1899-12-15 ( 125 years old ) in Teddington, Middlesex, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 1899 – 26 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".
Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy in London as a child, making his professional stage début at the age of eleven. As a teenager he was introduced into the high society in which most of his plays would be set. Coward achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit, have remained in the regular theatre repertoire. He composed hundreds of songs, in addition to well over a dozen musical theatre works (including the operetta Bitter Sweet and comic revues), poetry, several volumes of short stories, the novel Pomp and Circumstance, and a three-volume autobiography. Coward's stage and film acting and directing career spanned six decades, during which he starred in many of his own works.
At the outbreak of World War II, Coward volunteered for war work, running the British propaganda office in Paris. He also worked with the Secret Service, seeking to use his influence to persuade the American public and government to help Britain. Coward won an Academy Honorary Award in 1943 for his naval film drama, In Which We Serve, and was knighted in 1969. In the 1950s he achieved fresh success as a cabaret performer, performing his own songs, such as "Mad Dogs and Englishmen", "London Pride" and "I Went to a Marvellous Party".
His plays and songs achieved new popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and his work and style continue to influence popular culture. Coward did not publicly acknowledge his homosexuality, but it was discussed candidly after his death by biographers including Graham Payn, his long-time partner, and in Coward's diaries and letters, published posthumously. The former Albery Theatre (originally the New Theatre) in London was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre in his honour in 2006.
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Movies
Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story
2023-06-02
The South Bank Show: Noël Coward
1992-03-01
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
1991-10-28
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
1988-02-04
The Italian Job
1969-06-02
Boom!
1968-05-26
Androcles and the Lion
1967-11-15
Bunny Lake Is Missing
1965-10-03
Paris When It Sizzles
1964-03-01
Surprise Package
1960-09-29
Our Man in Havana
1960-01-27
Around the World in Eighty Days
1956-10-17
Blithe Spirit
1956-01-14
The Astonished Heart
1950-03-17
Brief Encounter
1945-11-24
Blithe Spirit
1945-04-05
Le Journal de la Résistance
1945-01-01
In Which We Serve
1942-09-17
Men Are Not Gods
1936-11-26
The Scoundrel
1935-04-30
Hearts of the World
1918-03-11
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