Ray Connolly (born 4 December 1940) is a British writer. He is best known for his journalism and for writing the screenplays for the films ''

That'll Be the Day "That'll Be the Day" is a song written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison. It was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 and was re-recorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, the Crickets. The 1957 recording achieved widespr ...

'' and its sequel '' Stardust'', for which he won a

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The un ...

Best Screenplay award.

Early life

Ray Connolly was born and brought up in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

. He was educated at West Park Catholic Grammar School, St. Helens; Ormskirk Grammar School and the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

where he read social anthropology. There he also edited the LSE magazine Clare Market Review and was an associate editor of the student film magazine

Motion In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and m ...

Career

After entering journalism as a graduate trainee at the ''

Liverpool Daily Post The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013. Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, with the ti ...

'', Connolly then moved to the ''

London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' where he interviewed, among others, many '60s and '70s rock stars and cultural icons, including the Beatles, Muhammad Ali and Elvis Presley. Many of his interviews with the Beatles are collected in '' The Ray Connolly Beatles Archive'', while other interviews are collected in '' Stardust Memories – Talking About My Generation''. He was due to interview John Lennon on the day the ex-Beatle was murdered, an event he wrote about in the BBC radio play '' Unimaginable''. In 2018, he published a biography of the Beatle '' Being John Lennon – A Restless Life''. He has written many articles for the '' Daily Mail'', as well as ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' and ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

''. His novels include; '' A Girl Who Came to Stay'', '' Newsdeath'', '' Sunday Morning'', '' Shadows on a Wall'' and '' Love out of Season'' (which was adapted for radio as '' God Bless Our Love'') and '' Sorry, Boys, You Failed The Audition''. His biography of Elvis Presley, '' Being Elvis – A Lonely Life'' was published in 2016. For the cinema he wrote the films ''

That'll Be The Day "That'll Be the Day" is a song written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison. It was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 and was re-recorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, the Crickets. The 1957 recording achieved widespr ...

'' and its sequel, '' Stardust'' – which was voted the Best Screenplay of 1974 by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. He also wrote and directed the feature-length documentary entitled '' James Dean: The First American Teenager'', while his television drama series have included '' Honky Tonk Heroes'', ''

Lytton's Diary ''Lytton's Diary'' is a drama TV series made by Thames Television for the ITV network about the life of a newspaper gossip columnist. Cast Episodes ''Storyboard'' Lytton's Diary (30 August 1983) – director Brian Parker Series One #Rabid D ...

'' and ''

Perfect Scoundrels ''Perfect Scoundrels'' is an early-1990s British television comedy-drama following two con-men's travels while conning various people. Produced by TVS Television for the ITV network, it ran for three series between 22 April 1990 and 30 May ...

.'' TV films include '' Forever Young'' for Channel 4 and '' Defrosting the Fridge'' for the BBC, while he co-wrote, with Alan Benson, the BBC 2 George Martin series about music ''The Rhythm of Life''. He has also written several radio plays, including '' Lost Fortnight'' (which is about Raymond Chandler in Hollywood), the series '' Tim Merryman's Days of Clover'', and '' Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition'', as well as several short stories for various publications, which are collected in '' A Handful of Love''.

Personal life

He is married, has three children and two grandchildren, and lives with his wife, Plum, in London. In 2020 Ray Connolly contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, and spent almost six months in hospital, including 103 days in intensive care, an experience he turned into the BBC Radio 4 play ''Devoted''. It was broadcast in March 2021.

References

External links

*
Biography at Ray Connolly's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Ray Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics British biographers British male journalists Writers from Lancashire People educated at Ormskirk Grammar School Male biographers 1940 births