“We were potty about each other at first,”
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John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, and entrepreneur, who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in post-war theatre. Born in London, he briefly worked as a journalist before starting out in theatre as a stage manager and actor. He lived in poverty for several years before his third produced play, Look Back in Anger (1956), brought him national fame.
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entertainment · English playwright (1929–1994) · actor · playwright · screenwriter · writer · film actor · also John Osborne, John James Osborne, Osborne
Born 12 December 1929 · Died 24 December 1994 · Q313841
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2026· 3 entries
“If you say that one more time, I”
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“She was the most evil woman I have come across”
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2008· 1 entry
The Ransom Center purchased an additional archive of over 30 boxes that had been held by Helen Dawson Osborne
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2004· 2 entries
Dawson was buried next to Osborne
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Dawson worked to preserve and promote Osborne's legacy
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2003· 1 entry
The Osbornes' residence was opened as a residential retreat for writers by the Arvon Foundation
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1994· 2 entries
Died 1994-12-24.
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“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.”
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1992· 1 entry
Was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writer's Guild of Great Britain
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1990· 1 entry
(having expressed suicidal thoughts for decades): some have blamed this on Osborne's treatment of her
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1987· 1 entry
Osborne became diabetic, injecting insulin twice a day
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1985· 1 entry
Featuring Eileen Atkins and Alan Howard as his parents, and Gary Capelin and Neil McPherson as Osborne
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1978· 1 entry
Married Helen Dawson, and from 1986 they lived in rural Shropshire
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1964· 3 entries
Awarded Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for Tom Jones (1964).
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Awarded BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay for Tom Jones (1964).
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Awarded Tony Award for Best Play for Luther (1964).
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1961· 2 entries
“This is a letter of hate. It is for you, my countrymen … the men with manic fingers leading the sightless, feeble, betrayed body of my country to its death. You are its murderers.”
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In the aftermath of the Berlin Wall being built, the left-wing magazine Tribune published Osborne's "Letter to My Fellow Countrymen", addressing those politicians the author considered responsible for nuclear proliferati
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1959· 2 entries
And in the early '60s was a member of the Committee of 100 who engaged in civil disobedience to protest against nuclear weapons
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Osborne joined the CND in 1959, and in the early '60s was a member of the Committee of 100 who engaged in civil disobedience to protest against nuclear weapons.
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1958· 1 entry
Osborne joined Look Back in Anger director Tony Richardson and film producer Harry Saltzman to form Woodfall Film Productions, in order to produce Richardson's 1959 film adaptation of Anger and other works of kitchen sin
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1956· 1 entry
After the opening of Look Back in Anger, Osborne met Lane at the railway station in York, where she told Osborne of her recent abortion and enquired after his relationship with Mary Ure
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1943· 1 entry
But was expelled in the summer term of 1945
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1940· 1 entry
Leaving the young boy an insurance settlement which he used to pay for a private education at Belmont College, a minor public school in Barnstaple, Devon
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1936· 1 entry
The family moved to the north Surrey suburb of Stoneleigh, where Thomas's mother had already settled
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1929· 1 entry
Born 1929-12-12.
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