines to sing in the attic.
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Beyond the Fringe
Title: Beyond the Fringe
Character: Various Characters
Released: December 12, 1964
Type: Movie
A TV version of the stage show originally performed at the Edinburgh Fringe (August 1960) and in London (Fortune Theatre, May 1961) and Broadway (October 1962).
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Title: The Merv Griffin Show
Character: Self
Released: October 1, 1962
Type: TV
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to August 15, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in first-run syndication from February 14, 1972 to September 5, 1986.