IMDb RATING
7.5/10
5.8K
YOUR RATING
Personal assistant Norman struggles to get deteriorating veteran actor Sir through a difficult performance of King Lear.Personal assistant Norman struggles to get deteriorating veteran actor Sir through a difficult performance of King Lear.Personal assistant Norman struggles to get deteriorating veteran actor Sir through a difficult performance of King Lear.
- Nominated for 5 Oscars
- 5 wins & 17 nominations total
Anne Blackman
- Beryl
- (as Anne Mannion)
- Director
- Writer
- Ronald Harwood(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRonald Harwood based his play "The Dresser", and this movie's subsequent screenplay, on the biography "Sir Donald Wolfit CBE: His life and work in the Unfashionable Theatre", and on his own experiences as an actor and dresser for renowned Shakespearian actor Donald Wolfit. Harwood's repertory ensemble, Shakespeare Company, frequently performed Shakespeare's plays, and Harwood was Wolfit's dresser between 1953 and 1958.
- GoofsAfter Sir and Norman leave the marketplace, they're passed by a Routemaster bus. These buses were first used in London in 1954, and weren't used outside London until the 1970's.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Clock (2010)
- Soundtracks(We're Going To Hang Out) The Washing the Siegfried Line
(uncredited)
Music by Michael Carr
Lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy
Sung by Tom Courtenay (as Norman)
Featured review
Finney and Courtenay Work Wonders Together
"The Dresser" is a small but absolutely wonderful film, brilliantly acted by Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay. How in the world this tiny film attracted enough attention to garner five major Academy Award nominations back in 1983 is a mystery to me, but it's nice to know the Academy can be guilty of a display of good taste every once in a while (of course, they gave the award that year to "Terms of Endearment"-- after all, they don't want to be accused of showing TOO much taste).
Albert Finney is a drunken Shakespearean actor in a production of "King Lear"; Tom Courtenay is the man who works double time behind the scenes to keep this actor in front of the footlights. It's both hilarious and piteous to see Courtenay's character showering Finney's with attention and affection, only to see his efforts utterly unappreciated and dismissed, even up to the very bitter end. Finney and Courtenay work wonders together, and though Finney gets the showiest moments (he does get to recite Shakespeare after all), Courtenay is the heart and soul of the film.
Grade: A
Albert Finney is a drunken Shakespearean actor in a production of "King Lear"; Tom Courtenay is the man who works double time behind the scenes to keep this actor in front of the footlights. It's both hilarious and piteous to see Courtenay's character showering Finney's with attention and affection, only to see his efforts utterly unappreciated and dismissed, even up to the very bitter end. Finney and Courtenay work wonders together, and though Finney gets the showiest moments (he does get to recite Shakespeare after all), Courtenay is the heart and soul of the film.
Grade: A
helpful•340
- evanston_dad
- Feb 7, 2008
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Garderober
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £1,456,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $5,310,748
- Gross worldwide
- $5,310,748
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