Mike Leigh

From the beginning of his career in the late 1960s, the British theatre, film, and television director Mike Leigh developed a method that involved devising works through improvisation with actors, which he then worked into a written script. Leigh first came to prominence with the film Bleak Moments (1971) and the television play Abigail's Party (1977). Both were adapted from the director's original stage plays. Abigail's Party received a massive Saturday night television audience of 16 million viewers on BBC 2, partly due to the unavailability of other channels because of industrial action and heavy storms causing poor reception. Leigh went on to become one of Britain's most prominent film-makers, winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes for Secrets and Lies (1996).

Rufus F. Folkks/Corbis

Appears in these articles

Free Cinema; Leigh, Mike

*	Exclusively for MSN Encarta Premium Subscribers Join Now