Christopher Nolan’s career has always been something that keeps offering audiences visual treats, and complex narratives. Having started his directorial debut with Following in 1999, Nolan has come a long way with a career that boasts of some mind-bending movies. And for what has done for Cinemas, now, the Royal Family has Knighted the Oscar-winning filmmaker and his wife, the producer of most of his films, Emma Thomas.
Christopher Nolan Set to Receive British Knighthood
Christopher Nolan after winning Oscars. Image Credit: Oscars/YouTube
Director Christopher Nolan along with his wife who has been the producer of his major feature films, including The Dark Knight trilogy, 2010’s Inception, 2014’s Interstellar, 2017’s Dunkirk, and 2020’s Tenet are set to receive Knighthood and Damehood respectively from the Royal Family.
A knighthood is granted to “those who have made a significant contribution to their field, usually on a national level.“
And Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas will be honored with knighthood and damehood for their services to the movie industry.
Nolan’s recent movie Oppenheimer was without any doubt the best of his career taking home seven Oscars out of 13 nominations and grossing $960 million so far.
Christopher Noland and Emma Thomas got married in 1997 after both having met at University College London. London-born Nolan and Thomas share four children and run a production company, Syncopy.
Other Oscar-Winners To Receive Knighthood
Christopher Nolan is the latest Oscar winner to be honored with Knighthood. Before him, there were few others to receive this from the Royal Family.
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spie;lberg. Image Credit: Screengrab/Directors Guild of America/YouTube
Film director Steven Spielberg was given an honorary knighthood in recognition of his contribution to the British film industry in 2000. The prolific filmmaker who gave us movies like E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, and Saving Private Ryan was “enormously honored and humbled.”
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (2007). Image Credit: Paramount HE
Triple Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis was bestowed the Knighthood by the Duke of Cambridge in 2014 in honor of his service to drama. The Anglo-Irish actor won his first Oscar for his role as disabled writer Christy Brown in the 1989 Irish drama My Left Foot and a second for his role in 2007’s There Will Be Blood. He completed a rare third win by playing US President Abraham Lincoln in 2012.
Michael Caine
Michael Caine in Educating Rita (1983). Image Credit: Columbia Pictures
Michael Caine became Sir Michael Caine in 2000 as he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in recognition of his services to drama. Caine has appeared in more than 80 films. He has been nominated for an Academy Award five times, winning twice as best supporting actor, for Woody Allen’s 1986 Hannah and Her Sisters, and for Cider House Rules.
Ben Kingsley
Ben Kingsley in House of Sand and Fog (2003). Image Credit: DreamWorks Pictures
Ben Kingsley, the actor who won Oscar for his role in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi was bestowed Knighthood on him in 20022. However, his mother, model and actress Anna Goodman did not accept it.
“My mother refused to acknowledge my knighthood, which I found bitterly hurtful,” said the star. (Via Daily Mirror)
“The wonderful woman who is the Queen and who is almost like a mum had said, ‘We accept you and love what you do’. But my mother refused to acknowledge it had taken place. She was embarrassed and bitter and jealous.”
The Oscar-winner added: “She had a circuit missing and that made her distant and somewhat baffled by her four children, two girls and two boys. Thinking perhaps it would all go away. Adulthood? Whoa. She couldn’t handle it.”
Sir Kingsley is known for his roles in movies like Self/less, The Dictator, House of Sand and Fog, Death and the Maiden, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins in Westworld (2016). Image Credit: HBO
Anthony Hopkins was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for “services to the arts” at Buckingham Palace in 1993. The actor won Oscars for The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and The Father (2020). He became the oldest person. at 83, to receive an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role when he won for The Father.
Sean Connery
Sean Connery in The Anderson Tapes (1971). Image Credit: Columbia Pictures
Sean Connery, the British citizen of Scottish nationality was awarded a knighthood for his services to acting in 2000. He is best known as the original actor to play James Bond in the hugely successful movie franchise, starring in seven films between 1962 and 1983. The 007 actor won an Oscar and a Golden Globe in 1987 for The Untouchables. He was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award and a Golden Globe in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough in Elizabeth (1998). Image Credit: Universal Pictures
Richard Attenborough, who is mostly known for his roles in The Great Escape and Jurassic Park was knighted in 1976. He made his directorial debut in 1969 with the film Oh! What a Lovely War!, in 1982 he delivered his career’s most known film Gandhi that won eight Oscars at the 55th Academy Awards in 1983 which included the Best Director and Best Picture Awards for Attenborough. His last directorial venture in films was Closing the Ring in 2007.
Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier in Uptown Saturday Night (1974). Image Credit: Warner Bros.
The actor, Hollywood’s first Black movie star, and the first Black man to win the Oscar for best actor for his role in Lilies of the Field (1963). Poitier was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974.
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin. Image Credit: United Artists
Charlie Chaplin, became Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin when he was knighted in March 1975 by Queen Elizabeth II. One of Hollywood’s most loved actors, Chaplin was known as the King of Comedy for his screen persona. During the 44th Academy Awards ceremony, Charlie Chaplin received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his iconic career.
