The Dresser

The Dresser is a 1983 British drama film directed by Peter Yates and adapted by Ronald Harwood from his 1980 play The Dresser. It tells the story of an aging actor's personal assistant struggling to keep his employer's life together. The film stars Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay, Zena Walker, Eileen Atkins, Michael Gough, and Edward Fox. Finney and Courtenay were both nominated for Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Golden Globe Awards for their performances, with Courtenay winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama in a tie with Robert Duvall for Tender Mercies. Plot The plot is based on Harwood's experiences as dresser to English Shakespearean actor-manager Sir Donald Wolfit, who is the model for the character "Sir". The film opens with a performance of Othello at a regional theatre in Britain during World War II. In the title role is an aging, once-famous Shakespearean actor identified to us only as "Sir" (Albert Finney). He is of the old, bombastic school of British acting, full of grand gestures and fine oratory. As the curtain comes down on the last act, and as the actors line up for their curtain call, Sir lectures them on the mistakes they've made during the performance, showing us that he is the leader of this travelling band of actors bringing Shakespeare to the provinces during wartime.