Roger Michell, the British stage, television and film director whose movies include the indelibly popular romcom \u00ab\u00a0Notting Hill,\u00a0\u00bb has died , his family said Thursday. He \u2026<\/b>
\nRoger Michell, the British stage, television and film director whose movies include the indelibly popular romcom \u00ab\u00a0Notting Hill,\u00a0\u00bb has died, his family said Thursday. He was 65. Michell\u2019s family said in a statement that he died on Wednesday. They didn’t disclose the place or cause of death. \u00ab\u00a0It is with great sadness that the family of Roger Michell, director, writer and father of Harry, Rosie, Maggie and Sparrow, announce his death at the age of 65 on September 22nd,\u00a0\u00bb said the statement released through Michell\u2019s publicist. Born in South Africa, where his father was posted as a British diplomat, Michell began his directing career with British theaters including the Royal Court, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He made acclaimed television series in the 1990s, including adaptations of Hanif Kureishi’s novel \u00ab\u00a0The Buddha of Suburbia\u00a0\u00bb and Jane Austen\u2019s \u00ab\u00a0Persuasion.\u00a0\u00bb On the big screen, his biggest commercial hit was \u00ab\u00a0Notting Hill,\u00a0\u00bb the Richard Curtis-penned comedy about an awkward romance between a movie star played by Julia Roberts and a London bookshop owner, played by Hugh Grant. After its release in 1999 it was for a time the highest-grossing British film in history, and Michell followed it with Hollywood thriller \u00ab\u00a0Changing Lanes,\u00a0\u00bb starring Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson. He was courted to direct a James Bond film \u2014 the one that became \u00ab\u00a0Quantum of Solace\u00a0\u00bb \u2014 but turned it down because, he later said, the movie \u00ab\u00a0had everything, but no script.\u00a0\u00bb He largely made films in Britain, often drawing superb performances from actors. They include 2003 release \u00ab\u00a0The Mother,\u00a0\u00bb with Anne Reid and Daniel Craig; the next year\u2019s \u00ab\u00a0Enduring Love,\u00a0\u00bb based on an Ian McEwan novel and again starring Craig; and \u00ab\u00a0Venus,\u00a0\u00bb which gained Peter O\u2019Toole an Academy Award nomination in 2007. Later films included \u00ab\u00a0Hyde Park on Hudson,\u00a0\u00bb a 2012 historical drama starring Bill Murray as President Franklin D. Roosevelt; Daphne du Maurier adaptation \u00ab\u00a0My Cousin Rachel,\u00a0\u00bb starring Rachel Weisz, released in 2017; and \u00ab\u00a0The Duke,\u00a0\u00bb a real-life art heist story starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren that premiered at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. At the time of his death he was working on a documentary about Queen Elizabeth II. Michell was married twice: to actor Kate Buffery, and after their divorce to actor Anna Maxwell Martin, from whom he was separated. He is survived by both women and by his four children, two from each relationship.<\/p>\n