Trivia

Was merciless in his reviews of Vivien Leigh's theatre performances. Laurence Olivier wrote in his autobiography that Tynan's harsh criticism was responsible for at least one of Leigh's nervous breakdowns.

Father of Tracy Tynan.

Co-director (with Laurence Olivier) of the National Theatre of Great Britain. It was Tynan who said that he would only accept the post if Olivier played Othello in Shakespeare's "Othello", something that Olivier had always resisted doing (he had played Iago on stage opposite Ralph Richardson as Othello in the 1930s).

Is portrayed by Rob Brydon in Kenneth Tynan: In Praise of Hardcore (2005)

Father-in-law of Jim McBride.

He was, for a short time, script editor for Ealing Films in the last days of that company.

Described by Charles Laughton (whom he had lately interviewed) as "sly, slimy, eel-like and oleaginous".

He smoked 40 Dunhill cigarettes a day, even after being diagnosed with emphysema.