| Revision as of 03:19, 4 April 2008 editG2bambino (talk | contribs)19,847 edits →Private life: npov← Previous edit | Revision as of 15:17, 4 April 2008 edit undoKbthompson (talk | contribs)40,503 edits moved Noel Coward to Noël Coward: diacritical marks are part of name - move attempted by another user - but should not be cut and paste!Next edit → | ||
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| {{Infobox Actor | |||
| | bgcolour = silver | |||
| | name = Sir Noel Coward | |||
| | image = Noelcoward.JPG | |||
| | caption = | |||
| | birthname = Noël Peirce Coward | |||
| | birthdate = ] ] | |||
| | location = ], ], ] | |||
| | deathdate = ] ] (aged {{age|1899|12|16|1973|3|26}}) | |||
| | deathplace = ], ] | |||
| | academyawards = ''']''' <br> 1943 '']'' | |||
| }} | |||
| '''Sir Noël Peirce <!-- YES, it is spelled PEIRCE --> Coward''' (] ] – ] ]) was an ] ], ] and ] of ], who received an Academy certificate of merit at the 1943 Academy Awards for "outstanding production achievement in 'In Which We Serve.'"<ref name="ampas">. Search "Noel Coward."</ref> | |||
| ==Early life== | |||
| He was born in ], ], ] to Arthur Sabin Coward (1856–1937), a clerk, and his wife Violet Agnes (1863–1954), daughter of Henry Gordon Veitch, captain and surveyor in the ]. He was the second of their three sons, the eldest of whom had died in 1898 at the age of six. He began performing in the ] at an early age. He was a childhood friend of ], whose mother warned her against him. | |||
| A student at the ] stage school, Coward’s first professional engagement was on ], ], in the children’s play ''The Goldfish''. After this appearance, he was sought after for children’s roles by other professional ]. He was cast as the ] Slightly in the 1913 production of '']''. | |||
| At the age of 14, he became the lover of ], a society painter who took him in and introduced him to high society in the form of Mrs. Astley Cooper. She gathered a ] of artists and invited him to live on her property at ], but on the farm rather than in the Hall, due to his lower social class.<ref>. CultureVulture.net.</ref> Streatfeild died from ] in 1915. | |||
| He played in several productions with Sir ], a Victorian actor and comedian, whom he idolized and to whom he virtually apprenticed himself until he was 20. It was from Hawtrey that Coward learned comic acting techniques and playwriting. He was drafted briefly into the ] during ] but was discharged due to ill health. Coward appeared in the ] film '']'' (1918) in an uncredited role. He found his voice and began writing plays that he and his friends could star in while at the same time writing revues. | |||
| ==Success == | |||
| He starred in one of his first full-length plays, the ] ] '']'', in ] at the age of 20. The following year he completed a one-act satire, ''The Better Half'', about a man's relationship with two women, and it had a short run at the ] in 1922. The play was thought to be lost until a typescript was rediscovered in 2007 in the archive of the ], which at that time licensed all plays for performance in the UK , and imposed cuts or complete bans.<ref>Thorpe, Vanessa. ''The Observer'', ] ]. Retrieved on ] ].</ref> | |||
| After he enjoyed some moderate success with the ]-esque '']'' in ], the controversy surrounding his play '']'' (1924), which contains many veiled references to ] and ], made him an overnight sensation on both sides of the ]. Coward followed this with three more major hits, '']'', '']'' (both 1925) and '']'' (1926). | |||
| Much of Coward's best work came in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Enormous (and enormously popular) productions, such as the full-length ] '']'' (1929) and '']'' (1931), a huge ] requiring a very large cast, gargantuan sets and an exceedingly complex hydraulic stage, were interspersed with finely-wrought comedies such as '']'' (1930), in which Coward himself starred alongside his most famous stage partner, ]; and the black comedy '']'' (1932), written for ] and ]. | |||
| Coward again partnered Lawrence in '']'' (1936), an ambitious cycle of ten short plays that were randomly "shuffled" to make up a different playbill of three plays each night. One of these plays, ''Still Life'', was expanded into the 1945 ] film '']''. He was also a prolific writer of popular songs, and a lucrative recording contract with HMV allowed him to release a number of recordings, many now reissued on CD. Coward's most popular hits include the romantic '']'' and ''Dear Little Café''; and the comic '']'', '']'' and ''(Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage) ]'' | |||
| ==World War II== | |||
| The outbreak of ] in ] saw Coward working harder than ever. When the war started he had only just left ]. He took time off from writing to perform for the troops, but after was eager to return. Alongside his highly-publicised tours entertaining Allied troops, he was also engaged by the British Secret Service ] in intelligence work. He was often frustrated by the criticism he faced for his ostensibly glamorous lifestyle, apparently living the high life while his countrymen suffered - especially his trips to America to sway opinion formers there.<ref name="hastings">Hastings, Chris. Telegraph.co.uk. 3 November 2007.</ref> He was unable, however, to defend himself because he could not reveal that he was working for the Secret Service. | |||
| ], a personal friend, encouraged the government to award Coward a knighthood for his efforts in 1942. This was blocked by ], who disapproved of Coward's flamboyant lifestyle.<ref name="hastings"/> Churchill advised giving the official reason as being Coward's fine of ₤200 for currency offences (he had spent ₤11,000 on a trip to America). | |||
| Had the Germans invaded Britain, Coward would have been arrested and killed as he was on ], along with other public figures such as ], targeted for his socialist views. While some feel that this may have been due to his homosexuality, recent documents have surfaced showing Coward to have been a covert operative in ].{{Fact|date=February 2008}} | |||
| Coward wrote and released some extraordinarily popular songs during the war, the most famous of which are '']'' and '']''. He complained to ], his frequent painting companion, that he felt he was not doing enough to support the war effort. Churchill suggested he make a movie based on the career of Captain Lord ]. The result was a naval film drama, '']'', which Coward wrote, starred in, composed the music for and co-directed, with ]. The film was immensely popular on both sides of the Atlantic and Coward was awarded an honorary certificate of merit at the 1943 ] ceremony.<ref name="ampas"/> | |||
| The 1940s saw Coward write some of his best plays. The social commentary of '']'' and the intricate semi-autobiographical comedy-drama '']'' (both 1939) were later combined with the hugely successful black comedy '']'' (1941) to form a West End triple-bill, which starred Coward in all three simultaneous productions. ''Blithe Spirit'' went on to make box-office records for a West End comedy that were not beaten until the 1970s,{{Fact|date=February 2008}} and was made into a film directed by ]. | |||
| ==Later works== | |||
| Coward's popularity as a playwright declined sharply in the 1950s, with plays such as '']'', '']'', '']'' and '']'' failing to find much favour with critics or audiences. Despite this he maintained a high public profile, continuing to write (and occasionally star in) moderately successful West End plays and musicals, performing an acclaimed solo cabaret act in ] (available on CD), and starring in films such as '']'', '']'', '']'', '']'' and '']''. | |||
| After starring in a number of American TV specials in the late 1950s alongside ], Coward left the UK for tax reasons. He first settled in ] but later moved to ], where he remained for the rest of his life. His play '']'' (1960), set in a rest home for retired actresses, marked a turning-point in his popularity, gaining plaudits from critics, who likened it to the work of ].{{Fact|date=February 2008}} The late 1960s saw a revival in his popularity, with several new productions of his 1920s plays and a number of revues celebrating his music; Coward dubbed this comeback "Dad's Renaissance". | |||
| Coward's final stage work was '']'' (1966), a trilogy set in a hotel penthouse suite, with him taking the lead roles in all three. The trilogy gained excellent reviews and did good box office business in the UK. Coward intended to star in ''Suite in Three Keys'' on ] but was unable to travel due to illness. Only two of the plays were performed in New York, with the title changed to '']'' and the lead taken by ]. | |||
| ==Death== | |||
| By now suffering from severe ] and bouts of memory loss, which affected his work in '']'', Coward retired from the theatre. He was knighted in 1970, and died in Jamaica in March 1973 of heart failure at the age of 73. He was buried three days later on the brow of Firefly Hill, Jamaica, overlooking the north coast of the island. On ] ], a memorial stone was unveiled by the ] in ], ]. | |||
| As well as over 50 published plays and many albums' worth of original songs, Coward wrote comic revues, poetry, several volumes of ], the ] '']'' (1960) and three volumes of ]. Books of his ] lyrics, diaries and letters have also been published. | |||
| He was a spirited painter, and a volume containing reproductions of some of his artwork has also been published. | |||
| The ] on ] opened on ] ], after extensive refurbishment, for the ] premiere of ]. The theatre opened in ] as the ''New Theatre'', renamed the ''Albery Theatre'' in ]. Coward made his West End début at the New Theatre, in 1920. | |||
| ==Private life== | |||
| Coward was ] and never married, but he maintained close personal friendships with many women. These included actress and author ], his first collaborator and constant correspondent; the designer and lifelong friend ]; secretary and close confidante Lorn Loraine; his muse, the gifted musical actress ]; actress ]; compatriot of his middle period, the light comedy actress ]; and (in the words of Cole Lesley) 'his loyal and lifelong ''amitié amoureuse''', film star ]. | |||
| He was a valued friend of ], ], ], ], ] and ]. He was a close friend of ] and ]. | |||
| Coward's insights into the class system can be traced back to London life in World War I, when thousands of troops passed through the capital every day, and officers and other ranks met civilians in dozens of highly secret clubs. | |||
| He enjoyed a 19-year relationship with ]<ref>Picknett, Lynn, Clive Prince, Stephen Prior, and Brydon, Robert. ''War of the Windsors: A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy'', p. 56. Mainstream Publishing, 2002. ISBN 1-84018-631-3.</ref> and another lengthy one with the stage and film actor, ], for almost 30 years until his death. Payn later co-edited with ] the collection of his diaries, published in 1982. He was also connected to composer ], with details of their relationship published in Rorem's diaries. | |||
| Coward refused to acknowledge his sexual orientation, wryly stating, "There is still a woman in ] who wants to marry me, and I don't want to disappoint her." From his youth Coward had a distaste for penetrative sex and held the modern gay scene in disdain.<ref>Hoare, Philip. ''Noel Coward, A Biography''. Sinclair-Stevenson 1995. ISBN 1-85619-265-2.</ref> | |||
| He was the president of ], an orphanage supported by the theatrical industry. In that capacity he befriended the young ], who was in the care of the orphanage, becoming Collinson's godfather and helping him get started in show business. When Collinson was a successful director he invited Coward to play a role in the film '']''; Graham Payn also played a small role. | |||
| Coward was a neighbour in ] of ]'s creator ] and his wife Anne, the former ]. Though he was very fond of both of them, the Flemings' marriage was not a happy one, and Noel eventually tired of their constant bickering, as recorded in his diaries. When the first film adaptation of a James Bond novel, '']'' was being produced, Coward was approached for the role of the villain. He is said to have responded, "Doctor No? No. No. No."{{Fact|date=February 2008}} | |||
| When speaking to ] about his performance in '']'', he said "If you'd been any prettier, it would have been 'Florence of Arabia'."{{Fact|date=February 2008}} | |||
| When someone pointed out a rising young actor at a party with the words "]" Coward's instant reply was "Gone tomorrow."{{Fact|date=February 2008}} | |||
| The Papers of Noel Coward are held in the ] Special Collections. | |||
| On the BBC ''Midweek'' television programme on ] ] ] revealed that Coward had told him during an interview that he liked to attend and watch hospital operations in his spare time; apparently when Davies started to push this line further Coward clammed up on the subject and would not elaborate. | |||
| ==Parodies and popular culture== | |||
| ] of and homages to Coward and his style include: | |||
| *The character of Beverly Carlton in the 1939 Broadway play '']'' was based on Coward. He was portrayed by ] in the 1942 film of the play. | |||
| * In the 1982 film ''Better Late Than Never'', ] played Nick Cartland, an aging cabaret artiste, whose showpiece is ''I've Been To A Marvellous Party''. | |||
| *Jon Wynne-Tyson's play ''Marvellous Party'', about a middle-age reunion in Las Vegas of Coward and his collaborator Esmé Wynne-Tyson was broadcast by the ] in May 1994, starring ] as Coward and ] as Wynne-Tyson. | |||
| *In 1998 '']'' was released. The album contains Coward's songs performed by Sting, Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, The Divine Comedy, Vic Reeves, Paul McCartney and others. | |||
| *Coward (performed by ]) appeared as a regular character in the fifth and sixth series of the award winning BBC sitcom '']''. | |||
| *Coward is the leading figure in ]'s comedy, '']'', also featuring ] and ] (the 'Dickie' of the title), first staged at the ] in London in September 2004.<ref>Martin, Dominic. . TheStage.co.uk. 27 September 2004.</ref> | |||
| *The name of the men's clothing line 'Godspeed the Well-Dressed Man' came from the closing of one of Coward's letters. | |||
| * ] parodied Noel Coward in the '']'' segment of their 1983 movie, '']'' and in their album '']'' as '']''. | |||
| *The Doctor Who novel '']'' features a version of Coward who has allied himself with alien ] and gained ] technology. | |||
| *In the "Meltdown" episode of the BBC comedy ], Noel Coward appears as a wax-droid on a theme park planet. | |||
| *The opening to the song "]" includes the line "Alas, I missed the Beaux Arts Ball, and what is twice as sad I was never at a party where they honored Noel Ca-ad (Coward)". | |||
| *Coward's play '']'' is parodied in the off-Broadway musical revue '']'' in a short scene entitled "Private Wives". | |||
| *Marcy Kahan's Noel Coward quintet for BBC Radio 4 dramatises Coward as a detective in "Design For Murder" (2000), "A Bullet at Balmain's" (2003) and "Death at the Desert Inn" (2005), and as a spy in "Blithe Spy" (2002) and "Our Man In Jamaica" (2007). The cast of the quintet includes Malcolm Sinclair as Coward, Eleanor Bron as his secretary and Tam Williams as Cole Lesley. | |||
| *'Two Old Queens' (2007), Perth, Western Australia, starring Edgar Metcalf as the Queen Mother and John Michael Swinbank as Coward, is a conversation between the two at the unveiling of the statue of Coward in Poets' Corner. | |||
| * In the (1969) classic English film '']'' a man inquires about his interest in Coward's autobiography '']''. | |||
| * In the '']'' song ''There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards'' Ian Dury tips his hat to Noel Coward with the following lyrics: 'Noel Coward was a charmer. As a writer he was brahma. Velvet, jackets and pyjamas, had a gay divorce and other dramas.' | |||
| ==Plays== | |||
| *'']'' (1917), one-act comedy, co-written with ] under their joint pen name Esnomel, first performed 1917 | |||
| *'']'' (1918), one-act play, co-written with ], fp 1918 | |||
| *'']'' (1918), play in four acts, fp Everyman, Hampstead 1926, revived Finborough, London 2006 | |||
| *'']'' (1919), light comedy in three acts, fp 1920 | |||
| *'']'' (1921), comedy of youth in three acts, fp 1922 | |||
| *'']'' (1921), play in three acts, revised and fp 1927 | |||
| *'']'' (1921), comedy in one act, fp 1922 | |||
| *'']'' (1922), play in three acts, fp 1926 | |||
| *'']'' (1922), play in one act, unproduced | |||
| *'']'' (1923), comedy in two scenes, fp 1932 | |||
| *'']'' (1923), comedy in three acts, fp 1925 | |||
| *'']'' (1923), play in three acts, fp 1924 | |||
| *'']'' (1924), comedy, fp 1925 | |||
| *'']'' (1924), play in three acts, fp 1925 | |||
| *'']'' originally '']'' (1926), play in three acts, fp Glasgow Citizens 1988 | |||
| *'']'' (1926), comedy in three acts, fp 1926 | |||
| *'']'' (1926), comedy in three acts, fp 1927 | |||
| *'']'' (1927), play in three acts, fp 1927 | |||
| *'']'' (1929), intimate comedy in three acts, fp 1930 | |||
| *'']'' (1932), play in eight scenes, fp King's Head, London, 1992 | |||
| *'']'' (1930, 1931), play in three parts, fp 1931 | |||
| *'']'' (1932), comedy in three acts, fp 1933 | |||
| *'']'' (1934), play in three acts, fp 1934 | |||
| *'']'' (1935, 1936), three programmes of one-act plays, fp 1935 | |||
| **'']'', '']'', '']'' | |||
| **'']'', '']'', '']'' | |||
| **'']'', '']'', '']'' | |||
| **'']'' (one performance only, 1936) | |||
| *'']'' (1939), play in three acts, fp 1942 | |||
| *'']'' (1939), play in three acts, fp 1942 | |||
| *'']'' (1941), improbable farce in three acts, fp 1941 | |||
| *'']'' (1946), play in two acts, fp 1947 | |||
| *'']'' (1947), comedy adapted from his short story '']'', fp 1989 (Windsor gala performance) | |||
| *'']'', '']'' in USA, (1949), comedy in three acts, fp 1951 | |||
| *'']'' (1951), comedy in three acts, fp 1951 | |||
| *'']'' (1951-2), romantic comedy in three acts, fp 1952 | |||
| *'']'' (1954), comedy in three acts, fp 1956 | |||
| *'']'' (1958), three act farce adapted from Feydeau, fp 1959 | |||
| *'']'' (1957), play in two acts, Mill at Sonning, staged reading 1989 | |||
| *'']'' (1959-60), play in three acts, fp 1960 | |||
| *'']'' (1965), a trilogy, fp 1966 | |||
| *'']'' (1967), Coward's last play, comedy in three acts, fp Bath, 1985 | |||
| ==Revues, musicals and operetta== | |||
| *'']'' (1922, 1923), revue in collaboration with ], fp 1923 | |||
| *'']'' (1924, 1925) , revue, fp 1925 | |||
| *'']'' (1927, 1928), revue, fp as '']'' | |||
| *'']'' (1928, 1929), operetta, fp 1929 | |||
| *'']'' (1932), revue, fp 1932 | |||
| *'']'' (1933), comedy with music, fp 1934 | |||
| *'']'' (1937), musical play, fp 1938 | |||
| *'']'' (1938), revue, fp 1938 | |||
| *'']'' (1945), revue, fp 1945 | |||
| *'']'' (1946), musical romance, fp 1946 | |||
| *'']'' (1949), musical play, fp 1950 | |||
| *'']'' (1953), musical based on '']'', fp 1954 | |||
| *'']'' (1959-61), musical comedy, fp 1961 | |||
| *'']'' (1963), musical comedy based on Terence Rattigan's '']'', fp 1963 | |||
| *'']'' revue fp 1972 | |||
| *'']'' revue fp 1972 | |||
| == Filmography == | |||
| *'']'' (1918, uncredited) | |||
| *'']'' (1922, uncredited) | |||
| *'']'' (1935) | |||
| *'']'' (1942, also director/screenwriter) | |||
| *'']'' (1945, as narrator) | |||
| *'']'' (1949) | |||
| *'']'' (1956) | |||
| *'']'' (1959) | |||
| *'']'' (1960) | |||
| *'']'' (1964) | |||
| *'']'' (1964, TV) | |||
| *'']'' (1964, TV) | |||
| *'']'' (1965) | |||
| *'']'' (1967, TV) | |||
| *'']'' (1968) | |||
| *'']'' (1969) | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| ==Bibliography== | |||
| ===By Noel Coward=== | |||
| *Coward, Noel. ''Future Indefinite''. Second volume of autobiography, WWII. Heinemann 1954. | |||
| *Coward, Noel. ''Past Conditional''. Third volume (unfinished) of autobiography. Heinemann 1986. | |||
| *Coward, Noel. ''Middle East Diary''. A diary of a wartime tour to entertain the troops "from Gib to Baghdad". Heinemann 1944 | |||
| *Coward, Noel. ''Present Indicative''. Autobiography to 1931. Heinemann 1937. Facsimile reissue 1974 ISBN 0-434-14723-0 | |||
| *Coward, Noel, introduction by Sheridan Morley. ''Noel Coward Autobiography'' (a single volume combining ''Present Indicative'' and ''Future Indefinite''). Methuen 1986 ISBN 0-413-606600. | |||
| ===About Noel Coward=== | |||
| *]. ''The Life of Noel Coward''. Cape 1976. ISBN 0-224-01288-6. | |||
| *]. edited and annotated ''Noel Coward: The Complete Lyrics''. Methuen 1998. ISBN 0-413-73230-4. | |||
| *]. ''Noel Coward''. Weidenfeld 1992. ISBN 0-297-81180-0. | |||
| *] and Sheridan Morley. edited ''The Noel Coward Diaries'' (1941-1969). Methuen 1982. ISBN 0-297-78142-1. | |||
| *Hoare, Philip. ''Noel Coward, A Biography''. Sinclair-Stevenson 1995. ISBN 1-85619-265-2. | |||
| *] and ]. ''Theatrical Companion to Coward''. updated by Barry Day and Sheridan Morley. Oberon 2000. ISBN 1-84002-054-7. | |||
| *] preface to ''Noel Coward: The Complete Stories''. Methuen Paperback Original 1985. ISBN 0-413-59970-1. | |||
| *]. ''A Talent to Amuse''. Heinemann 1969 ISBN 0-434-47895-4. | |||
| *Payn, Graham and Martin Tickner. ''Noel Coward: Collected Verse''. Methuen 1984, corrected edition 1987. ISBN 0-413-551504. | |||
| == External links == | |||
| {{wikiquote}} | |||
| * {{imdb name|id=0002021|name=Noel Coward}} | |||
| * {{ibdb name|id=36502 |name= Noel Coward}} | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * ] for the BBC | |||
| * | |||
| * '']'' on the letters of Noel Coward | |||
| * : an article in the by Jonathan Cecil, February 6 2008 | |||
| * at the ] at the ] | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Coward, Noel}} | |||
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Revision as of 15:17, 4 April 2008
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