Terence Rattigan
Encyclopedia
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE (10 June 191130 November 1977) was one of England
's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background. He is known for such works as The Winslow Boy
(1946), The Browning Version (1948), The Deep Blue Sea (1952) and Separate Tables
(1954), among many others.
, London
, England
, of Irish
Protestant extraction. He had an elder brother, Brian. They were the grandsons of Sir William Henry Rattigan
, a notable Indian-based jurist, and later a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for North East Lanarkshire
. His father was Frank Rattigan CMG, a diplomat whose exploits included an affair with Princess Elisabeth of Romania
(future consort of King George II of Greece
) which resulted in her having an abortion.
Rattigan's birth certificate and his birth announcement in The Times indicate he was born on 9 June 1911. However, most reference books state that he was born the following day; Rattigan himself never publicly disputed this date. There is evidence suggesting that the date on the birth certificate is incorrect. He was given no middle name, but he adopted the middle name "Mervyn" in early adulthood.
from 1920 to 1925, at the time based in Cobham
in Surrey
(and now the home of Reed's School), and Harrow School
. Rattigan played cricket for the Harrow First XI and scored 29 in the Eton-Harrow match in 1929. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps and organised a mutiny, informing the Daily Express
. Even more annoying to his headmaster, Cyril Norwood
, was the telegram from the Eton OTC, "offering to march to his assistance". He then went to Trinity College, Oxford
.
. He had got inspiration from a 1933 visit to a village called Marxzell
in the Black Forest
, where young English gentlemen went to learn German, and where his time briefly overlapped with his Harrow classmate Jock ColvilleRattigan's determination to write a more serious play produced After the Dance
(1939), a satirical social drama about the "bright young things
" and their failure to politically engage. The outbreak of the Second World War scuppered any chances of a long run. Shortly before the war, Rattigan had written (together with Anthony Maurice) a satire about Nazi Germany, Follow My Leader; the Lord Chamberlain refused to license it on grounds of offence to a foreign country, but it was performed from January 1940.
During the war, Rattigan served in the Royal Air Force
as a tail gunner; his experiences helped inspire Flare Path and he was released from the service to help rewrite it as a film screenplay (which eventually appeared as The Way to the Stars
in 1945).
After the war, Rattigan alternated between comedies and dramas, establishing himself as a major playwright: the most famous of which were The Winslow Boy
(1946), The Browning Version (1948), The Deep Blue Sea (1952), and Separate Tables
(1954).
He believed in understated emotions, and craftsmanship, which after the overnight success in 1956 of John Osborne
's Look Back in Anger
began the era of kitchen sink dramas by the writers known as the Angry Young Men
was deemed old fashioned and "pre-war." Rattigan responded to his critical disfavour with some bitterness. His plays Ross
, Man and Boy
, In Praise of Love
, and Cause Célèbre
, however show no sign of any decline in his talent. Rattigan explained that he wrote his plays to please a symbolic playgoer, "Aunt Edna", someone from the well-off middle-class who had conventional tastes; his critics frequently used this character as the basis for belittling him. 'Aunt Edna' inspired Joe Orton
to create "Edna Welthorpe", a mischievous alter ego
stirring up controversy about his own plays.
Rattigan was gay
, with numerous lovers but no long-term partners, a possible exception being his 'congenial companion [...] and occasional friend' Michael Franklin. It has been claimed that his work is essentially autobiographical, containing coded references to his sexuality, which he kept secret from all but his closest friends. There is some truth in this, but it risks being crudely reductive; for example, the repeated claim that Rattigan originally wrote The Deep Blue Sea as a play about male lovers, turned at the last minute into a heterosexual play, is unfounded, though Rattigan claimed otherwise. On the other hand, for the Broadway staging of Separate Tables, he wrote an alternative version of the newspaper article in which Major Pollock's indiscretions are revealed to his fellow hotel guests; in this version, the people the Major approached for sex were men rather than young women. However, Rattigan changed his mind about staging it, and the original version proceeded.
Rattigan was fascinated with the life and character of T. E. Lawrence
. In 1960 he wrote a play called Ross
, based on Lawrence's expoits. Preparations were made to film it, and Dirk Bogarde
accepted the role. However, it did not proceed because the Rank Organisation withdrew its support, not wishing to offend David Lean
and Sam Spiegel
, who had started to film Lawrence of Arabia
. Bogarde called Rank's decision "my bitterest disappointment". Also in 1960, a musical version of French Without Tears was staged as Joie de Vivre, with music by Robert Stolz
of White Horse Inn
fame. It starred Donald Sinden
, lasted only four performances, and has never been revived.
He was diagnosed as having leukaemia in 1962 and recovered two years later, but fell ill again in 1968. He disliked the so-called Swinging London
of the 1960s and moved abroad, living in Bermuda
, where he lived off the proceeds from lucrative screenplays including The V.I.P.s
and The Yellow Rolls-Royce
. For a time he was the highest-paid screenwriter in the world.
In 1964 Rattigan wrote to the playwright Joe Orton
congratulating him on the outrageous comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane
, to which he had escorted Vivien Leigh
in its first week. He then chose to invest £3,000 in getting the play transferred to the West End
. Although an unlikely champion of the risqué Orton, Rattigan recognised the younger man's talent and approved of what he considered a very well written piece of theatre. He also acknowledged in retrospect that, 'in a way, I was not Orton's best sponsor. I'm a very unfashionable figure still, and I was then wildly unfashionable critically. My sponsorship rather put critics off, I think.'
Rattigan was knight
ed in the Queen's Birthday Honours of June 1971 for services to the theatre, being only the fourth playwright to be knighted in the 20th century (after Sir W. S. Gilbert
in 1907, Sir Arthur Wing Pinero
in 1909 and Sir Noël Coward
in 1970). He had been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(CBE) in June 1958. He moved back to Britain, where he experienced a minor revival in his reputation before his death.
Rattigan died in Hamilton, Bermuda
from bone cancer in 1977, aged 66. His cremated remains were deposited in the family vault at Kensal Green Cemetery.
, London, directed by Karel Reisz
. A string of successful revivals followed, including The Winslow Boy at the Chichester Festival Theatre
in 2001 (with David Rintoul
, and subsequently on tour in 2002 with Edward Fox
), Man and Boy at the Duchess Theatre
, London, in 2005, with David Suchet
as Gregor Antonescu, and In Praise of Love at Chichester, and Separate Tables at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, in 2006. His play on the last days of Lord Nelson
, A Bequest to the Nation
, was revived on Radio 3
for Trafalgar 200
, starring Janet McTeer
as Lady Hamilton, Kenneth Branagh
as Nelson, and Amanda Root
as Lady Nelson.
Thea Sharrock
directed his rarely seen After the Dance in the summer of 2010 at London's Royal National Theatre
. She directed a major new production of Rattigan's final and also rarely seen play Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic in March 2011 as part of The Terence Rattigan Centenary year celebrations. As well as this, Trevor Nunn
also marked the occasion with a West End
revival of Flare Path at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, between March and June 2011. The latter of these starred Sienna Miller
, James Purefoy
and Sheridan Smith
. In addition, the BBC presented The Rattigan Enigma By Benedict Cumberbatch, a documentary on Rattigan's life and career presented by actor Benedict Cumberbatch
who like Rattigan attended Harrow.
A new screen version of The Deep Blue Sea
, directed by Terence Davies was released in 2011, starring Rachel Weisz
and Tom Hiddleston
.
.
Other works including discussions on Rattigan's theatre:
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background. He is known for such works as The Winslow Boy
The Winslow Boy
thumb|1st edition cover The Winslow Boy is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an actual incident in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.-Performance History:...
(1946), The Browning Version (1948), The Deep Blue Sea (1952) and Separate Tables
Separate Tables
Separate Tables is the collective name of two one-act plays written by Sir Terence Rattigan, both taking place in the Beauregard Private Hotel, Bournemouth, a seaside town on the south coast of England. The first play, entitled "Table by the Window", focuses on the troubled relationship between a...
(1954), among many others.
Early life
Terence Rattigan was born in 1911 in South KensingtonSouth Kensington
South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, of Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
Protestant extraction. He had an elder brother, Brian. They were the grandsons of Sir William Henry Rattigan
William Henry Rattigan
Sir William Henry Rattigan was Liberal Unionist MP for North East Lanarkshire.Born in India and educated at King's College London, he was admitted to bar in 1873 and served as judge in the Chief Court of the Punjab, as vice-chancellor of Punjab University, additional member of the supreme...
, a notable Indian-based jurist, and later a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for North East Lanarkshire
North East Lanarkshire (UK Parliament constituency)
North East Lanarkshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1918. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post voting system.- Boundaries :...
. His father was Frank Rattigan CMG, a diplomat whose exploits included an affair with Princess Elisabeth of Romania
Elisabeth of Romania
Elisabeth of Romania was the Queen Consort of King George II of Greece.-Biography:...
(future consort of King George II of Greece
George II of Greece
George II reigned as King of Greece from 1922 to 1924 and from 1935 to 1947.-Early life, first period of kingship and exile:George was born at the royal villa at Tatoi, near Athens, the eldest son of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia...
) which resulted in her having an abortion.
Rattigan's birth certificate and his birth announcement in The Times indicate he was born on 9 June 1911. However, most reference books state that he was born the following day; Rattigan himself never publicly disputed this date. There is evidence suggesting that the date on the birth certificate is incorrect. He was given no middle name, but he adopted the middle name "Mervyn" in early adulthood.
Education
Rattigan was educated at Sandroyd SchoolSandroyd School
Sandroyd School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for both day and boarding pupils in Rushmore Park, near the village of Tollard Royal in Wiltshire.- Introduction :...
from 1920 to 1925, at the time based in Cobham
Cobham
- Towns or districts :* Cobham, Kent, England* Cobham, Surrey, England* Cobham, Virginia , multiple places- Other place names :* Cobham Intermediate School* Cobham Sports and Social Club...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
(and now the home of Reed's School), and Harrow School
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
. Rattigan played cricket for the Harrow First XI and scored 29 in the Eton-Harrow match in 1929. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps and organised a mutiny, informing the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
. Even more annoying to his headmaster, Cyril Norwood
Cyril Norwood
Sir Cyril M Norwood served as Headmaster of Bristol Grammar School and Harrow School as well as President of St. John's College, Oxford....
, was the telegram from the Eton OTC, "offering to march to his assistance". He then went to Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
.
Life and career
Success as a playwright came early, with the comedy French Without Tears in 1936, set in a crammerCram school
Cram schools are specialized schools that train their students to meet particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schools or universities...
. He had got inspiration from a 1933 visit to a village called Marxzell
Marxzell
Marxzell is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.-Geography:Marxzell is located on the Alb and on the heights of the North Black Forest ....
in the Black Forest
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
, where young English gentlemen went to learn German, and where his time briefly overlapped with his Harrow classmate Jock ColvilleRattigan's determination to write a more serious play produced After the Dance
After the Dance (play)
After the Dance is a play by Terence Rattigan which premièred at the St James's Theatre, London, on 21 June 1939. It was not one of Rattigan's more successful plays, closing after only sixty performances, a failure that led to its exclusion from his first volume of Collected Plays...
(1939), a satirical social drama about the "bright young things
Bright Young Things
Bright Young Things is a 2003 British drama film written and directed by Stephen Fry. The screenplay, based on the 1930 novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, provides satirical social commentary about the Bright Young People: young and carefree London aristocrats and bohemians, as well as society in...
" and their failure to politically engage. The outbreak of the Second World War scuppered any chances of a long run. Shortly before the war, Rattigan had written (together with Anthony Maurice) a satire about Nazi Germany, Follow My Leader; the Lord Chamberlain refused to license it on grounds of offence to a foreign country, but it was performed from January 1940.
During the war, Rattigan served in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
as a tail gunner; his experiences helped inspire Flare Path and he was released from the service to help rewrite it as a film screenplay (which eventually appeared as The Way to the Stars
The Way to the Stars
The Way to the Stars, also known as Johnny in the Clouds, is a 1945 British war drama film made by Two Cities Films and released by United Artists. It was produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith...
in 1945).
After the war, Rattigan alternated between comedies and dramas, establishing himself as a major playwright: the most famous of which were The Winslow Boy
The Winslow Boy
thumb|1st edition cover The Winslow Boy is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an actual incident in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.-Performance History:...
(1946), The Browning Version (1948), The Deep Blue Sea (1952), and Separate Tables
Separate Tables
Separate Tables is the collective name of two one-act plays written by Sir Terence Rattigan, both taking place in the Beauregard Private Hotel, Bournemouth, a seaside town on the south coast of England. The first play, entitled "Table by the Window", focuses on the troubled relationship between a...
(1954).
He believed in understated emotions, and craftsmanship, which after the overnight success in 1956 of John Osborne
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
's Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
began the era of kitchen sink dramas by the writers known as the Angry Young Men
Angry young men
The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working and middle class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading members included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis.The phrase was originally coined by the Royal Court Theatre's press officer to promote John...
was deemed old fashioned and "pre-war." Rattigan responded to his critical disfavour with some bitterness. His plays Ross
Ross (Play)
Ross is a 1960 play by British playwright Terence Rattigan.It is a biographical play of T. E. Lawrence- Plot synopsis :The play is structured with a framing device set in 1922, when Lawrence was hiding under an assumed name as "Aircraftman Ross" in the Royal Air Force, and is being disciplined by...
, Man and Boy
Man and Boy
Man and Boy is a play by Terence Rattigan.It was first performed at The Queen's Theatre, London, and Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York, in 1963. It was poorly received, but revived in 2005 at the Duchess Theatre, London, with David Suchet as the lead part, Gregor Antonescu, to great acclaim...
, In Praise of Love
In Praise of Love (play)
In Praise of Love is a 1973 play by the English playwright Terence Rattigan - it was the penultimate play he wrote and was inspired by the true life relationship between Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall...
, and Cause Célèbre
Cause Célèbre (play)
Cause Célèbre or A Woman of Principle is a 1975 radio play by the English author Terence Rattigan. It was inspired by the trial of Alma Rattenbury and her teenage lover in 1935 for the murder of her third husband Francis Rattenbury and first broadcast on the BBC on 27 October 1975...
, however show no sign of any decline in his talent. Rattigan explained that he wrote his plays to please a symbolic playgoer, "Aunt Edna", someone from the well-off middle-class who had conventional tastes; his critics frequently used this character as the basis for belittling him. 'Aunt Edna' inspired Joe Orton
Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
to create "Edna Welthorpe", a mischievous alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
stirring up controversy about his own plays.
Rattigan was gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, with numerous lovers but no long-term partners, a possible exception being his 'congenial companion [...] and occasional friend' Michael Franklin. It has been claimed that his work is essentially autobiographical, containing coded references to his sexuality, which he kept secret from all but his closest friends. There is some truth in this, but it risks being crudely reductive; for example, the repeated claim that Rattigan originally wrote The Deep Blue Sea as a play about male lovers, turned at the last minute into a heterosexual play, is unfounded, though Rattigan claimed otherwise. On the other hand, for the Broadway staging of Separate Tables, he wrote an alternative version of the newspaper article in which Major Pollock's indiscretions are revealed to his fellow hotel guests; in this version, the people the Major approached for sex were men rather than young women. However, Rattigan changed his mind about staging it, and the original version proceeded.
Rattigan was fascinated with the life and character of T. E. Lawrence
T. E. Lawrence
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO , known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–18...
. In 1960 he wrote a play called Ross
Ross (Play)
Ross is a 1960 play by British playwright Terence Rattigan.It is a biographical play of T. E. Lawrence- Plot synopsis :The play is structured with a framing device set in 1922, when Lawrence was hiding under an assumed name as "Aircraftman Ross" in the Royal Air Force, and is being disciplined by...
, based on Lawrence's expoits. Preparations were made to film it, and Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...
accepted the role. However, it did not proceed because the Rank Organisation withdrew its support, not wishing to offend David Lean
David Lean
Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...
and Sam Spiegel
Sam Spiegel
Sam Spiegel was an Austrian-born American independent film producer.-Life and career:Spiegel was born in Jarosław, Galicia, Austria-Hungary as Samuel P. Spiegel to a German-Jewish father and Polish mother and educated at the University of Vienna. His brother was Shalom Spiegel, a professor of...
, who had started to film Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company, Horizon Pictures, with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely...
. Bogarde called Rank's decision "my bitterest disappointment". Also in 1960, a musical version of French Without Tears was staged as Joie de Vivre, with music by Robert Stolz
Robert Stolz
Robert Elisabeth Stolz was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.- Biography :...
of White Horse Inn
The White Horse Inn
Im weißen Rößl is an operetta or musical comedy set in the picturesque Salzkammergut region of Upper Austria. It is about the head waiter of the White Horse Inn in St. Wolfgang who is desperately in love with the owner of the inn, a resolute young woman who at first only has eyes for one of her...
fame. It starred Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
, lasted only four performances, and has never been revived.
He was diagnosed as having leukaemia in 1962 and recovered two years later, but fell ill again in 1968. He disliked the so-called Swinging London
Swinging London
Swinging London is a catch-all term applied to the fashion and cultural scene that flourished in London, in the 1960s.It was a youth-oriented phenomenon that emphasised the new and modern. It was a period of optimism and hedonism, and a cultural revolution. One catalyst was the recovery of the...
of the 1960s and moved abroad, living in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
, where he lived off the proceeds from lucrative screenplays including The V.I.P.s
The V.I.P.s
The V.I.P.s, also known as Hotel International, is a 1963 British drama film. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, produced by Anatole de Grunwald and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
and The Yellow Rolls-Royce
The Yellow Rolls-Royce
-External links:, a promotional short subject for the film...
. For a time he was the highest-paid screenwriter in the world.
In 1964 Rattigan wrote to the playwright Joe Orton
Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
congratulating him on the outrageous comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane
Entertaining Mr Sloane
Entertaining Mr Sloane is a play by the English playwright Joe Orton. It was first produced in London at the New Arts Theatre on 6 May 1964 and transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre on 29 June 1964.-Plot summary:Act 1...
, to which he had escorted Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
in its first week. He then chose to invest £3,000 in getting the play transferred to the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
. Although an unlikely champion of the risqué Orton, Rattigan recognised the younger man's talent and approved of what he considered a very well written piece of theatre. He also acknowledged in retrospect that, 'in a way, I was not Orton's best sponsor. I'm a very unfashionable figure still, and I was then wildly unfashionable critically. My sponsorship rather put critics off, I think.'
Rattigan was knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
ed in the Queen's Birthday Honours of June 1971 for services to the theatre, being only the fourth playwright to be knighted in the 20th century (after Sir W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
in 1907, Sir Arthur Wing Pinero
Arthur Wing Pinero
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director.-Biography:...
in 1909 and Sir Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce 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".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
in 1970). He had been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE) in June 1958. He moved back to Britain, where he experienced a minor revival in his reputation before his death.
Rattigan died in Hamilton, Bermuda
Hamilton, Bermuda
Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination.-Geography:...
from bone cancer in 1977, aged 66. His cremated remains were deposited in the family vault at Kensal Green Cemetery.
Legacy
Rattigan has increasingly been seen as one of the century's finest playwrights, an expert choreographer of emotion, and an anatomist of human emotional pain. There was a revival of The Deep Blue Sea in 1992, at the Almeida TheatreAlmeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
, London, directed by Karel Reisz
Karel Reisz
Karel Reisz was a Czech-born British filmmaker who was active in post–war Britain, and one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in 1950s and 1960s British cinema.-Early life:...
. A string of successful revivals followed, including The Winslow Boy at the Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
in 2001 (with David Rintoul
David Rintoul
David Rintoul is a stage and television actor.Rintoul was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He studied at Edinburgh University and won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London....
, and subsequently on tour in 2002 with Edward Fox
Edward Fox (actor)
Edward Charles Morice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor.He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the serial Edward & Mrs...
), Man and Boy at the Duchess Theatre
Duchess Theatre
The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street, near Aldwych.The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest 'proscenium arched' West End theatres. It has 479 seats on two levels....
, London, in 2005, with David Suchet
David Suchet
David Suchet, CBE, is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now, alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza, and a 1991 British Academy...
as Gregor Antonescu, and In Praise of Love at Chichester, and Separate Tables at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, in 2006. His play on the last days of Lord Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
, A Bequest to the Nation
A Bequest to the Nation
A Bequest to the Nation is a 1970 play by Terence Rattigan, based on his 1966 television play Nelson . It recounts the events surrounding Horatio Nelson, his mistress Emma Hamilton, and his wife Frances Nisbet in the events immediately before, during and after the Battle of Trafalgar...
, was revived on Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
for Trafalgar 200
Trafalgar 200
Trafalgar 200 was a series of events in 2005 held mostly in the United Kingdom to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, where a British fleet led by Admiral Nelson defeated a joint Franco-Spanish fleet during the Napoleonic Wars. During the summer of 2005 there was an...
, starring Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer, OBE is a British actress.-Life and career:McTeer was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom, the daughter of Jean and Alan McTeer...
as Lady Hamilton, Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
as Nelson, and Amanda Root
Amanda Root
Amanda Root is an English stage and screen actor and a former voice actor for children's programmes.Root known for her starring role in the 1995 BBC film adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and the British TV comedy All About Me, as Miranda, alongside Richard Lumsden in 2004 and when she was a...
as Lady Nelson.
Thea Sharrock
Thea Sharrock
Thea Sharrock is an award-winning English theatre director. In 2001, when at age 24 she became artistic director of London's Southwark Playhouse, she was the youngest artistic director in British theatre....
directed his rarely seen After the Dance in the summer of 2010 at London's Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
. She directed a major new production of Rattigan's final and also rarely seen play Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic in March 2011 as part of The Terence Rattigan Centenary year celebrations. As well as this, Trevor Nunn
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
also marked the occasion with a West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
revival of Flare Path at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, between March and June 2011. The latter of these starred Sienna Miller
Sienna Miller
Sienna Rose Diana Miller is a British-American actress, model, and fashion designer, best known for her roles in Layer Cake, Alfie, Factory Girl, The Edge of Love and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In 2007, the London Film Criticsnamed her British Actress of the Year for Interview...
, James Purefoy
James Purefoy
James Brian Mark Purefoy is an English actor best known for portraying Mark Antony in the HBO series Rome.-Early life and work:...
and Sheridan Smith
Sheridan Smith
Sheridan Smith is an English actress and singer who is best known for her contributions to the British sitcoms Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Gavin & Stacey and Benidorm. She has also become a recognised face in West End theatre, where she has appeared in Little Shop of Horrors,...
. In addition, the BBC presented The Rattigan Enigma By Benedict Cumberbatch, a documentary on Rattigan's life and career presented by actor Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch is an English film, television, and theatre actor. His most acclaimed roles include Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking ; William Pitt in the historical film Amazing Grace ; the protagonist Stephen Ezard in the miniseries thriller The Last Enemy ; Paul...
who like Rattigan attended Harrow.
A new screen version of The Deep Blue Sea
The Deep Blue Sea (2011 film)
The Deep Blue Sea is an upcoming British drama film directed by Terence Davies and starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale. It is an adaptation of the 1952 Terence Rattigan play The Deep Blue Sea about the wife of a Judge who engages in an affair with an RAF pilot...
, directed by Terence Davies was released in 2011, starring Rachel Weisz
Rachel Weisz
Rachel Hannah Weisz born 7 March 1970)is an English-American film and theatre actress and former fashion model. She started her acting career at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she co-founded the theatrical group Cambridge Talking Tongues...
and Tom Hiddleston
Tom Hiddleston
Thomas William "Tom" Hiddleston is an English actor. He is perhaps best known for playing Loki in the 2011 Marvel Studios film Thor.-Early life and education:...
.
Stage plays
- 1934 First Episode
- 1935 A Tale of Two Cities (an adaptation of Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's novelA Tale of Two CitiesA Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....
, written with John GielgudJohn GielgudSir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
; it was not produced, but appeared in 1950 as a radio play) - 1936 French Without Tears
- 1939 After the DanceAfter the Dance (play)After the Dance is a play by Terence Rattigan which premièred at the St James's Theatre, London, on 21 June 1939. It was not one of Rattigan's more successful plays, closing after only sixty performances, a failure that led to its exclusion from his first volume of Collected Plays...
- 1940 Follow My Leader
- 1940 Grey Farm
- 1942 Flare Path
- 1943 While the Sun Shines
- 1944 Love in Idleness (played in U.S. as O Mistress Mine)
- 1946 The Winslow BoyThe Winslow Boythumb|1st edition cover The Winslow Boy is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an actual incident in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.-Performance History:...
- 1948 HarlequinadeHarlequinade (Rattigan)Harlequinade is a play by Terence Rattigan.The play was first performed on 8 September 1948 at the Phoenix Theatre, London, along with The Browning Version....
- 1948 The Browning Version
- 1948 Playbill
- 1949 Adventure StoryAdventure StoryAdventure Story is a 1949 play by the English dramatist Terence Rattigan. The play tells the story of Alexander the Great and his conquests....
- 1950 Who is Sylvia? (filmed as The Man Who Loved RedheadsThe Man Who Loved RedheadsThe Man Who Loved Redheads is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Moira Shearer, John Justin and Roland Culver. The film is based on the play Who is Sylvia? by Terence Rattigan.-Cast:...
) - 1952 The Deep Blue Sea
- 1953 The Sleeping Prince (filmed as The Prince and the ShowgirlThe Prince and the ShowgirlThe Prince and the Showgirl is a 1957 American film produced at Pinewood Studios starring Marilyn Monroe and co-starring Laurence Olivier who also served as director and producer.The film was released on 13 June 1957...
) - 1954 Separate TablesSeparate TablesSeparate Tables is the collective name of two one-act plays written by Sir Terence Rattigan, both taking place in the Beauregard Private Hotel, Bournemouth, a seaside town on the south coast of England. The first play, entitled "Table by the Window", focuses on the troubled relationship between a...
- 1958 Variation on a Theme
- 1960 RossRoss (Play)Ross is a 1960 play by British playwright Terence Rattigan.It is a biographical play of T. E. Lawrence- Plot synopsis :The play is structured with a framing device set in 1922, when Lawrence was hiding under an assumed name as "Aircraftman Ross" in the Royal Air Force, and is being disciplined by...
- 1960 Joie de Vivre, a musical version of French Without Tears, with music by Robert StolzRobert StolzRobert Elisabeth Stolz was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.- Biography :...
and song lyrics by Paul DehnPaul DehnPaul Dehn was a British screenwriter.-Biography and work:Dehn was born in 1912 in Manchester, England. He was educated at Shrewsbury School, and attended Brasenose College, Oxford... - 1963 Man and BoyMan and BoyMan and Boy is a play by Terence Rattigan.It was first performed at The Queen's Theatre, London, and Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York, in 1963. It was poorly received, but revived in 2005 at the Duchess Theatre, London, with David Suchet as the lead part, Gregor Antonescu, to great acclaim...
- 1970 A Bequest to the NationA Bequest to the NationA Bequest to the Nation is a 1970 play by Terence Rattigan, based on his 1966 television play Nelson . It recounts the events surrounding Horatio Nelson, his mistress Emma Hamilton, and his wife Frances Nisbet in the events immediately before, during and after the Battle of Trafalgar...
- 1973 In Praise of LoveIn Praise of Love (play)In Praise of Love is a 1973 play by the English playwright Terence Rattigan - it was the penultimate play he wrote and was inspired by the true life relationship between Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall...
- 1973 Before Dawn
- 1976 Duologue
- 1977 Cause CélèbreCause Célèbre (play)Cause Célèbre or A Woman of Principle is a 1975 radio play by the English author Terence Rattigan. It was inspired by the trial of Alma Rattenbury and her teenage lover in 1935 for the murder of her third husband Francis Rattenbury and first broadcast on the BBC on 27 October 1975...
Television plays
- 1951 The Final TestThe Final TestThe Final Test is a 1953 British sports film written by Terence Rattigan, directed by Anthony Asquith, and starring Jack Warner, Robert Morley, George Relph and Ray Jackson. A number of leading cricketers also appear including Denis Compton, Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook.-Plot:The film is a comedy...
(TV: 1951; film: 1953) - 1962 Heart to Heart
- 1964 Ninety Years On
- 1966 Nelson — A Portrait in MiniatureA Bequest to the NationA Bequest to the Nation is a 1970 play by Terence Rattigan, based on his 1966 television play Nelson . It recounts the events surrounding Horatio Nelson, his mistress Emma Hamilton, and his wife Frances Nisbet in the events immediately before, during and after the Battle of Trafalgar...
- 1968 All On Her Own
- 1972 High Summer
Radio plays
Many of Rattigan's stage plays have been produced for radio by the BBC. The first play he wrote directly for radio was Cause Célèbre, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 27 October 1975, based on the 1935 murder of Francis RattenburyFrancis Rattenbury
Francis Mawson Rattenbury was an architect born in England, although most of his career was spent in British Columbia, Canada where he designed many notable buildings. Divorced amid scandal, he was murdered in England at the age of 68 by his second wife's lover.- Architectural career :Rattenbury...
.
Filmed plays
A number of Rattigan's plays have been filmed (he was the screenwriter or co-writer for all those made in his lifetime):- French Without TearsFrench Without Tears (film)French Without Tears is a 1940 comedy film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Ray Milland. It was based on the play of the same name by Terence Rattigan who also co-wrote the script.-Cast:* Ray Milland - Alan Howard* Ellen Drew - Diana Lake...
(1940; Anatole de GrunwaldAnatole de GrunwaldAnatole "Tolly" de Grunwald was a British film producer and screenwriter.Anatole de Grunwald was born in Petrograd , Russia, the son of a diplomat in the service of Tsar Nicholas II. He was seven years old when his father was forced to flee with his family to England during the 1917 Bolshevik...
and Ian DalrympleIan DalrympleIan Dalrymple was a British screenwriter, film director and producer.- Biography :Born at Johannesburg, South Africa, he was educated at Cambridge University. Initially, he worked as an editor at Gaumont-British pictures and Gainsborough Pictures, later turning to screenwriting...
were credited as screenwriters, although Rattigan also played a major role) - While the Sun ShinesWhile the Sun ShinesWhile the Sun Shines is a 1947 British comedy film directed by Anthony Asquith. It was based on Terrence Rattigan's 1943 play of the same name. -Plot:...
(1947; with de Grunwald) - The Winslow BoyThe Winslow Boythumb|1st edition cover The Winslow Boy is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an actual incident in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.-Performance History:...
(1948The Winslow Boy (1948 film)The Winslow Boy is a 1948 film adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play The Winslow Boy. It was made by De Grunwald Productions and distributed by the British Lion Film Corporation. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Anatole de Grunwald with Teddy Baird as associate producer. The...
and 1999The Winslow Boy (1999 film)The Winslow Boy is a 1999 period drama film directed by David Mamet. Starring Nigel Hawthorne, Rebecca Pidgeon, Jeremy Northam and Gemma Jones. Set in London before World War I, it depicts a family defending the honor of its young son at all cost. The screenplay was adapted by Mamet based on ...
) - The Browning Version (film: 1951The Browning Version (1951 film)The Browning Version is a 1951 British film based on the 1948 play of the same name by Terence Rattigan. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and starred Michael Redgrave.-Plot:...
and 1994The Browning Version (1994 film)The Browning Version is a 1994 film directed by Mike Figgis and starring Albert Finney. The film is based on the 1948 play by Terence Rattigan, which was previously adapted for film under the same name in 1951.-Plot:...
; TV: 1955 and 1985) - The Final TestThe Final TestThe Final Test is a 1953 British sports film written by Terence Rattigan, directed by Anthony Asquith, and starring Jack Warner, Robert Morley, George Relph and Ray Jackson. A number of leading cricketers also appear including Denis Compton, Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook.-Plot:The film is a comedy...
(1953; based on his 1951 television play) - The Man Who Loved RedheadsThe Man Who Loved RedheadsThe Man Who Loved Redheads is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Moira Shearer, John Justin and Roland Culver. The film is based on the play Who is Sylvia? by Terence Rattigan.-Cast:...
(1954; based on Who Is Sylvia?) - The Deep Blue Sea (1955)
- The Prince and the ShowgirlThe Prince and the ShowgirlThe Prince and the Showgirl is a 1957 American film produced at Pinewood Studios starring Marilyn Monroe and co-starring Laurence Olivier who also served as director and producer.The film was released on 13 June 1957...
(1957; based on The Sleeping Prince) - Separate TablesSeparate Tables (film)Separate Tables is a 1958 American drama film based on two one-act plays by Terence Rattigan that were collectively known by this name. It was directed by Delbert Mann, and adapted by Rattigan, John Gay and an uncredited John Michael Hayes. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes.The film took the...
(1958; Rattigan and co-writer John GayJohn Gay (screenwriter)John Gay is an American screenwriter.Born in Whittier, California, Gay began his career writing episodes for television anthology series such as Lux Video Theatre, Kraft Television Theatre, and Goodyear Television Playhouse. He made his film screenwriting debut in 1956 with Run Silent Run Deep...
were nominated for an Academy Award for screenwriting; David NivenDavid NivenJames David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
won the Best Actor Oscar and Wendy HillerWendy HillerDame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE was an Academy Award-winning English film and stage actress, who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. The writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took...
won Best Supporting Actress) - A Bequest to the NationA Bequest to the NationA Bequest to the Nation is a 1970 play by Terence Rattigan, based on his 1966 television play Nelson . It recounts the events surrounding Horatio Nelson, his mistress Emma Hamilton, and his wife Frances Nisbet in the events immediately before, during and after the Battle of Trafalgar...
(1973) - Cause CélèbreCause Célèbre (play)Cause Célèbre or A Woman of Principle is a 1975 radio play by the English author Terence Rattigan. It was inspired by the trial of Alma Rattenbury and her teenage lover in 1935 for the murder of her third husband Francis Rattenbury and first broadcast on the BBC on 27 October 1975...
(1987; TV)
Original screenplays
Terence Rattigan also wrote or co-wrote the following original screenplays:- English Without TearsEnglish Without TearsEnglish Without Tears is a 1944 British Comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Michael Wilding, Penelope Dudley-Ward and Lilli Palmer. The niece of a British aristocrat falls in love with the butler.-Cast:* Michael Wilding ... Tom Gilbey...
(1944; with Anatole de GrunwaldAnatole de GrunwaldAnatole "Tolly" de Grunwald was a British film producer and screenwriter.Anatole de Grunwald was born in Petrograd , Russia, the son of a diplomat in the service of Tsar Nicholas II. He was seven years old when his father was forced to flee with his family to England during the 1917 Bolshevik...
; U.S. title Her Man Gilbey) - Journey Together (1945)
- Bond StreetBond Street (film)Bond Street is a 1948 British drama film directed by Gordon Parry and based on a story by Terence Rattigan. It starred Jean Kent, Roland Young, Kathleen Harrison and Derek Farr...
(1948; uncredited; with de Grunwald and Rodney AcklandRodney AcklandRodney Ackland was an English playwright, actor, theatre director and screenwriter.He was educated at Balham Grammar School in London...
) - The Sound Barrier (1952; U.S. title Breaking the Sound Barrier; Rattigan's first Academy Award nomination)
- The V.I.P.sThe V.I.P.sThe V.I.P.s, also known as Hotel International, is a 1963 British drama film. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, produced by Anatole de Grunwald and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
(1963; Margaret RutherfordMargaret RutherfordDame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...
won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her performance) - The Yellow Rolls-RoyceThe Yellow Rolls-Royce-External links:, a promotional short subject for the film...
(1964)
Other screenwriting
Rattigan wrote or co-wrote the following screenplays from existing material by other writers:- Quiet WeddingQuiet WeddingQuiet Wedding is a 1941 British comedy film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Margaret Lockwood, Derek Farr and Marjorie Fielding. The screenplay was written by Terence Rattigan and Anatole de Grunwald based on the play Quiet Wedding by Esther McCracken which was later remade as Happy is the...
(1940; with Anatole de GrunwaldAnatole de GrunwaldAnatole "Tolly" de Grunwald was a British film producer and screenwriter.Anatole de Grunwald was born in Petrograd , Russia, the son of a diplomat in the service of Tsar Nicholas II. He was seven years old when his father was forced to flee with his family to England during the 1917 Bolshevik...
; based on the play by Esther McCrackenEsther McCracken-Biography:She was born Esther Helen Armstong in Newcastle upon Tyne on 25 June 1902 and was educated at the Central Newcastle High School, where she won the cricket-ball throwing competition every year....
) - The Day Will DawnThe Day Will DawnThe Day Will Dawn, released in the U.S. as The Avengers, is a 1942 war film set in Norway during World War II. It stars Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr, Hugh Williams and Griffith Jones, and was directed by Harold French from a script written by Anatole de Grunwald, Patrick Kirwan and Terence...
(1942; with de Grunwald; U.S. title The Avengers; based on a treatment by Patrick Kirwan) - UncensoredUncensored (film)Uncensored is a 1942 British World War II drama, directed by Anthony Asquith for Gainsborough Pictures and starring Eric Portman and Phyllis Calvert...
(1942; with Rodney AcklandRodney AcklandRodney Ackland was an English playwright, actor, theatre director and screenwriter.He was educated at Balham Grammar School in London...
; based on the book by Oscar MillardOscar MillardEnglish writer Oscar Millard found success in Hollywood when he collaborated on the screenplay to the 1949 hit Come to the Stable, a comedy about nuns...
adapted by Wolfgang Wilhelm) - The Way to the StarsThe Way to the StarsThe Way to the Stars, also known as Johnny in the Clouds, is a 1945 British war drama film made by Two Cities Films and released by United Artists. It was produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith...
(1945; from a story written by Rattigan, de Grunwald and Richard Sherman; U.S. title Johnny in the Clouds) - Brighton Rock (1947; with Graham GreeneGraham GreeneHenry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
, from Greene's novel) - Goodbye, Mr. ChipsGoodbye, Mr. Chips (1969 film)Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a 1969 American musical film directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay by Terence Rattigan is based on James Hilton's 1934 novella of the same name, which originally was adapted for the screen in 1939.-Plot:...
(1969; based on the novel by James HiltonJames HiltonJames Hilton was an English novelist who wrote several best-sellers, including Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips.-Biography:...
)
Further reading
- Hill, Holly: A Critical Analysis of the Plays of Terence Rattigan; Doctoral Dissertation, NYU, 1977;
- Darlow, Michael; Hobson, Gillian: Terence Rattigan – The Man & His Work; Quartet Books, London, 1979 (2010);
- Rusinko, Susan: Terence Rattigan; Twayne, Boston, 1983;
- Young, B.A.: The Rattigan Version – The Theatre of Character; Hamish Hamilton, London, 1986;
- Wansell, Geoffrey: Terence Rattigan – A Biography; Fourth Estate Limited, London, 1995 (2009);
Other works including discussions on Rattigan's theatre:
- O’Connor, Sean: Straight Acting – Popular Gay drama from Wilde to Rattigan; Cassel, London 1998;
- Shellard, Dominic: British Theatre Since the War, Yale University Press, New Haven/London, 1999;
- Innes, Christopher: Modern British Drama 1890-1990; 2nd Edition, CUO, Cambridge, 2002/2009;
- Billington, Michael: The State of the Nation, Faber, London, 2008
- Rebellato, Dan: 1956 and All That – the making of modern British drama, Routledge, London, 1999/2006;
- See also Dan Rebellato's extensive Introductions to the more recent Nick Hern Books Editions of Rattigan's major plays