Jonathan Lynn: Writer and Director of Clue, YES, & Prime Minister
Jonathan Lynn co‐created and co‐wrote the entire series Yes, Prime Minister, which is listed among the top ten series of all‐time according to the British Film Institute. He wrote and directed his first feature film Clue (1985) with an all‐star cast, directed his screenplay Nuns on the Run (1990), which starred Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, and the acerbic comedy My Cousin Vinny (1992), which earned Marisa Tomei an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress. The Distinguished Gentleman (1992), starring Eddie Murphy, raised the issue of campaign finance reform long before the average American recognized the problem. Other films include The Whole Nine Yards with Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry, which was number 1 at the US box‐office for three weeks, and The Fighting Temptations (2003) with Beyonce Knowles and Cuba Gooding, an uplifting tour de force of gospel music. The film won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Picture of 2003. Lynn directed numerous plays in London, beginning in the mid 1970s. They include: The Glass Menagerie (1977); Songbook (1979); Anna Christie (1979‐80) at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and the Donmar; A Little Hotel on the Side by Georges Feydeau, adapted by John Mortimer at the National Theatre, and Three Men on a Horse at the National Theatre (Olivier Award, Best Comedy). He also directed and wrote (with Antony Jay) their stage play Yes Prime Minister, a smash hit in the West End, and in 2016 he wrote and directed The Patriotic Traitor at the Park theatre. His other books include the novels Mayday and Samaritans and a memoir Comedy Rules.