The Dresser (1983 film)  The Dresser is a 1983 British drama film, with a screenplay by Ronald Harwood, based on his 1980 play "The Dresser". It tells the story of an aging actor's personal assistant, who struggles to keep his charge's life together. The film was directed by Peter Yates and produced by Yates with Ronald Harwood. Cinematography was by Kelvin Pike. It stars Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay, Zena Walker, Eileen Atkins, Michael Gough, and Edward Fox. Finney and Courtenay were both nominated for Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Golden Globe Awards for their performances, with Courtenay winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama in a tie with Robert Duvall in "Tender Mercies." The plot is based on Harwood's experiences as dresser to English Shakespearean actor-manager Sir Donald Wolfit, who is the model for the character "Sir". The film opens with a performance of "Othello" at a regional theatre in Britain during World War II. In the title role is an aging, once-famous Shakespearean actor identified to us only as "Sir" (Albert Finney). He is of the old, bombastic school of British acting, full of grand gestures and fine oratory. As the curtain comes down on the last act, and as the actors line up for their curtain call, Sir lectures them on the mistakes they've made during the performance, showing us that he is the leader of this travelling band of actors bringing Shakespeare to the provinces during wartime. Waiting backstage is Norman (Tom Courtenay), who has been Sir's dresser for decades. Norman is an efficient, somewhat effeminate man who knows Sir's every whim and fancy, is used to his tirades and temperamental rants and is, for all intents and purposes, Sir's servant. As Norman waits for Sir to come offstage after a typically florid closing address to the audience, we see one way he copes with his job as he takes a nip from a little bottle of brandy always in his back pocket. The company is hurrying to its next venue, the industrial city of Bradford, where Sir is to give his renowned portrayal of the title character in "King Lear". The train nearly leaves without them, as Sir makes his stately progress through York railway station to the platform, Norman scurrying ahead to plead with the train guard to hold the train for Sir's arrival.