Sam Mendes
(1965-), Theatre director and film-makerSir Samuel Alexander ('Sam') Mendes
Sitter in 5 portraits
Born in Reading, Mendes studied English at Cambridge, where, as a member of the Marlowe Society he directed several plays. Aged twenty-four, he directed a West End production of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard starring Judi Dench, and from there went on to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. As artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse (1992-2002) he produced numerous critically acclaimed plays. Mendes won the Academy Award for Best Director for his debut film American Beauty (1999). Subsequent films include Road to Perdition (2002), Revolutionary Road (2008), the two James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), and 1917 (2019). In 2005 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain. Mendes has also directed award-winning plays and stage musicals including Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013) and Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman (2017).
by Lord Snowdon
vintage bromide print, 21 November 1989
NPG P828
by Nina Mae Fowler
compressed charcoal and pencil on paper, 2019
NPG 7070
by Anderson & Low
archival pigment print, 2 March 2012
NPG x136996
by Anderson & Low
archival inkjet print, 2016 (13 June 2015)
NPG x199393
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