Duncan Kenworthy - Details

Biography

Duncan Kenworthy took a First in English at Cambridge in 1971, and went on to work in New York for several years with the children’s TV series Sesame Street. He then relocated to Kuwait for two years to produce 130 episodes of an Arabic version of the programme. Returning to London, Kenworthy worked first as Jim Henson’s Associate Producer on the feature film Dark Crystal (1981), then as co-creator and producer of Fraggle Rock. He produced several TV dramas written by Anthony Minghella, including The Storyteller and Greek Myths and a one-hour film for Channel 4: Living With Dinosaurs. From 1988 to 1995 Kenworthy was Henson’s Senior VP of Production, taking a leave of absence in 1994 to produce Four Weddings And A Funeral, for which Kenworthy received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations as well as winning the French Cesar and British Academy Award.

In 1995 Kenworthy set up his own company, Toledo Pictures. His first production as an independent was Gulliver’s Travels (1995). The mini-series won 5 Emmy Awards, four RTS Awards and two British Academy Awards. Next was his first collaboration with John Duigan, Lawn Dogs (1997), which premiered at the Montreal Film Festival where Sam Rockwell won the Best Actor Award.

In 1998/99 Kenworthy produced Notting Hill, currently the highest-grossing British film of all time. Notting Hill was a second collaboration with Four Weddings writer Richard Curtis and actor Hugh Grant, starring Julia Roberts and directed by Roger Michell.

Kenworthy is on the Council of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and is a director of the Film Council. He was made an OBE in the 1999 New Year Honours.