Sir Noël Coward was born 115 years ago today. Coward 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. Many of Coward’s 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. Cowards 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 Which We Serve almost didn’t happen. Ronald Neame, the British cinematographer and director, worked with Coward on the project. In a video I did with Neame on film directing in 1985, he tells the funny story of how the movie almost fell apart.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 09:22:05 +0000
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