Ray Connolly has written novels, movies, television films and series, radio plays, short stories and much journalism. After graduating from the London School of Economics, he began a career in journalism at the Liverpool Daily Post, before writing a weekly interview for the London Evening Standard. Since then he has written for the Sunday Times, The Times, the Observer and the Daily Mail.
Working with producer David Puttnam, he wrote the films That’ll Be The Day and Stardust, and wrote and directed the feature length documentary James Dean: The First American Teenager. He has also written for television, including the films Forever Young and Defrosting The Fridge, and the series Lytton’s Diary and Perfect Scoundrels. He also co-wrote the George Martin documentary trilogy about music, The Rhythm of Life for BBC2.
His novels include A Girl Who Came To Stay, Sunday Morning, Shadows On A Wall and Love Out Of Season. There have also been the biographies Being Elvis – A Lonely Life and Being John Lennon – A Restless Life.
For radio he wrote ‘Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition’, which he later adapted as a novella, as well as Lost Fortnight, which was about Raymond Chandler in Hollywood, Unimaginable, concerning the 24 hours around the death of John Lennon (whom he was due to see on the day the former Beatle was murdered), and Devoted, an account of his 102 days in intensive care, and nearly six months in hospital, with Covid in 2020.
He is married to Plum Connolly, has three children and two grandchildren, and lives in London.
