Stephen Fry needs no introduction. A British household name, he first came to prominence in the 1990s as one half of comic double act Fry & Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, kickstarting a career marked by hits including Alfresco (1983–1984) and Blackadder (1986–1989), and working alongside longtime friends and stage stalwarts Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane and Rowan Atkinson. As well as his work that has seen him tread the boards of the world’s biggest stages and television sets, Fry is also the president of mental health charity Mind – and, in 2025, was knighted for services to mental health awareness, the environment and charity – and is the author of four novels and three autobiographies. Quite the CV, I’m sure you can agree? 

Such success naturally comes with awards and Fry’s trophy cabinet is extensive. During the past three decades he’s been nominated for nine BAFTAs, two Grammys, two Tonys and a Golden Globe, to name just a few, and added yet another prestigious string to his bow last night at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Returning to London for the first time since 2023 – last year was skipped due to the writer’s strike – the star-studded event at Raffles at The OWO celebrated the best and brightest of the UK and Ireland’s creative industries, including Emma Corrin, Ambika Mod and Joe Alwyn. 

The highest accolade of the evening – the prestigious Icon Award – was presented to Fry in recognition of his remarkable contribution across a varied career spanning more than 25 years. Speaking on stage, he said: “I have every reason to be extraordinarily grateful for my life. I grew up as someone who was pretty much hopeless at everything; I couldn’t sing, I couldn’t catch a ball – I was one of those rather unfortunate uncoordinated children who would clap their hands when it came towards them – I was mocked in school for not being able to dance, to play music, to draw, to paint. But I discovered I loved telling stories.” 

Reflecting on his adolescence at the Uppingham boys’ boarding school in Rutland, he would tell stories after ‘lights out’, which ignited his passion for performing. “I would […] play with words and language, and to my enormous surprise this one thing we all share – the ability to speak to each other, the ability to make up stories – is not as grand as being able to run fast, catch, jump, or paint or draw, or play music, because we can all do it. It is that very fact that we can all do it that makes it so extraordinarily wonderful; when actors get together, tell stories, become other people and entertain the world.

“I have learnt everything in the past 45 years since I was let loose [in the world of acting] and I’ve had nothing but the most extraordinary pleasure working with incredible people, people who are so fascinating and interesting. I spend a great deal of time not in the trailer because I love talking to crew people, and craftspeople, and technicians, and fellow actors, gossiping and laughing. It is the greatest privilege in the world. 

“[Playwright] Noel Coward had a sign above his desk that said ‘work is more fun than fun’, and if you are lucky enough to find work is more fun than fun, then really you have drawn first prize in the lottery of life.” 

An avid historian, Fry also reflected on the history of Raffles at The OWO: a landmark edifice where Churchill once roamed the halls during its tenure as the primary headquarters of the British War Office. Speaking on the antics and scandal that often embroiled Westminster back then, Fry said: “I was lucky enough to know the wonderful Field Marshal Lord Bramall, who knew Churchill. Bramall and I would watch the cricket together and he told a story about this place, just in St James’s Park. 

“In his second premiership, Churchill was woken up by his secretary at 6am and sat up very quickly and said: ‘What is it? Is it war? What’s happened?’ ‘No, prime minister, I’m afraid on Friday night one of our backbenchers was caught in St James’s Park in the bushes with a young guardsman and News of the World got hold of it this morning and there’s going to be a bit of a scandal. ‘Friday night?’ Yes, Sir Winston.’ ‘Very cold on Friday night.’ ‘Well yes, prime minister, I believe it was the coldest November 9^th for 40 years.’ There was a slight pause, to which Churchill said: ‘It makes you proud to be British’.”

Looking to the future, meanwhile, Fry was quick to enthuse on the breadth and depth of talent emerging in the British film industry. “It’s extraordinary to see the remarkable diversity – yes of background and of upbringing and so on – but the diversity of talent: the wit, the fire, the extraordinary ability that these young people have. In 20 or 30 years in time, one of them I’m sure will win one of these fabulous awards and they, like me, will be able to look back on a life filled with luck and love.”

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