Source: Times (London), BBC News

Quentin Crisp portrait photo via Flickr

British TV network ITV is to produce An Englishman In New York, a new 90-minute drama, in which Hurt reprises his acclaimed role as the maverick gay icon.

Hurt, 68 , won the Bafta Best Actor award for the 1975 Thames Television film, based on Crisp’s memoirs, which were first published in 1968. The Naked Civil Servant documented Crisp’s troubles when he refused to hide his homosexuality and lifestyle during a time when being gay was illegal in Britain.

Laura Mackie, ITV's director of drama, said it was "a real thrill" to enable Hurt "to reprise such an iconic role".

Crisp, who once described himself as the "Stately Homo of England", died in 1999 at the age of 90 after launching a revival of his hit one-man show. 

The new film, which follows Crisp’s life in his adopted home through the 80s and 90s, is based on the flamboyant character’s own recollections and those of his friends.

Initially entertained by celebrities in his new home, Manhattan, Crisp is shunned by high society when he jokingly pronounces AIDS a “fad” at a soiree.

But the film shows Crisp’s vindication when he is immortalised by pop star Sting in the song An Englishman in New York and rediscovered by a new generation.

The sequel is being written by Brian Fillis, who dramatised the relationship between Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett in the acclaimed BBC Four film The Curse of Steptoe.

ITV's Mackie said that Fillis's script "completely captures the extraordinary and outrageous character of Quentin Crisp."

Hurt, whose many films include Alien, The Elephant Man and Midnight Express, can now be seen in cinemas in thriller The Oxford Murders.

He also has a supporting role in the fourth Indiana Jones movie alongside Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett.

Full article: John Hurt to play 'stately homo' - Naked Civil Servant Quentin Crisp - again | Times (London)
Actor Hurt to reprise Crisp role | BBC News