Notting Hill director Roger Mitchell dies aged 65

ROGER MITCHELL who directed the iconic film Notting Hill has died aged 65

Roger Mitchell, the acclaimed film director, probably best remembered for Notting Hill, has died today, Thursday, September 23, confirmed in a statement from his publicist, “It is with great sadness that the family of Roger Michell, director, writer, and father of Harry, Rosie, Maggie and Sparrow, announce his death at the age of 65 on September 22nd”.

Roger was the son of a British diplomat, and was born in South Africa, finally going to Clifton College in Bristol, having spent large parts of his childhood in cities like Prague, Beirut, and Damascus, due to his father’s international position.

It was during his time at College that he started writing and directing short plays, before attending Queen’s College, where he studied English, winning the RSC Buzz Goodbody Award for Best Student Director, eventually graduating and moving to the south coast city of Brighton, where he gained a position in the Royal Court Theatre as assistant director.

Joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1985 gave Roger the opportunity of working at the National Theatre, where he ended up directing productions including Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming, and Nina Raine’s Consent, and it was at this theatre that Richard Curtis approached him with a view to directing his film project, which turned out to be the now legendary romantic comedy, Notting Hill, starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, which was a smash in cinemas in 1999.

Other credits include the 2002 film with Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson, ‘Changing Lanes’, as well as ‘My Cousin Rachel, ‘Blackbird’, ‘Persuasion’, ‘Enduring Love’, and ‘Morning Glory’, with another film, ‘The Duke’, still due to be released, starring Dame Helen Mirren, Matthew Goode, and Jim Broadbent, as reported by thesun.co.uk.

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