Christopher Hampton

Born: January 26 1946
Where: Azores, Portugal

The playwright and director is best known for his Oscar-winning screenplay for Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons.

The film, starring John Malkovich, Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer, also went on to win Academy Awards for costume and art direction.

Previous screenplays had included A Doll's House, The Honorary Consul and The Good Father as well as TV's The History Man and Hotel Du Lac.

Hampton had first achieved prominence as resident dramatist with the Royal Court Theatre in the late 1960s.

In addition to writing comedies (The Philanthropist)and dramas (Savages, Treats), Hampton has become a successful adapter and translator of world classics including Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, Chekhov's Uncle Vanya" and Moliere's Tartuffe.

Hampton further cemented his reputation as as book writer and lyricist for Sunset Boulevard, the successful Andrew Lloyd Webber version of the classic 1950 Billy Wilder film.

He made his directorial debut with Carrington, centring on the relationship between homosexual writer Lytton Stratchey and painter Dora Carrington.

He next directed an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, starring Bob Hoskins, and also wrote the screenplay for the remake of The Quiet American with Michael Caine.

Recent work includes the widely derided drama Imagining Argentina based around the political oppression during the 1970s and starring Antonio Banderas and Emma Thompson.