{{Short description|English playwright, actor and director (born 1932)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}} {{Use British English|date=June 2015}} {{Infobox writer | name = Ray Cooney | honorific_suffix = OBE | image_size = 180px | birth_name = Raymond George Alfred Cooney | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1932|05|30}}<ref name=bfi>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f88045f|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209074358/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f88045f|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 February 2019|title=Ray Cooney|website=BFI|accessdate=8 December 2022}}</ref> | birth_place = London, England<ref name=bfi/> | occupation = {{hlist|playwright|actor|director}} | notableworks = ''Run for Your Wife'' | spouse = {{marriage|Linda Dixon|1962}} | children = 2; including Michael }}
'''Raymond George Alfred Cooney''' OBE (born 30 May 1932) is a retired 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Artist: Ray Cooney |url=http://www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.woa/wa/artist?id=1227 | publisher=Art & Culture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927203703/http://www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.woa/wa/artist?id=1227 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He has had 17 of his plays performed there.<ref>{{cite journal |title=In the Farce Lane |url=http://www.writersguild.org.uk/public/008_Featurearticl/026_RayCooney.html |journal=UK Writer |publisher=Writers' Guild of Great Britain |date=Spring 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206101903/http://writersguild.org.uk/public/008_Featurearticl/026_RayCooney.html |archive-date=6 February 2009 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
==Career== 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/what-a-carve-up-v54049/cast-crew|title=What a Carve Up (1961)|website=allmovie.com|accessdate=8 December 2022}}</ref>
In 1968 and 1969, Cooney adapted Richard Gordon's ''Doctor'' novels for BBC radio, as series starring Richard Briers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2017/19/bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2017/19/doctor-at-large/|title=Doctor At Large|website=bbc.co.uk|accessdate=8 December 2022}}</ref> He also took parts in them.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2018/33/bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2018/33/doctor-in-the-house/|title=Doctor In The House|website=bbc.co.uk|accessdate=8 December 2022}}</ref>
Cooney has also appeared on TV, (including an uncredited appearance in the ''Dial 999'' episode, 'A Mined Area', as a hold-up victim) and in several films, including a film adaptation of his successful theatrical farce ''Not Now, Darling'' (1973), which he co-wrote with John Chapman.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b74e3e2e2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426152240/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b74e3e2e2|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 April 2020|title=Not Now Darling (1972)|website=BFI|accessdate=8 December 2022}}</ref> In 2000, he appeared in the Last of the Summer Wine episode "Last Post and Pigeon" where he played the role of a wordless and energetic French peasant.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bright |first=Morris |title=Last of the Summer Wine: The Finest Vintage |last2=Ross |first2=Robert |publisher=BBC Worldwide Ltd. |year=2000 |isbn=9780563551515 |edition={{!}}edition=1st |location=London |pages=40 |language=English}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.runforyourwife.co.uk/Run_For_Your_Wife/Run_For_Your_Wife.html |title=Run For Your Wife |publisher=Run For Your Wife |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bradshaw |first=Peter |date=February 23, 2013 |title=Run For Your Wife |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/14/run-for-your-wife-review}}</ref>
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 the 2005 New Year Honours, Cooney was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his services to drama.<ref name="LG 31 December 2004">{{London Gazette |issue=57509 |date=31 December 2004 |page=10 |supp=y }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Dramatist Cooney becomes an OBE |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/4135823.stm |work=BBC News |date=31 December 2004 |access-date=3 February 2009}}</ref>
==Personal life== Cooney married Linda Dixon in 1962.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} One of their two sons, Michael, is a screenwriter.<ref name="BWW">{{cite news |last1=Grigware |first1=Don |title=BWW Interview: Internationally Renown British Actor/ Playwright RAY COONEY Talks About son Michael Cooney's CASH ON DELIVERY at the El Portal |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/BWW-Interview-Internationally-Renown-British-Actor-Playwright-RAY-COONEY-Talks-About-son-Michael-Cooneys-CASH-ON-DELIVERY-at-the-El-Portal-20151119 |access-date=June 7, 2020 |work=BroadwayWorld.com |date=November 19, 2015}}</ref>
==Bibliography== * ''Who Were You With Last Night?'' (1962) * ''Chase Me, Comrade'' (1964) * ''Charlie Girl'' (1965) * ''One for the Pot'' (1966) * ''Stand by Your Bedouin'' (1966) * ''My Giddy Aunt'' (1967) * ''Not Now, Darling'' (1967) * ''Move Over Mrs. Markham'' (1969) * ''Why Not Stay for Breakfast?'' (1970) * ''Come Back to My Place'' (1973) * ''There Goes the Bride'' (1974) * ''Elvis'' (1977) * ''Two into One'' (1981) * ''Her Royal Highness'' (co-written with Royce Ryton, 1981) * ''Run for Your Wife'' (1983) * ''Wife Begins at Forty'' (1985) * ''It Runs in the Family'' (1987) * ''Dead Trouble'' (Calibre Cassette Library for the Blind made in association with Challenge Anneka Episode 5 of Series 1; 1989) which then became ''Out of Order'') * ''Out of Order'' (1991) (also performed under the alternative title ''Whose Wife is it Anyway?'')<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pmpnetwork.com/ReviewsData/theatre-recent2.htm|title=Reviews - archive|website=www.pmpnetwork.com}}</ref> * ''Funny Money'' (1994) * ''Caught in the Net'' (2001) * ''Tom, Dick and Harry'' (2003) * ''Time's Up'' (2005) * ''Twice In A Lifetime'' (2011)
== Filmography == *''One for the Pot'', directed by Alfred Travers (South Africa, 1968, based on the play ''One for the Pot'') *''Not Now, Darling'', directed by Ray Cooney and David Croft (1973, based on the play ''Not Now, Darling'') *''Not Now, Comrade'', directed by Ray Cooney and Harold Snoad (1976, based on the play ''Chase me, Comrade'') *''Why Not Stay for Breakfast?'', directed by Terry Marcel (1979, based on the play ''Why Not Stay for Breakfast?'') *''There Goes the Bride'', directed by Terry Marcel (1980, based on the play ''There Goes the Bride'') *''Sé infiel y no mires con quién'', directed by Fernando Trueba (Spain, 1985, based on the play ''Move Over Mrs. Markham'') *''Ute av drift'', directed by Knut Bohwim (Norway, 1992, based on the play ''Out of Order'') *''Out of Order'', directed by András Kern and Róbert Koltai (Hungary, 1997, based on the play ''Out of Order'') *''Funny Money'', directed by Leslie Greif (2006, based on the play ''Funny Money'') *''Run for Your Wife'', directed by Ray Cooney and John Luton (2012, based on the play ''Run for Your Wife'') *''Natale a cinque stelle'', directed by Marco Risi (Italy, 2018, based on the play ''Out of Order'')
=== Screenwriter === *''The Hand'', directed by Henry Cass (1960) *''The Night We Got the Bird'', directed by Darcy Conyers (1961)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Night We Got the Bird |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20150044593 |access-date=29 April 2026 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> *''What a Carve Up!'', directed by Pat Jackson (1961)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IBDB name}} * {{IMDb name|0177774}} * [http://www.michaelstarr.co.uk/post/an-interview-with-ray-cooney/ Michael Starr interviews Ray Cooney OBE] * [http://www.filmrights.ltd.uk/Cooney.htm Play synopses and biography at Film Rights Ltd]
{{Ray Cooney}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooney, Ray}} Category:1932 births Category:Living people Category:English male film actors Category:English male stage actors Category:English male television actors Category:Laurence Olivier Award winners Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:People educated at Alleyn's School Category:English male dramatists and playwrights Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:British comedy writers