Daniel Abineri (born 8 August 1958) is an English

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, actor, director, narrator and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

known for writing the book, music and

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

for the controversial rock musical '' Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom''. The 1994 London production made national news when it caused grave offence to the Roman Catholic Church and was closed down after just nine performances.

Career

Abineri's father was actor John Abineri and his mother was actress Hilary Bamford. From 1974 to 1998, Abineri worked as an actor, starting his career in

repertory theatre A repertory theatre, also called repertory, rep, true rep or stock, which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom ...

in England. He starred as Father Neil opposite Arthur Lowe in the 1970s TV comedy '' Bless Me, Father'', which led to a leading role opposite

Tatum O'Neal Tatum Beatrice O'Neal (born November 5, 1963) is an American actress. At the age of 10, she became the youngest person ever to win a competitive Academy Award, for her performance as Addie Loggins in '' Paper Moon'' co-starring her father, Ry ...

in '' International Velvet''. In 1979, at the age of 21, he was cast as Frank-n-Furter in the first British tour of ''

The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to various B movies associated with the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror genres from the 193 ...

'', a role he played subsequently in the West End and over three thousand times on several tours of Australia and New Zealand, which he also directed. He played the villainous Jake Sanders in the 1980s Australian TV series '' Return to Eden''. He is also credited with giving

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor and film director. Russell Crowe filmography, His work on screen has earned him List of awards and nominations received by Russell Crowe, various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Gold ...

his first professional acting role in a production of ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in New Zealand in 1986, and he subsequently cast Crowe as the lead in ''Bad Boy Johnny and The Prophets of Doom'' in 1989. Other works as an actor include roles in ''

Noises Off ''Noises Off'' is a 1982 farce by the English playwright Michael Frayn. Frayn conceived the idea in 1970 while watching from the wings a performance of '' The Two of Us'', a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funni ...

'', '' Secret Army'', ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'', '' King Cinder'', alongside

Rik Mayall Richard Michael Mayall (; 7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Adrian Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University, and was a pioneer of alternative come ...

in ''

Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis ''Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis'' is a British comedy film directed by John Henderson, originally released in 1997. The film stars Rik Mayall, Jane Horrocks, Danny Aiello and Ross Boatman. The title and plot reference Peckinpah's ''Bring Me ...

'' Arnold Beckoff in the Australian production of '' Torch Song Trilogy'' and

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. One of the major figures in the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, his early stand-up style was Left-wing politics, left-wing political satire ...

's ''

Popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...

'' in London's West End. Abineri has produced and directed several television documentaries, including ''One Hit Wonders'' for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in 1997, ''Walk on the Wild Side'' for

Granada TV ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend Television was its ...

, and ''Murder and Celebrity'' for

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, trading as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through a join ...

and ''A Conversation With

James Lovelock James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating syst ...

'' for Network Films. He is married to TV executive Claudia Rosencrantz, with whom he has one daughter, singer songwriter Lola Aviva. He has three children from a previous marriage: Jennifer, Kate and Joe. On 20 September 2013, Abineri released a new country/folk-rock album of his songs titled ''Honey For Sale''.

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abineri, Daniel 1958 births Living people English male stage actors English male television actors English male dramatists and playwrights English male songwriters English television directors 20th-century English male actors 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 21st-century English male actors 21st-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English male writers 21st-century British male writers