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Eddie Redmayne
The Biography
By Emily Herbert John Blake Publishing Ltd
Copyright © 2015 Emily Herbert
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-78418-908-2
CHAPTER 1
AND THE WINNER IS ...
February 2015 and Tinseltown had worked itself up into its usual frenetic state brought on by Oscar season: that time of the year when Hollywood crowns its own. Apart from the obvious kudos of winning acclaim from your peers, an Academy Award is a serious boost to any actor's career. Recognition levels, pay levels, the chance of an extended A-list livelihood – these were all on the cards for the Oscar hopefuls and this year was no different from the rest. The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles was packed to the rafters as first-time host Neil Patrick Harris took to the stage: emotions, as always on this occasion, were running high.
There was particular interest in the Best Actor category in what had been a very strong year. In the running that night were five men: Steve Carell in Foxcatcher (as John Eleuthère), Bradley Cooper in American Sniper (as Chris Kyle), Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game (as Alan Turing), Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), as Riggan Thomson/Birdman, and Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything (as Stephen Hawking). It was a very impressive round-up, containing two of the finest British actors of their generation, and some very popular and successful US stars. Speculation had been mounting as to who would be the recipient of the award: everyone knew that Eddie was a very strong contender, thanks to both the quality of his acting and the intense interest in the story behind the film. He had won worldwide acclaim for his portrayal of the brilliant physicist Professor Stephen Hawking, who had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of twenty-one and been given just two years to live.
But there were no certainties; no one knew if it would be him.
The moment came when Cate Blanchett, who had actually worked with Eddie some years earlier, ascended to the podium to present the award. She was looking as lovely as ever: she had teamed a simply-cut long black dress with a cutaway detail in the back by John Galliano for Maison Margiela with a statement turquoise necklace made by Tiffany & Co, topped off with an updo for her blonde hair and barely-there make-up. A hush fell over the star-spangled audience. 'And the Oscar goes to ...' she began, 'Eddie Redmayne!'
The audience erupted. They bellowed their appreciation, as Eddie – looking stunned, nervous and absolutely delighted – rose and kissed his wife Hannah before making his way up to the stage where he was greeted with a warm hug by Cate, who looked almost as pleased as he did. 'Thank you,' he repeated over and over, before telling the audience that he was not really capable of articulating his thoughts and adding that he was a 'lucky, lucky man'. 'This Oscar – wow!' he continued to an utterly charmed audience, 'This belongs to all those people around the world battling ALS [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or motor neurone disease, the ailment Stephen Hawking suffers from]. It belongs to one exceptional family: Stephen, Jane, Jonathon and the Hawking children, and I will be its custodian. And I will promise you that I will look after him – I will polish him; I will answer his beck and call; I will wait on him hand and foot. But I would not be here were it not for an extraordinary troupe of people.'
And with that he went on to thank everyone he could think of, including his 'staggering partner in crime' – aka his co-star Felicity Jones – before ending by avowing love to his wife. He could not have been more delightful if he had tried and the audience lapped it up. But then, of course, Eddie had attended the greatest charm school in the world, Eton College, and possessed heaps of self-deprecation. To be in his presence was to be captivated by him – you couldn't help yourself. You might as well give up at the first hurdle.
During that appearance on the Dolby Theatre stage, Eddie wasn't just wrapping the bigwigs of Hollywood round his little finger: he was jumping on to a bigger stage still, to what would be the culmination of an astonishing decade that had seen him soar from a total unknown doing bit parts on television to one of the biggest stars in the world. On that night, Eddie joined a small and select brotherhood: A-list British actors. There aren't that many of them but his peers include Benedict Cumberbatch – a friend of his, who was munificent in defeat that year – and fellow old Etonian Damian Lewis. There are a few more, but not many. Eddie had broken into a very select group.
Backstage, he continued to appear stunned and happy, larking about with Cate and paying tribute to the astonishing man who had inspired it all. 'For Stephen Hawking, the illness was of little interest to him,' he said. 'He lives forward, passionately. When I watch a film, I believe what I see on screen. We felt a responsibility to tell their story.' And in a wry aside that reflected he knew how much his status had now changed, he added that at least this would give him some peace of mind about his future career. 'I've always had to fight for jobs,' he confessed. 'Retaining employment will keep me very happy.'
Afterwards, his voice shaking and clearly very emotional, Eddie attempted to sum up what the award meant to him. He explained how even the person who had given him the award, Cate Blanchett, had added to the enjoyment of the evening, as he had previously acted with her in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, one of the first films he had ever made. 'She's such an exceptional actor,' he told waiting reporters, using the fashionable parlance of the day, 'so I was recovering from that excitement of seeing her and just trying to bury all this frenzy of nerves and white noise and chimes, and try and speak articulately. And then, of course, you forget everything, but it just felt like an euphoria, an extraordinary euphoria. It's something I will not forget in a hurry.' He also mentioned that he was staying nearby in a hotel with a host of other Brit actors, making the whole thing sound more like a jolly get-together of chums than one of the most important events in the film calendar. Then he started rocking his Oscar as one would a baby and those few people who hadn't been won over earlier were certainly singing his praises at that point.
After the initial shock, he got a chance to relax and enjoy himself, insofar as it was possible for someone whose stock had just taken such a giant leap. There was the Governors Ball in the Ray Dolby Ballroom, followed by the Vanity Fair party, where he was the undisputed star of the evening – no mean feat given the calibre of the others present. Guests feasting on Maine lobster roll, Gruyere cheese gougères with sauce Mornay and In-N-Out burgers included: Joan and Jackie Collins, Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul, fellow Brit David Oyelowo, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, John Travolta, Robert Duvall, Reese Witherspoon and the entire cast of the Oscar ceremony – the sort of crowd with whom Eddie would be mingling from then on.
'I think I've lost it,' he fretted to one journalist who was asking about the whereabouts of the Oscar, but the statuette was located again shortly afterwards and equanimity was restored. The bustle of the party, an annual event hosted by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, took place within the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and was a suitably grandiose affair: a sixty-foot-long copper bar stretched down the room towards a giant mural of the nominees, created by André Carrilho, while women dressed up as cigarette girls in vintage clothing circulated with trays of Cracker Jack caramel popcorn. Cigarettes would have been out of the question, of course. But this was Eddie's world now.
One person, alas, was missing from the proceedings: Professor Stephen Hawking himself. There had been talks about him flying to Los Angeles to attend the Oscar ceremony at least, if not the actual celebrations afterwards, but in the event doctors decided that his health was simply not up to it. Nonetheless, the brilliant scientist was watching the proceedings from across the Atlantic and he made his feelings known shortly afterwards. On his Facebook page – he had joined the site just a few months previously – he wrote, 'Congratulations to Eddie Redmayne for winning an Oscar for playing me in The Theory of Everything Movie. Well done Eddie, I'm very proud of you.'
Others were swift to follow in issuing congratulations. The Liverpool Everyman tweeted congrats to its 'old boy' – a reference to the fact that when he was fresh out of Cambridge University, Eddie had had his second ever professional job at the theatre, appearing in Master Harold ... and the Boys in 2003 (they printed a picture of an almost unrecognisable Eddie, too). Everyone seemed to want to claim credit for having discovered him: even Robert De Niro, who had directed him alongside Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie in The Good Shepherd in 2006, tweeted, 'Congratulations Ed on your best actor Oscar, it was I that gave you your big break in The Good Shepherd, we all knew!'
Emma Watson, who had starred with Eddie in My Week with Marilyn, was next: 'So thrilled for Eddie!' Then came the British Film Institute: 'Congratulations to Eddie Redmayne for winning best actor for his performance in The Theory of Everything.' The Jackie Palmer Stage School, which Eddie had attended as a child, was 'over the moon for Eddie having won the award for Best Actor at the Oscars', as described by its principal, Marylyn Phillips.
Neighbours star Jackie Woodburne, who'd been thanked alongside her on-screen husband Alan Fletcher, was swift to respond: 'Congratulations Eddie on all the accolades for your beautiful performance, and thank you so much for the mention,' she said. 'It means more than I can tell you to all of us at Neighbours, not just myself and Alan. Thank you and good luck with everything you do in the future. Congratulations again.' Alan felt the same: 'To receive such generous praise from an actor of Eddie Redmayne's startling ability and status has been thrilling for both of us,' he explained. And so it went on.
Eddie was pictured beaming as he escorted his wife Hannah through LAX airport on his way back to Britain, the Oscar tucked firmly in his bag. His choice of acting as a profession had been vindicated and then some, his immediate future looking exceedingly bright. So just who was he, this brilliant young actor who had done such a good job in playing the even more brilliant and older scientist? Who was Eddie Redmayne and how had he got to where he was?
CHAPTER 2
THE PLAYING FIELDS OF ETON
The year was 1982. Richard and Patricia Redmayne were excited: they were together, awaiting the birth of their second child and Edward John David Redmayne made an appearance early on in the year, on 6 January. Eddie came from what would be considered to be quite a big family by modern standards: in total there were five siblings and half-siblings from his father's two marriages, with Eddie being born to Richard's second wife. His mother had also been previously married, although in her case there had been no children. Eddie's older brother was James and a younger brother, Tom, was also to come along. The family, based in Chelsea in London, was an affluent one, with a very privileged background: Richard was a stockbroker and went on to become the chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, a leading finance house. This was real upper-middle-class stock, with plenty of money in the background and many decades of professional success.
Eddie's family had been distinguished for generations: his grandfather John was a major in the Army who also went on to work as a stockbroker and Eddie's great-grandfather was Sir Richard Redmayne, a well-known British civil and mining engineer. He worked on the improvement of mine safety and ended up as chief inspector of mines in 1908, the first person to hold the post. Further back on the Redmayne side, the family money originally came from a linen and drapery business based in London's Bond Street in the early nineteenth century. However, for all the prestige and success in his family, there had so far been no involvement in acting. Eddie was about to bring a whole new talent to the family tree.
Eddie grew up in a large house on the Chelsea Embankment, one of the most exclusive areas of London, where houses now go for many millions of pounds, and the family also owned a holiday home in France. There was plenty for everyone to do there – it came complete with tennis courts and a swimming pool, as well as its own vineyard. Meanwhile, back in London, the Royal Court Theatre was near the family home and Eddie became a regular visitor from an early age, although he described having grown up in a house 'that did not have a theatre gene'. But when his talent began to show, his parents were there for him every step along the way.
Patricia (née Burke), the daughter of a customs and excise officer, ran a relocation business and had a brief early marriage to a Swedish engineer that she met when she was a student at Edinburgh University. After they divorced, she met Richard Redmayne, who was eleven years older than her and also a divorcee. He had two children from his first marriage: Charles, who became CEO of the publishers HarperCollins and Eugenie, who became an investment banker and worked for the Prudential, in both cases having extremely successful careers. Richard and Patricia soon embarked on creating a family of their own. Patricia was a stylish woman, always interested in fashion, and friends recall seeing her shopping in the leading British couture house Catherine Walker – a very exclusive designer much beloved of Princess Diana – accompanied by the young Eddie. She loved to dress him up too and the little boy would often be seen wearing a sailor suit.
Eddie was thus one of five siblings in total, although he was the only member of the family to show any interest in acting. He started when he was barely more than a toddler and his parents encouraged his talent: they sent him to drama lessons and, while still very young, Eddie turned out to be an extremely gifted singer, something that would stand him in very good stead later in life. Although Eddie often attributes both his interest in acting and his talent to his years at senior school, in actual fact it all started when he was so young that it could only have been something he was born with. 'He's a performer and has been ever since he was five and first started singing at school,' his mother once said and, indeed, Eddie's talent was such that he won a choral scholarship to Colet Court, which he attended in his early years. Colet Court is a preparatory school based in London for the very prestigious St Paul's school (although Eddie did not go there – he was to attend an even more famous school); founded in 1881, it catered for boys aged seven to thirteen.
The young Eddie was a typical student at the school: from a well-off, cultured background (the parents had to be able to afford the school fees), urbane and London-centred. Pupils, who had to take exams aged seven, eight and eleven to get in, were all day boys, that is there were no boarders who would live on the premises. The Tatler Schools Guide says of it that it: 'attracts boys who are naturally gifted and hardworking (half-term holidays are cheekily called "remedies"). Colet Court is one of the strongest London preps for games and arguably the best for music. Alongside Westminster it is the top boys' prep in the capital.'
In other words, it was ideal for boys with a theatrical streak and, totally coincidentally as far as Eddie being sent there was concerned, it had some extremely strong links with musical theatre itself. The school could even be said to have played a bit part in its history, with some of the most famous names in musical theatre linked to it. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice was originally commissioned for the orchestra and singers of Colet Court: it had its first ever performance at the Old Assembly Hall of Colet Court in Hammersmith on 1 March 1968 and the second performance, also with Colet Court boys performing, at Central Hall (Westminster on 12 May 1968), was noticed by The Sunday Times. The musical was enlarged upon and a third performance was at St Paul's Cathedral, and since then it has been periodically performed at Colet Court. It had not been planned by the Redmaynes, but Eddie's stage-school lessons, combined with a prep school that had such impressive links to musicals, were providing the foundations for what would one day become an extremely illustrious career.
Eddie is certainly not the only famous pupil to have attended the school, as both thespians and politicians feature heavily in the old boy category: other alumni include Ed Vaizey, Dominic Grieve, George Osborne, Nathaniel Rothschild, Compton Mackenzie and Nicholas Parsons. It was a very privileged environment, one perfect for an artistically inclined individual, and Eddie thrived.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Eddie Redmayne by Emily Herbert. Copyright © 2015 Emily Herbert. Excerpted by permission of John Blake Publishing Ltd.
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