Noël Coward

Noël Coward

Born: December 15, 1899
Died: March 26, 1973
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 for Noël Coward...

Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story
Title: Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: June 2, 2023
Type: Movie
The first ever feature documentary about one of the most talented, accomplished and multi-faceted artists of the 20th Century. An exploration of Coward’s expansive career which features credits across the stage and screen, including Brief Encounter, Blithe Spirit, and Private Lives.
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The South Bank Show: Noël Coward
Title: The South Bank Show: Noël Coward
Character: Self (archival footage)
Released: March 1, 1992
Type: Movie
Television documentary on playwright, actor, composer, and film maker Noel Coward.
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Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Title: Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Character: actor 'Bunny Lake Is Missing' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: October 28, 1991
Type: Movie
This documentary, hosted by actor Burgess Meredith, explores the life and career of movie director Otto Preminger, whose body of work includes such memorable films as Anatomy of a Murder, Exodus, Laura, Forever Amber, Advise and Consent, In Harm's Way, The Moon Is Blue, The Man with the Golden Arm, and many other movies made from the '30s through the '70s. Interviews with actors Frank Sinatra, Vincent Price, James Stewart, Michael Caine, and others who worked with the flamboyant and sometimes control-obsessed director add information and insight to the story.
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Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
Title: Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
Character: Self (archive)
Released: February 4, 1988
Type: Movie
An irreverent survey of British Music.
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The Italian Job
Title: The Italian Job
Character: Mr. Bridger
Released: June 2, 1969
Type: Movie
Charlie's got a 'job' to do. Having just left prison he finds one of his friends has attempted a high-risk job in Torino, Italy, right under the nose of the mafia. Charlie's friend doesn't get very far, so Charlie takes over the 'job'. Using three Mini Coopers, a couple of Jaguars, and a bus, he hopes to bring Torino to a standstill, steal a fortune in gold and escape in the chaos.
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Title: The Dick Cavett Show
Character: Self - Guest
Released: June 6, 1968
Type: TV
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.
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Boom!
Title: Boom!
Character: The Witch of Capri
Released: May 26, 1968
Type: Movie
Explores the confrontation between the woman who has everything, including emptiness, and a penniless poet who has nothing but the ability to fill a wealthy woman's needs.
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Androcles and the Lion
Title: Androcles and the Lion
Character: Caesar
Released: November 15, 1967
Type: Movie
The story of Androcles, the simple-hearted Christian tailor whose friendship with a lion saves himself and his friends from martyrdom in the Roman Colosseum.
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Bunny Lake Is Missing
Title: Bunny Lake Is Missing
Character: Horatio Wilson
Released: October 3, 1965
Type: Movie
A woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.
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Paris When It Sizzles
Title: Paris When It Sizzles
Character: Alexander Meyerheim
Released: March 16, 1964
Type: Movie
Hollywood producer Alexander Meyerheimer has hired drunken writer Richard Benson to write his latest movie. Benson has been holed up in a Paris apartment supposedly working on the script for months, but instead has spent the time living it up. Benson now has just two days to the deadline and thus hires a temporary secretary, Gabrielle Simpson, to help him complete it in time.
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Surprise Package
Title: Surprise Package
Character: King Pavel II
Released: September 29, 1960
Type: Movie
Comic crime caper, set on a Greek island, starring Yul Brynner and Mitzi Gaynor.
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Our Man in Havana
Title: Our Man in Havana
Character: Hawthorne
Released: January 27, 1960
Type: Movie
Jim Wormold is an expatriate Englishman living in pre-revolutionary Havana with his teenage daughter Milly. He owns a vacuum cleaner shop but isn’t very successful so he accepts an offer from Hawthorne of the British Secret Service to recruit a network of agents in Cuba.
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Around the World in Eighty Days
Title: Around the World in Eighty Days
Character: Roland Hesketh-Baggott
Released: October 17, 1956
Type: Movie
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.
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Title: Tony Awards
Character: Self - Recipient
Released: April 1, 1956
Type: TV
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
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Blithe Spirit
Title: Blithe Spirit
Character: Charles Condomine
Released: January 14, 1956
Type: Movie
Television adaptation of Noël Coward's famous play about an unhappily married man plagued by the spirit of his dead previous wife.
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The Astonished Heart
Title: The Astonished Heart
Character: Dr. Christian Faber
Released: March 17, 1950
Type: Movie
Several years after graduation, best friends Barbara (Celia Johnson) and Leonora (Margaret Leighton) reconnect as if not a day has gone by. But Leonora could do without Barbara's husband, Christian (Noel Coward), whom she finds arrogant and off-putting ... at first. One evening alone together, romance is set ablaze, leaving Christian with a lot of explaining to do to Barbara.
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Title: What's My Line?
Character: Self - Mystery Guest
Released: February 2, 1950
Type: TV
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.
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Title: The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self
Released: June 20, 1948
Type: TV
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
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Brief Encounter
Title: Brief Encounter
Character: Train Station Announcer (uncredited)
Released: November 24, 1945
Type: Movie
Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.
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Blithe Spirit
Title: Blithe Spirit
Character: Narrator (uncredited)
Released: April 5, 1945
Type: Movie
An English mystery novelist invites a medium to his home, so she may conduct a séance for a small gathering. The writer hopes to gather enough material for the book he's working on, as well as to expose the medium as a charlatan. However, proceedings take an unexpected turn, resulting in a chain of supernatural events being set into motion that wreak havoc on the man's present marriage.
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Le Journal de la Résistance
Title: Le Journal de la Résistance
Character: Himself - Narrator (English version)
Released: January 1, 1945
Type: Movie
Shot primarily by twelve French cameramen (led by filmmakers Jean Painlevé and Jean Grémillon), in August 1944, this film captures the final French insurrection in German-occupied Paris, the surrender of the Germans, and the mass celebration in the streets. (There is an English-language version narrated by Noel Coward.)
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In Which We Serve
Title: In Which We Serve
Character: Captain E. V. Kinross R.N. / Captain 'D'
Released: September 17, 1942
Type: Movie
The story of the HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II. The ship's first and only commanding officer is Captain E.V. Kinross, who trains his men not only to be loyal to him and the country, but—most importantly—to themselves.
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Men Are Not Gods
Title: Men Are Not Gods
Character: Passer-by (uncredited)
Released: November 26, 1936
Type: Movie
Actor Edmund Davey becomes a star overnight when his wife and co-star teams up with the secretary of a noted stage critic to produce a glowing review of his 'Othello'.
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The Scoundrel
Title: The Scoundrel
Character: Anthony Mallare
Released: April 30, 1935
Type: Movie
A ruthless, cynical, hated publisher is killed in a plane crash, doomed to be a "restless" spirit for being unloved. A heavenly power gives him a month on Earth to find one person to shed a tear for him before his fate is sealed.
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Hearts of the World
Title: Hearts of the World
Character: The Man with the Wheelbarrow / A Villager in the Streets
Released: March 11, 1918
Type: Movie
A group of youngsters grow up and love in a peaceful French village. But war intrudes and peace is shattered. The German army invades and occupies village, bringing both destruction and torture. The young people of the village resist, some successfully, others tragically, until French troops retake the town.