Profile
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OSCAR & BAFTA nominated for The King's Speech
 2010: a roll call of stuttering and strained Windsor's, a revisit of the muscular sword and sorcery of the early 1980s (Conan) and the peculiar dynamics erupting from of the 1950s confluence of a stage leviathan and a rising film sex-symbol(My Week with Marilyn); all in a year's work for Jude Farr who, in a career stretching back to 1983, might not have seen it all before but certainly knows how to present it all on screens small and large.
The historical roots behind Jude's rise to Oscar and BAFTA nomination are to be found at around half past three on afternoons deep in her childhood when the young Jude would leave her sisters and friends playing in the sun drenched garden, make her way into the house, close the curtains and immerse herself in black and white classics on BBC2. The BBC's involvement did not stop there: her father, initially a BBC cameraman who was to rise to head of lighting at the BBC, would take Judy and her friends to Top of the Pops and various sit-coms at Television Centre. With every visit, Jude's resolve to work at this extraordinary centre of creativity stiffened and, following Birmingham art school (Theatre Design - a lot of very earnest Berthold Brecht, apparently) and some work honing her personal and management skills on the local pub scene, Jude found herself on the first rung of the BBC ladder in the spring of 1983. 22 years old and with little experience but limitless enthusiasm, energy and determination, her foot was in the door and no force on earth was going to remove it. She immediately launched herself into her nascent career and, by her father's reckoning had after three months got to know more people than he did in 30 years. Fate brought Jude to the BBC at an ideal time: Black Adder , Hi de Hi, Rory Bremner , Reeves and Mortimer and many other BBC productions gave her a fantastic training that helped so many move into the British film industry. Jude's career since then has been a roll call of talents, places and incident. Working with designer Jim Clay on Maeve Binchy's Circle of Friends and David Putnam on War of the Buttons started a love affair with Ireland's west coast. Her long term collaboration with the late Simon Holland took her to the forests of Borneo (The Sleeping Dictionary) and to Prague where Hannibal Rising introduced her to Dino de Laurentis and designer Allan Starski. It was a pleasant return to Prague, having already worked there with Terry Gilliam on his interpretation of The Brothers Grimm. Then it was back to Britain for Death at a Funeral, when Michael Howells's and Frank Oz's script reduced †all to giggling incoherence, and the contrasting demands of Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things and David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises: insouciant flappers setting a challenging contrast with sinister, brooding bratva. The prestigious OSCAR and BAFTA nominations for "Kings Speech" brings Jude's career full circle as the closing speech of the film was meticulously measured against the original, sourced from the BBC's own archives by her long time friend and associate, Corina Burrough. These bright lights and accolades will, however, forever be shaded by a casual exchange with a couple of Aussie runners on one set. Who wouldn't want to respond to an inquiry as to the origins of a pair of sunnies with: Oliver People's in Harrods - a present from Stanley Kubric. Only with the award in her hand might Jude have something to top this story. 
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