Seemingly assured of an Oscar for his ‘phenomenal’ performance in Conclave, Ralph Fiennes was, in the end, pipped by American actor Adrien Brody.
But fans outraged by that perverse decision have a delicious consolation prize in prospect.
Fiennes, who is 62 years old and has received previous Oscar nominations for his roles in Schindler’s List and The English Patient, is set to reunite with Francesca Annis, whom he had an affair with 30 years ago. This time, they will be sharing the stage in a new play called Small Hotel at the Theatre Royal Bath this October. Their affair started after both starred in a production of Hamlet, despite Annis being 17 years older than Fiennes.
In the upcoming play, Small Hotel, Fiennes will portray the character Larry, described as ‘an acclaimed TV celebrity…forced to unpick his past and confront his future’. The play promises an intriguing exploration of Larry’s life and decisions, with Fiennes taking on this challenging role alongside Annis.
Even more piquantly, Annis is to play Fiennes’s mother – just as she did three decades ago when she played Gertrude to Fiennes’ Hamlet.
The connection between Fiennes and Annis was so strong back in 1995 that within two years, Fiennes confessed to his then-wife, actress Alex Kingston, that their marriage was over. This upcoming reunion on stage is set to bring together two talented actors with a shared history and the opportunity to deliver captivating performances in Small Hotel.
I hear that Fiennes, 62, whose previous Oscar nominations were for roles in Schindler’s List and The English Patient, is to be reunited – on stage, at least – with Francesca Annis, 30 years after they embarked on an affair (Seen in 2000)
Annis was 17 years Fiennes’s senior at the time of the affair, which began after starring in a production of Hamlet
Annis, who was 50, similarly disentangled herself from photographer Patrick Wiseman, who’d been the man in her life since 1974, and with whom, though they’d never married, she’d had three children.
But the new couple parted in 2006 after Cornelia Crisan, 31, a London-based Romanian singer, recounted how she and Fiennes had enjoyed a two-year affair.
It began, she said, after Fiennes spotted her at the Dorchester Hotel, in London’s West End, where he treated her to champagne and seduced her.
Thereafter, claimed Crisnan, they met at a ‘bolt-hole’ in London’s East End, far from the house he shared with Annis.
The following year, a Qantas stewardess told of two passionate encounters with Fiennes – the first aboard a flight from Australia to India, where the actor was to talk about safe sex, and the second in a Mumbai hotel.
In 2023, I revealed that Fiennes had grown close to Amelia Richards, a society figure who’d just parted from James Lindsay, son of one of Queen Camilla’s closest friends, Lady Amabel Lindsay.
It will be a joy to watch him reconnect with Annis. ‘I am a glass-half-full person,’ she once reflected. ‘Something will turn up and, whatever it is, it’ll be fine.’
Fiennes met Annis when he starred in the critically-acclaimed stage production of Hamlet at the Hackney Empire in 1995.
They are to appear together at the Theatre Royal Bath this October in a new play, Small Hotel, in which Fiennes will play Larry (Fiennes seen in March)
So intense was Fiennes and Annis’s connection in 1995 that, within two years, Fiennes had told his wife, actress Alex Kingston, whom he’d married in 1993, that their union was over (Seen in 2006)
He starred in the title role while Francesca – who 17 years his senior – was playing his mother Gertrude.
Both were involved in long-term relationships at the time – with Fiennes married to Alex Kingston while she was with photographer Patrick Wiseman, the father of her three children.
Speaking about dating a man nearly two decades younger, Annis previously said: ‘Of course I don’t spend days agonising over the age difference. How can I? There is nothing I can do about it.
‘Ralph and I have been together ten years now so, whatever happens, we have had a very good, different relationship and an interesting time.’
In 2005 Fiennes was linked to Showgirls star Gina Gershon by gossip columnists in New York, but he strongly denied the claims and launched legal proceedings against the paper.
The following year singer Cornelia Crisan alleged she’d had a two-year affair with the actor and the following day Fiennes and Annis announced they’d split after 11 years together.
Annis, who was 50, similarly disentangled herself from photographer Patrick Wiseman, who’d been the man in her life since 1974, and with whom, though they’d never married, she’d had three children
Sources close to the couple told The Evening Standard: ‘It has been a difficult time for the both of them, particularly as they have not even seen each other since the revelations broke.
‘Seeing all their private details laid out in all the newspapers has made them both think about their future together.
‘Things have not been good for quiet a while. Francesca seems to have been different since she reached 60 and they both realised how big the age gap is between them. Ralph, meanwhile, has been having a mid-life crisis of his own.
‘Having their relationship raked over has made him, in particular, decide that it is time to call it a day on the relationship. It is very sad.’
