- WILLY RUSSELL Willy Russell was born in Whiston, near Liverpool, England, in 1947. Russell has written a string of popular, award-winning plays and musicals, but perhaps one of the most well known is Educating Rita which was successfully made into an Oscar-nominated movie starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters. Other well known Russell works include Shirley Valentine and Blood Brothers.www.ontalink.com/literature/willyrussell