Educating Rita (film) Educating Rita (film) Educating Rita is a British 1983 drama/comedy film directed by Lewis Gilbert with a screenplay by Willy Russell based on his 1980 stage play. The film stars Michael Caine, Julie Walters, and Maureen Lipman. It won multiple major awards for best actor and best actress and was nominated for three Academy Awards. Caine and Walters both won BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for best actor and actress. The British Film Institute ranked "Educating Rita" the 84th greatest British film of the 20th century. A Liverpudlian working-class young hairdresser Rita (Julie Walters) wants to better herself by studying
Willy Russell West End run, the play has been translated and produced in almost every part the globe garnering awards both for its author and for many of the actors who have played the roles of Rita and Frank. Returning to the Liverpool Everyman in 1986, Russell created "Shirley Valentine" which went on to an acclaimed West End run, earning Olivier awards for both its author and star, Pauline Collins, before transferring to New York for a highly successful Broadway run and a Tony Best Actress award for Collins. Like the earlier "Educating Rita", "Shirley Valentine" became an international hit. Both "Shirley