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IMDbPro

Noël Coward(1899-1973)

  • Writer
  • Actor
  • Music Department
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Noel Coward, at Festival Ballet opening, London Express News Photo, July 1959, **I.V.
Comic caper movie about a plan to steal a gold shipment from the streets of Turin by creating a traffic jam.
Play trailer3:37
The Italian Job (1969)
4 Videos
44 Photos
Noel Coward virtually invented the concept of Englishness for the 20th century. An astounding polymath - dramatist, actor, writer, composer, lyricist, painter, and wit -- he was defined by his Englishness as much as he defined it. He was indeed the first Brit pop star, the first ambassador of "cool Britannia." Even before his 1924 drugs-and-sex scandal of The Vortex, his fans were hanging out of their scarves over the theater balcony, imitating their idol's dress and repeating each "Noelism" with glee. Born in suburban Teddington on 16 December 1899, Coward was on stage by the age of six, and writing his first drama ten years later. A visit to New York in 1921 infused him with the pace of Broadway shows, and he injected its speed into staid British drama and music to create a high-octane rush for the jazz-mad, dance-crazy 1920s. Coward's style was imitated everywhere, as otherwise quite normal Englishmen donned dressing gowns, stuck cigarettes in long holders and called each other "dahling"; his revues propagated the message, with songs sentimental ("A Room With A View," "I'll See You Again") and satirical ("Mad Dogs and Englishmen," "Don't Put Your Daughter On the Stage, Mrs. Worthington"). His between-the-wars celebrity reached a peak in 1930 with "Private Lives," by which time he had become the highest earning author in the western world. With the onset of World War II he redefined the spirit of the country in films such as This Happy Breed (1944), In Which We Serve (1942), Blithe Spirit (1945) and, perhaps most memorably, Brief Encounter (1945). In the postwar period, Coward, the aging Bright Young Thing, seemed outmoded by the Angry Young Men, but, like any modern pop star, he reinvented himself, this time as a hip cabaret singer: "Las Vegas, Flipping, Shouts "More!" as Noel Coward Wows 'Em in Cafe Turn" enthused Variety. By the 1960s, his reappraisal was complete -- "Dad's Renaissance", called it -- and his "Hay Fever" was the first work by a living author to be produced at the National Theatre. He was knighted -- at last -- in 1970, and died in his beloved Jamaica on 26 March 1973. Since his death, his reputation has grown. There is never a point at which his plays are not being performed, or his songs being sung. A playwright, director, actor, songwriter, filmmaker, novelist, wit . . . was there nothing this man couldn't do? Born into a musical family he was soon treading the boards in various music hall shows where he met a young girl called Gertrude Lawrence, a friendship and working partnership that lasted until her death. His early writings were mainly short songs and sketches for the revue shows popular in the 1920s, but even his early works often contained touches of the genius to come ("Parisian Pierrot" 1923). He went on to write and star (with Gertie) in his own revues, but the whiff of scandal was never far away, such as that from the drug addict portrayed in "The Vortex." Despite his obvious homosexual lifestyle he was taken to the hearts of the people and soon grew into one of the most popular writer/performers of his time.
BornDecember 16, 1899
DiedMarch 26, 1973(73)
BornDecember 16, 1899
DiedMarch 26, 1973(73)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Nominated for 1 Oscar

Photos44

Noël Coward and Julie Haydon in The Scoundrel (1935)
Noël Coward in In Which We Serve (1942)
Noël Coward and John Mills in In Which We Serve (1942)
Noël Coward in In Which We Serve (1942)
Noël Coward and Celia Johnson in In Which We Serve (1942)
Noël Coward, Celia Johnson, Daniel Massey, and Ann Stephens in In Which We Serve (1942)
Noël Coward and Celia Johnson in In Which We Serve (1942)
Noël Coward and John Mills in In Which We Serve (1942)
Noël Coward in In Which We Serve (1942)
Noël Coward, Daniel Massey, and Ann Stephens in In Which We Serve (1942)
Noël Coward, Celia Johnson, Daniel Massey, and Ann Stephens in In Which We Serve (1942)
Noël Coward and Frederick Piper in In Which We Serve (1942)

Known for

Noël Coward in In Which We Serve (1942)
In Which We Serve
7.2
  • Writer(as Noel Coward)
  • 1942
The Italian Job (1969)
The Italian Job
7.2
  • Mr. Bridger
  • 1969
Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter (1945)
Brief Encounter
8.0
  • Writer(uncredited)
  • 1945
Blithe Spirit (1945)
Blithe Spirit
7.0
  • Writer(uncredited)
  • 1945

Credits

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IMDbPro

Writer

  • Jesse Riggs and Cindy Westbrook in Hay Fever (2021)
    Hay Fever
  • Judi Dench, Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, and Dan Stevens in Blithe Spirit (2020)
    Blithe Spirit
  • Present Laughter (2019)
    Present Laughter
  • Great Performances (1971)
    Great Performances
  • Blythe Spirit (2015)
    Blythe Spirit
  • Blithe Spirit
  • Noel Coward's Private Lives (2013)
    Noel Coward's Private Lives
  • Fifty Years on Stage (2013)
    Fifty Years on Stage
    • (segment Hay Fever)
  • Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West in Burton and Taylor (2013)
    Burton and Taylor
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Karen Gillan in In Love With... (2011)
    In Love With...
  • Brief Encounter
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jessica Biel, and Ben Barnes in Easy Virtue (2008)
    Easy Virtue
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • TV teatar (1956)
    TV teatar
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Colin Firth, Julie Andrews, William Baldwin, Stephen Fry, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Edward Atterton in Relative Values (2000)
    Relative Values
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • The Divine Comedy: I've Been to A Marvellous Party (1998)
    The Divine Comedy: I've Been to A Marvellous Party

Actor

  • The Italian Job (1969)
    The Italian Job
  • Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Boom! (1968)
    Boom!
  • Androcles and the Lion (1967)
    Androcles and the Lion
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
    Bunny Lake Is Missing
  • Ninety Years On (1964)
    Ninety Years On
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Audrey Hepburn and William Holden in Paris When It Sizzles (1964)
    Paris When It Sizzles
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • The Children of Lindos
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Surprise Package (1960)
    Surprise Package
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Our Man in Havana (1959)
    Our Man in Havana
  • David Niven and Cantinflas in Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
    Around the World in 80 Days
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Judy Garland in Ford Star Jubilee (1955)
    Ford Star Jubilee
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Margaret Leighton in The Astonished Heart (1950)
    The Astonished Heart
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter (1945)
    Brief Encounter
    • (uncredited)
  • Blithe Spirit (1945)
    Blithe Spirit
    • (uncredited)
  • Noël Coward in In Which We Serve (1942)
    In Which We Serve
    • (as Noel Coward)

Music Department

  • Shola Ama: Someday I'll Find You
  • Twentieth Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward (1998)
    Twentieth Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward
  • Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill (1985)
    Tonight at 8.30
  • Song by Song
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill (1985)
    The Songwriters
  • Lily Tomlin in Lily (1973)
    Lily
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • The Coward Revue
  • Music for You
  • The Grass Is Greener (1960)
    The Grass Is Greener
    • (uncredited)
  • Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in Bitter Sweet (1940)
    Bitter Sweet
    • (as Noel Coward)
  • Fernand Gravey and Anna Neagle in Bitter Sweet (1933)
    Bitter Sweet
    • (as Noel Coward)

Videos4

Trailer
Trailer 1:16
Trailer
Trailer - 40th Anniversary Edition
Trailer 3:37
Trailer - 40th Anniversary Edition
Boom!
Trailer 2:27
Boom!
Paris When It Sizzles
Trailer 2:45
Paris When It Sizzles

Personal details

Edit
    • Official Site
    • December 16, 1899
    • Teddington, Middlesex, England, UK
    • March 26, 1973
    • Blue Harbor, Jamaica(heart attack)
    • (Sibling)
  • Other works
    Concert: Las Vegas, NV.
  • Publicity listings
    • 22 Print Biographies
    • 13 Portrayals
    • 1 Interview
    • 46 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial
    • 4 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Worked undercover for British Intellegence during WWII.
  • Quotes
    Having to read a footnote resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love.
    • The Italian Job
      (1969)
      £25,000

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