John Osborne
Playwright, Author
1929 – 1994
Who was 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.
In a productive life of more than 40 years, Osborne explored many themes and genres, writing for stage, film and TV. His personal life was extravagant and iconoclastic. He was notorious for the ornate violence of his language, not only on behalf of the political causes he supported but also against his own family, including his wives and children.
Osborne was one of the first writers to address Britain's purpose in the post-imperial age. He was the first to question the point of the monarchy on a prominent public stage. During his peak, he helped make contempt an acceptable and now even cliched onstage emotion, argued for the cleansing wisdom of bad behaviour and bad taste, and combined unsparing truthfulness with devastating wit.
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- Born
- Dec 12, 1929
Fulham - Also known as
- John James Osbourne
- John Osbourne
- John James Osborne
- Parents
- Spouses
- Jill Bennett
(1968/05/23 - 1978) - Mary Ure
(1957 - 1963) - Pamela Lane
(1951 - 1957/04) - Penelope Gilliatt
(1963 - 1968) - Helen Dawson
(1978/06/02 - 1994/12/24)
- Jill Bennett
- Children
- Religion
- Anglicanism
- Nationality
- England
- United Kingdom
- Profession
- Died
- Dec 24, 1994
Clun
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
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"John Osborne." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/john_osborne>.
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