Noël Peirce Coward
15 min read
Reading time
2,933
Words
Published
25
Film credits
46
Books
3
Awards
Noël Coward wrote Private Lives in 1930, making him the highest-earning author in the western world. He also wrote and starred in the 1945 films Brief Encounter and Blithe Spirit. Knighted in 1970, Coward was a defining figure of 20th-century English theatre and film.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Noël Coward — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Noël Coward by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Noël Coward — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Born in Teddington, Middlesex on December 16, 1899, Noël Coward was on stage by age six. His mother Violet named him Noël because his birthday was close to Christmas. He trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts and met lifelong friend Gertrude Lawrence during his early stage appearances.
In 1924 Coward wrote The Vortex, a scandalous play about drug use and sexual freedom that made him a celebrity. His 1930 comedy Private Lives, written for Gertrude Lawrence, became a classic. During World War II he wrote and appeared in films like In Which We Serve 1942 and Brief Encounter 1945. In the 1950s he reinvented himself as a cabaret performer, playing Las Vegas in 1955 for $35,000 per week.
Coward maintained a decades-long friendship and professional partnership with actress Gertrude Lawrence. He was the godfather of actor Daniel Massey and Juliet Mills. In 1956 he became a tax exile, eventually settling in Jamaica, where he died of a heart attack on March 26, 1973. His remains are interred at the Firefly Estate in Montego Bay.
Coward was knighted in 1970 and received a Special Tony Award the same year. In 1999 Prince Edward unveiled a statue of him at the Gershwin Theatre in New York. His songs have been recorded by artists such as Elton John and Paul McCartney, and his plays remain in constant performance worldwide. He is most remembered as The Master of wit and sophistication.
The complete filmography of Noël Coward — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Noël Coward — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Noël Coward's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Noël Coward — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Having to Read a Footnote Resembles Having to Go Downstairs to Answer the Door While in the Midst of Making Love.
Comedies of Manners Swiftly Become Obsolete When There Are No Longer Any Manners.
Everybody Worships Me, It’s Nauseating.
Extraordinary How Potent Cheap Music Is
Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington.
I Never Care Who Scored the Goal, or Which Side Won the Silver Cup – I Never Learned to Bat or Bowl – but I Heard the Curtain Going Up.
Wit Is Like Caviar – It Should Be Served in Small Portions and Not Spread About Like Marmalade.
Certain Women Should Be Struck Regularly, Like Gongs.
My Importance to the World Is Relatively Small. on the Other Hand, My Importance to Myself Is Tremendous. I Am All I Have to Work With, to Play With, to Suffer and to Enjoy. It Is Not the Eyes of Others That I Am Wary Of, but of My Own. I Do Not Intend to Let Myself Down More Than I Can Possibly Help, and I Find That the Fewer Illusions I Have About Myself or the World Around Me, the Better Company I Am for Myself.
I Don’t Much Care for Hollywood, I’d Rather Have a Nice Cup of Cocoa.
My Life Really Has Been One Long Extravaganza.
The Day When I Shall Begin to Worry Is When the Critics Declare: ‘This Is Noël Coward’s Greatest Play.’ but I Know They Bloody Well Won’t.
I Can Accept Anything in the Theatre Provided It Amuses Me or Moves Me. but If It Does Neither, I Want to Go Home.
Mad Dogs and Englishmen Go Out in the Midday Sun.
A Bout of Influenza Laid Me Low in Shanghai, and I Lay, Sweating Gloomily, in My Bedroom in the Cathay Hotel for Several Days. the Ensuing Convalescence, However, Was Productive, for I Utilized It by Writing ‘Private Lives’. the Idea by Now Seemed Ripe Enough to Have a Shot at It, so I Started It, Propped up in Bed with a Writing-block and an Eversharp Pencil, and Completed It, Roughly, in Four Days. It Came Easily, and with the Exception of a Few of the Usual ‘Blood and Tears’ Moments, I Enjoyed Writing It. I Thought It a Shrewd and Witty Comedy, Well Constructed on the Whole, but Psychologically Unstable.
I Have a Slight Reforming Urge, but Have Rather Cunningly Kept It Down.
I Was a Brazen, Odious Little Prodigy, Over-pleased with Myself and Precocious to a Degree. I Was a Talented Boy, God Knows, and When Washed and Smarmed Down a Bit, Passably Attractive.
The World Has Treated Me Very Well. but Then I Haven’t Treated It so Badly, Either.
The Modern Actress Needs Only to Look Good and Master Three Essential Skills, to Cry, Scream and Fake Orgasm on Demand.
I Liked to Be Contemporary and Bright as a Button, but I Don’t Think I Was All That Keen on Being Significant.
Criticism? I Don’t Mind It. I Just Take No Notice of It.
I Left School at 9½. After That My Education Had to Look After Itself.
Cigarettes Are Terrible Things, but Useful. Luckily I ‘Use’ a Cigarette Rather Than Smoke It.
Little-known facts about Noël Coward — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Worked undercover for British Intelligence during WWII.
He once encountered Edna Ferber, who was wearing a tailored suit. You look almost like a man, said Coward. So do you, replied Ferber.
The discovery of Adolf Hitler’s secret plan for the extermination of certain prominent British figures was made public on September 13, 1945. Among the figures were Churchill and Coward. What a cast! he remarked.
He and Marlene Dietrich became close friends after their first conversation by transatlantic telephone in 1935.
In 1947, MCA offered Coward a fantastic proposition: $500 a week for 23 years if he guaranteed three commitments to Paramount. He refused, valuing his freedom.
Friend and neighbor of James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
His mother named him Noel because his birthday arrived so close to Christmas.
Sir Winston Churchill blocked Coward’s knighthood in 1942, despite Coward spying for Britain, according to never-before-seen letters.
Upon learning that Mussolini had been executed and hung upside down, Coward remarked, The Italians are a lovable race.
The character of Beverly Carlton in The Man Who Came to Dinner was based on Coward.
He developed his clipped, staccato manner of speaking to mask a lisp and to aid his partially deaf mother.
Wrote some 140 plays and hundreds of songs.
In 1951, his cabaret debut at Café de Paris was a triumphant success, with Princess Margaret in attendance.
Coward was not a great admirer of the Duke of Windsor, suggesting statues of the Duchess of Windsor be erected throughout England.
Turned down the role of Humbert in Lolita 1962.
Godfather of actor Daniel Massey.
Godfather of Juliet Mills.
His remains were interred at the Firefly Estate in Montego Bay, Saint James, Jamaica.
Turned down the role of Dr. No in the first James Bond film.
Peter Collinson later directed him in The Italian Job 1969 and became his godfather.
Was the first tax-exile British subject to be knighted.
He was created a Knight Bachelor in the 1970 Queen’s New Year Honours List for services to drama.
Was performing onstage before he was 10.
David Lean originally chose Coward for the role of Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957.
Believed Maurice Chevalier’s collaboration with the Nazis was excusable, as Chevalier claimed he secured prisoner releases.
Prince Edward unveiled a statue of Coward at the Gershwin Theatre in New York on March 1, 1999.
Coward and Gertrude Lawrence began their careers as children. He wrote Private Lives 1931 specifically for her.
In 1955, a Paramount film deal for The Sleeping Prince fell through; it was later made with Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe.
His 1955 Las Vegas engagement at the Desert Inn paid $35,000 per week and was recorded for the album Noël Coward at Las Vegas.
When his pianist Norman Hackforth was denied a US work permit, Marlene Dietrich recommended Peter Matz, who became his accompanist.
He came from a naval family.
In 1920 he started the turtleneck fashion fad.
In 1955, Coward starred in the CBS special Together with Music with Mary Martin, the first color show transmitted from CBS New York.
Turned down an offer to write the music and lyrics for Pygmalion in 1952; it later became My Fair Lady.
Directed a 1956 CBS production of Blithe Spirit with Lauren Bacall and Claudette Colbert, despite an abscess on his sciatic nerve.
He became a tax exile in 1956 and settled in Bermuda.
His 1946 operetta Pacific 1860 starring Mary Martin at Drury Lane was not a success and closed after four months.
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1988.
His third CBS special This Happy Breed aired in 1956 and was hailed as a television triumph.
Portrayed by Harry Groener in the Off-Broadway musical If Love Were All 1999.
Won a Special Tony Award in 1970. He also received Tony nominations in 1964 for High Spirits and The Girl Who Came to Supper.
Mentioned in the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart song The Lady is a Tramp.
A memorial service was held at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London on May 24, 1973.
Tim Rice said of Coward’s songs, The wit and wisdom of Noël Coward’s lyrics will be as lively and contemporary in 100 years’ time as they are today.
The character of Eric Dare in Cole Porter’s Jubilee is based on Coward.
His nickname for Gertrude Lawrence was Gertie.
Jerome Kern was a close friend; they planned a musical collaboration, but Kern’s death in 1945 ended it.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Noël Coward.
Celebrities similar to Noël Coward — same craft, ranked by reach.
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