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.

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

Blithe Spirit

Blithe Spirit

Written by Noel Coward this play, first performed in Manchester in 1941, moved in 1942 to The Duchess Theatre where it was performed 1997 times, a record at the time. It was filmed by David Lean i...

Fiction, Cinema, Fictional, Theatre

1 memorial
Cunard / Broadwest Film Studio

Cunard / Broadwest Film Studio

The Cunard Film Company Limited moved into a purpose-built studio, close to the Precision Film Studio. It had a capacious glass-roofed daylight stage with extra lighting from 30 Westminster arc lam...

Building, Cinema

1 memorial
Dame Maggie Smith

Dame Maggie Smith

Actor. Born Margaret Natalie Smith in Ilford, Essex. She began her acting career in 1952 with the Oxford University Dramatic Society. Since then she has appeared in many stage productions, both in ...

Person, Cinema, Seriously Famous, Theatre, TV & Radio, USA

1 memorial
Yoda

Yoda

Character in the Star Wars series. In the original films, he trains Luke Skywalker to fight against the Galactic Empire, and in the prequel films, he serves as the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. T...

Person, Cinema, Fictional

1 memorial
Michael Sheen

Michael Sheen

Actor. Born Michael Christopher Sheen in Newport, Wales. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his stage debut in 1991 playing opposite Vanessa Redgrave in 'When She Danced'....

Person, Cinema, Theatre, TV & Radio, Wales

1 memorial