Coward, Noël (1899-1973), a British playwright, actor, and composer, became famous for his witty, sophisticated comedies. Many of his plays deal with romantic conflicts between upper-class men and women.
Coward’s first successful play was The Vortex (1924), a serious look at the moral decline of the idle upper class. But such witty romantic comedies as Hay Fever (1925), Private Lives (1930), Design for Living (1933), and Blithe Spirit (1941) are more typical. He also wrote Tonight at 8:30 (1936), a collection of nine one-act plays to be performed in groups of three. Coward composed a number of musicals. The best-known is the operetta Bitter Sweet (1929). Coward wrote a number of hit songs, including “Poor Little Rich Girl” (1923), “I’ll See You Again” (1929), “Someday I’ll Find You” (1930), “Mad About the Boy” (1932), “Mad Dogs and Englishmen (Go Out in the Noonday Sun)” (1932), and “I’ve Been to a Marvelous Party” (1939).
Coward wrote two autobiographical books, Present Indicative (1937) and Future Indefinite (1954). The Noël Coward Diaries were published in 1982. The Letters of Noël Coward was published in 2007. He also wrote a novel, Pomp and Circumstance (1960), and short stories, many published in The Collected Stories of Noël Coward (1983). Coward also wrote, co-directed, and starred in the film In Which We Serve (1942).
Noël Pierce Coward was born on Dec. 16, 1899, in Teddington, near London. His first major success came in 1923 as part author and star of the musical revue London Calling. Coward starred in many of his own plays and sang his songs as a cabaret performer. Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1970, and he became known as Sir Noël Coward. He died on March 26, 1973.
