| Real
name: Noël
Peirce Coward
Born:
16th December
1899 in Teddington, Middlesex,
UK
Died: 26th
March 1973 in Jamaica. (heart
attack)
Other:
Graham
Payn was his longtime companion,
lover and executor of his estate.
They lived together for years,
sharing a seaside home near
Dover, UK.
Knighted in 1970
BIOGRAPHY
- A Glimpse...
Concept
of Englishness...
Noel Coward virtually invented
the concept of Englishness for
the 20th Century.
An astounding dramatist, actor,
writer, composer, lyricist,
painter and wit - he was defined
by his Englishness as much as
he defined it.
Born
into a musical family he was
soon treading the boards in
various music hall shows where
he met a young girl called Gertrude
Lawrence, a friendship and working
partnership that lasted until
her death.
On
stage by the age of six...
At six years old Coward was
on stage, and wrote his first
drama a decade later. He visited
New York in 1921 and brought
back the pace of Broadway to
the jazz mad British 1920's.
He went from strength to strenghtand
his style was copied everywhere,
as quite normal Englishmen donned
dressing gownsand smoked cigarettes
in long.
Cowards
between-the-wars celebrity reached
a peak in 1930 with 'Private
Lives' by which time he had
become the highest earning author
in the Western World.
With the Second World War he
redifined the spirit of the
country in films such as 'This
Happy Breed', 'In Which We Serve',
'Blithe Spirit' and, 'Brief
Encounter'.
Post-war Coward reinvented himself,
this time as a hip cabaret singer.
In the 1960s his play 'Hay Fever'
was the first work by a living
author to be produced at the
National Theatre.
In 1970 he was knighted, and
died in his beloved Jamaica
on 26 March 1973.
Since his death his reputation
has grown and despite
his obvious homosexual lifestyle
he was taken to the hearts of
the people and soon grew into
one of the most popular writer/performers
of the time.
TRIVIA
HRH The Prince Edward unveiled
a statue of Coward at a gathering
of the Broadway theatre community
on Monday, 1 March 1999 at the
Gershwin Theatre (221 West 51st
St.).
The ceremony was the first in
a year-long series of events
in New York celebrating the
100th anniversary of the birth
of the British playwright, songwriter
and performer
His mother named him Noel because
his birthday arrived so close
to Christmas. Was performing
onstage before he was 10 and
wrote some 140 plays, and hundreds
of songs.
Worked undercover for British
Intellegence during WWII.
PERSONAL QUOTES
"If you'd been any prettier,
it would have been Florence
of Arabia."
- (Noel
Coward to O'Toole)
"Mad dogs and Englishmen go
out in the mid-day sun."
"Everybody worships me, it's
nauseating."
"I never care who scored the
goal, or which side won the
silver cup- I never learned
to bat or bowl- But I heard
the curtain going up."
"Wit is like caviar - it should
be served in small portions
and not spread about like
marmalade."
"I
don't much care for Hollywood,
I'd rather have a nice cup
of cocoa."
"My life really has been one
long extravaganza."
" My importance to the
world is relatively small.
On the other hand, my importance
to myself is tremendous. I
am all I have to work with,
to play with, to suffer and
to enjoy. It is not the eyes
of others that I am wary of,
but of my own. I do not intend
to let myself down more than
I can possibly help, and I
find that the fewer illusions
I have about myself or the
world around me, the better
company I am for myself."
Last Words:
"Good night My darlings. I'll
see You in the morning."
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