Rupert Everett

Rupert Everett has enjoyed mixed fortunes in his personal life (and at the box office) but one or two great roles have ensured his place in the Hollywood pantheon. Schooled by monks at the Benedictine college at Ampleforth, Everett ran away at 16, eventually joining the Central School of Speech and Drama. He left after disputes with his teachers, fled to Scotland and took up an apprenticeship with the Citizen’s Theatre of Glasgow.

In 1982, he appeared as Cambridge spy Guy Bennett in the stage production of Another Country, and then in the film opposite Colin Firth. Everett was mesmerising. Dance With A Stranger was filmed a year later and his career seemed set. Then he started making bad choices and, stung or bored by poor reviews, he laid low for several years.

Everett returned in 1994 with two corkingly camp roles  the philandering fashionista in Prêt A Porter and the comically imbecilic Prince of Wales in The Madness Of King George. But it is his tour de force role as Julia Roberts’ hilarious friend in My Best Friend’s Wedding for which he is still remembered; as much for his character’s unapologetic homosexuality as for his wonderfully relaxed performance.