Noël Coward
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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Noël Coward, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Credits
- 2023 · Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story as Self (archive footage)
- 1992 · The South Bank Show: Noël Coward as Self (archival footage)
- 1991 · Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker as actor 'Bunny Lake Is Missing' (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1988 · Ken Russell's ABC of British Music as Self (archive)
- 1969 · The Italian Job as Mr. Bridger
- 1968 · The Dick Cavett Show as Self - Guest
- 1968 · Boom! as The Witch of Capri
- 1967 · Androcles and the Lion as Caesar
- 1965 · Bunny Lake Is Missing as Horatio Wilson
- 1964 · A Choice of Coward as Himself
- 1964 · Paris When It Sizzles as Alexander Meyerheim
- 1960 · Surprise Package as King Pavel II
- 1960 · Our Man in Havana as Hawthorne
- 1956 · Around the World in Eighty Days as Roland Hesketh-Baggott
- 1956 · Tony Awards as Self - Recipient
- 1956 · Blithe Spirit as Charles Condomine
- 1950 · The Astonished Heart as Dr. Christian Faber
- 1950 · What's My Line? as Self - Mystery Guest
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self
- 1945 · Brief Encounter as Train Station Announcer (uncredited)
- 1945 · Blithe Spirit as Narrator (uncredited)
- 1945 · Le Journal de la Résistance as Himself - Narrator (English version)
- 1942 · In Which We Serve as Captain E. V. Kinross R.N. / Captain 'D'
- 1936 · Men Are Not Gods as Passer-by (uncredited)
- 1935 · The Scoundrel as Anthony Mallare
- 1918 · Hearts of the World as The Man with the Wheelbarrow / A Villager in the Streets