Johnny Speight
Johnny Speight
British Writer, Producer
Johnny Speight. Born in Canning Town, London, En gland, June 2, 1920. Educated at St. Helen's Roman Catholic School, London. Married: Constance Beat rice Barrett, 1956; children: one daughter and two sons. Worked in a factory, then as a jazz drummer and insurance salesman; writer, BBC radio and television, from 1956; created the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part. Recipient: Screenwriters Guild Award, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1968; Prague Festival Award, 1969; Evening Standard Award, 1977; Pye Award, for television writ ing, 1983; British Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, 1996. Died in Chorleywood, Hertsfordshire, England, July 5, 1998 .
Bio
Johnny Speight was the creator of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) series Till Death Us Do Part, on which the U.S. series All in the Family (Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]) was based. As controversial in its time and place as was All in the Family, Speight's creation spawned a generation of relevant, hard-hitting sitcoms in both the United States and England.
A former factory worker and jazz musician, Speight began writing for television in 1956. In 1966, after serving as head writer for the Arthur Haynes Show, Speight launched Till Death Us Do Part. The series revolves around the different values and beliefs held by blue-collar bigot Alf Garnett and his liberal son-in-law Mike. Originally committed to shows about the family itself, Speight maneuvered Till Death to more relevant social issues. Norman Lear, who was working in feature films at the time, saw the series and, with partner Bud Yorkin, optioned the series for their company Tan dem Productions.-The resulting hit was All in the Family, which debuted on CBS in I 971.
Speight's more controversial episodes prompted the Conservative Central Office to ask for advance copies of the Till Death scripts. When Speight refused, the matter was soon dropped. In 1968, Speight produced a BBC movie version of the series, and in 1972 he penned a short-run revival of the series. During that run, the series reached 24 million viewers, making it the most popular show in Britain.
Speight wrote several plays, including If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have to Invent Them, which has been produced in at least 17 countries. He also won numerous awards, including numerous Screen writers Guild Awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Comedy Awards in 1996. He died of cancer in July 1998.
See Also
Works
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1960--66 Arthur Haynes Show
1966--75 Till Death Us Do Part
1969 Curry and Chips
1972 Them
1973 Speight of Marty
1979 The Tea Ladies (with Ray Galton)
1980 Spooner’s Patch (with Ray Galton)
1982 The Lady Is a Tramp
1985 In Sickness and in Health
1989 The 19th Hole
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1961 The Compartment
1962 Playmates
1963 Shamrot
1965 If There Weren’t Any Blacks You’d Have to Invent Them
1967 To Lucifer a Sun
1970 The Salesman
1975 For Richer… For Poorer
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The Plank, 1967; The Undertakers, 1969; Rhubarb, 1970.
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French Dressing, 1964; Privilege, 1967; Till Death Us Do Part, 1968; The Alf Garnett Saga, 1972; The Secret Policeman's Third Ball, 1987.
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The Edmondo Ross Show, 1956--58; The Morecambe and Wise Show, 1956--58; The Frankie Howerd Show, 1956--58; Early to Braden, 1957-58; The Deadly Game of Chess, 1958; The April 8th Show (Seven Days Early), 1958; The Eric Sykes Show, 1960--61.
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Mr. Venus, 1958; The Art of Living (with others), 1960; The Compartment; 1965; The Knacker’s Yard, 1962; Playmates, 1971; If There Weren’t Any Blacks You’d Have to Invent Them, 1965; The Picture (with others), 1967; The Salesman, 1970; Till Death Us Do Part, 1973; The Thoughts of Chairman Alf, 1983.
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It Stands to Reason: A Kind of Autobiography, 1973 The Thoughts of Chairman Alf.· Alf Garnett's Little Blue Book; or, Where England Went Wrong: An Open Letter to the People of Britain, 1973
The Garnett Chronicles: The Life and Times of Alf Garnett, Esq., 1986
For Richer, For Poorer: A Kind of Autobiography, 1992
Three Plays, 1998