Christopher Hampton
He masterfully translated 18th-century French decadence and modern psychological turmoil into award-winning stage and screen drama.
Born 1946 (age 80)·British playwright, screenwriter and translator·Birthday: January 26·Baby Boomers
Biography
Christopher Hampton operates in the razor-sharp space where language, desire, and power intersect. A precocious talent, his first play was produced while he was still at university. His defining work, 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses,' brilliantly adapted the epistolary French novel into a sleek, cruel theatrical masterpiece that captivated London and Broadway. Hampton then proved his skill was not period-bound by adapting it into the Oscar-winning film 'Dangerous Liaisons,' a rare case of a playwright successfully translating his own stage work to cinema. His career is a model of intellectual versatility, moving seamlessly from original plays to sharp screen adaptations of complex novels like 'Atonement' and 'The Father,' the latter earning him a second Academy Award. He is a translator in the broadest sense, finding the urgent human drama within dense source material and rendering it with chilling clarity.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Christopher was born in 1946, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Christopher Was Born
The biggest hits of 1946
#1 Movie
The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Picture
The Best Years of Our Lives
Christopher's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1946Born
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1951Started school
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1959Became a teenager
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1962Could drive
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1964Could vote
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1967Turned 21
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1976Turned 30
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1986Turned 40
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1996Turned 50
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
2006Turned 60
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Gas: $2.59/galHome: $174,700Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Bad Day" — Daniel PowterBest Picture: The Departed
2016Turned 70
Donald Trump elected president; Brexit vote
Gas: $2.14/galHome: $181,700Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Love Yourself" — Justin BieberBest Picture: Moonlight
2026Turned 80
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Wrote the play 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses,' which won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 1986.
- Won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film version of 'Dangerous Liaisons' (1988).
- Won a second Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for 'The Father' (2020).
- Adapted Ian McEwan's novel 'Atonement' for the screen, earning another Oscar nomination.
- Translated numerous plays by Ibsen, Molière, and Yasmina Reza for the English-speaking stage.
Did You Know?
At 24, he became the youngest playwright ever to have a work staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
He also wrote the book for the musical 'Sunset Boulevard,' collaborating with Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Hampton was knighted in 2020 for services to drama.
“Writing is a question of finding a voice you can sustain.”
