Person    | Male  Born 16/12/1899  Died 26/3/1973

Sir Noel Coward

Actor, playwright, composer, film director, author, singer. Born Helmsdale, 5 Waldegrave Road, Teddington. Died at home in Jamaica, where he was buried.

Obsessed with the theatre, he was a child actor, encouraged by his artistic mother. Conscripted into the Artists Rifles in WW1 and discharged after 5 months due to a nervous disability. 1924 saw his first hit with 'The Vortex' and within a year he had 4 shows running simultaneously in the West End, and he was still living at his family's boarding house in Ebury Street (no plaque). He travelled frequently, never apparently happy anywhere for long.

Plays include: 'Private Lives' and 'Blithe Spirit'. The film 'Brief Encounter' was based on his play. Songs include: 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen'. On the film 'In Which We Serve' Coward was writer, actor, composer and co-director. Acted in the original 1969 'Italian Job' film.

Early in WW2 he used his influence to encourage US involvement in the war, but his efforts to work for British intelligence were rejected. In the 1941 Blitz he wrote and sang the lovely 'London Pride' ('is a flower that's free').

Coward's homosexuality was an open secret, which, given its illegality at the time, was all it could be.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sir Noel Coward

Commemorated ati

Duchess Theatre

Duchess Theatre The Duchess Theatre began a distinguished career as a home f...

Read More

Sir Noel Coward - Gerald Road

Sir Noel Coward, author, composer and actor, lived here, 1930-1956.

Read More

Sir Noel Coward - Sutton

Sir Noel Coward 1899 - 1973 dramatist, actor and composer. Noel Coward lived ...

Read More

Sir Noel Coward - TW1

Sir Noel Coward, 1899 - 1973, actor, playwright and songwriter, born here. En...

Read More

Other Subjects

Biograph Theatre

Biograph Theatre

Designed by architect Keith D. Young, for light entertainment and music hall, and named the Spread Eagle Assembly Rooms. In 1900, it was re-named Wandsworth Palace of Varieties, and showed animated...

Building, Cinema, Theatre

1 memorial
Star Wars

Star Wars

A series of science-fiction films, formulated and originally directed by George Lucas, with the tag-line 'a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away'. The first films comprised a trilogy, and were f...

Fiction, Cinema

2 memorials
Wilfrid Brambell

Wilfrid Brambell

Actor Born Dublin.  Played the 'dirty old man' in the TV series 'Steptoe and Son' with Harry H. Corbett and Paul McCartney's granddad in 'A hard day's night'.  Died in Westminster.

Person, Cinema, Humour, TV & Radio, Ireland

1 memorial
Directors Guild of Great Britain

Directors Guild of Great Britain

A professional organisation representing directors across all aspects of the media. It was founded by a group of leading British directors who were dissatisfied with their representation by the tec...

Group, Cinema, TV & Radio

1 memorial
Noel Coward Estate

Noel Coward Estate

The estate of Sir Noel Coward.

Group, Cinema, Theatre

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Szmul Zygielbojm Memorial Committee

Szmul Zygielbojm Memorial Committee

Group concerned with promoting the memory of Szmul Zygielbojm.

Group, Community / Clubs

1 memorial
Walter Crane

Walter Crane

Artist and book illustrator. Born Liverpool. Worked in the Arts and Crafts style, producing designs for decorative items such as ceramics and, most charmingly, illustrations for children's books. D...

Person, Art

2 memorials
Les Stone

Les Stone

IG11, River Road, Stone Walk

This sign was in place in 2018 - May 2019 but had gone by November 2020. In 2018 there was a second identical sign further along Stone Wa...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Sir Morell MacKenzie

Sir Morell MacKenzie

Surgeon. Founded the world's first hospital for diseases of the throat. Our picture source from Wikipedia gives a full résumé of the life of Sir Morell Mackenzie. He is buried in St Mary's Church...

Person, Medicine, Austria, France, Germany, Hungary

1 memorial
50th anniversary of VJ Day

50th anniversary of VJ Day

The surrender of Japan was announced in Japan (USA, Europe, etc.) on 14 (15) August 1945 and effectively ended WW2. The paperwork was done two weeks later on 2 September. All three dates are someti...

Event, History

3 memorials