In 1984 Jeremy Irons played the title role of Volker Schlondorff's film Swann in Love. He followed this tour de force performance by the Broadway run of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing for which he won both the Drama League Award and Tony Award for Best Actor.
He then starred with Robert De Niro in The Mission and spent 1986 as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon, playing Leontes in The Winter's Tale, Willmore in Aphra Behan's The Rover and the title role in Richard II. The latter production transferred to the Barbican Theatre in London for a season followed by The Rover at the Mermaid Theatre.
