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This is the ninth in a series highlighting the best gay and lesbian authors from the
20th century (with a few before and after that period)
who have recorded
in fiction, and nonfiction, the history of gay people
telling what life is,
and was, during an important time of history.
  
  
Noel
Coward is the definition of a Renaissance Man and yet he defined
himself as just 'having a talent to amuse'. He certainly did amuse, and more,
by writing plays that are being performed on stages all over the world
today, songs that are sung by generation after generation, movies that
are considered classics both those he wrote and acted in, having done
sell out one man shows in Vegas, made stars out of unknowns, was
revered, admired and loved by Kings, Queens, Leaders of the World and
defined sophistication for the 'everyman'.
     
Time magazine defined him as, "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic,
pose and poise".
Coward was homosexual but, following the convention of his times, this was
never publicly mentioned. The critic Kenneth Tynan's description in 1953 was close to
an acknowledgment of Coward's sexuality: "Forty years ago he was Slightly in
Peter Pan, and you might say that he has been wholly in Peter Pan ever since. No private considerations have been allowed to deflect the drive of
his career; like Gielgud and Rattigan, like
the late Ivor Novello, he
is a congenital bachelor."
Coward firmly believed his private business was not for public discussion,
considering "any sexual activities when over-advertised" to be
tasteless. Even in the
1960s, Coward refused to acknowledge his sexual orientation publicly, wryly
observing, "There are still a few old ladies in Worthing who don't know." Despite this
reticence, he encouraged his secretary Cole Lesley to write a frank biography
once Coward was safely dead. Details of his
sexual life emerged; for instance, from his youth Coward had a distaste for
penetrative sex.[
Coward's most important relationship, which began in the mid-1940s and lasted
until his death, was with the South African stage and film actor Graham Payn. Coward featured
Payn in several of his London productions. Payn later co-edited with Sheridan Morley the
collection of Coward's diaries, published in 1982. Coward's other relationships
included the playwright Keith Winter, actors Louis Hayward and Alan Webb, his manager John (Jack) C. Wilson
(1899–1961) and the composer Ned
Rorem, who published details of their relationship in his diaries.Coward had a
19-year friendship with Prince George, Duke of Kent, but
biographers differ on whether it was platonic. According to
Payn, Coward maintained that it was simply a friendship.Coward said, on
the duke's death, "I suddenly find that I loved him more than I knew."
Coward maintained close friendships with many women, including the actress
and author Esmé
Wynne-Tyson, his first collaborator and constant correspondent; the designer
Gladys Calthrop; his secretary and close confidante Lorn Loraine; the actresses
Gertrude
Lawrence, Joyce Carey and Judy Campbell; and "his loyal and lifelong amitié amoureuse", Marlene Dietrich.
JUST SOME OF HIS CREDITS:
Plays
- For plays that were written more than two years before the original
production, a date of composition is given and the second date given is the year
when first produced (fp).
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Revues,
musicals, operetta and songs
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Songs
Coward wrote more than three hundred songs. The Noël Coward Society's
website, drawing on performing statistics from the publishers and the Performing Rights Society,
names "Mad About the
Boy" (from Words and Music) as Coward's most popular song, followed,
in order, by:
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In the society's second tier of favourites are:
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As a songwriter, Coward was deeply influenced by Gilbert and
Sullivan, although he shared a dislike of their works common in his
generation.[159][160] He recalled: "I
was born into a generation that still took light music seriously. The lyrics and
melodies of Gilbert and Sullivan were hummed and strummed into my consciousness
at an early age. My father sang them, my mother played them... my aunts and
uncles, who were legion, sang them singly and in unison at the slightest
provocation."[161] His colleague Terence Rattigan wrote that as a lyricist Coward was "the best of his kind since W. S. Gilbert."
Films
Coward's plays adapted for film include:
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Films in which he participated as actor, screenwriter, director or producer
are as follows:
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FOR MORE, A LOT MORE, HIS SERVICE DURING THE WARS, HIS LEGACY, HIS IMAGE, FRIENDS, ETC., GO TO: (COPY AND PASTE TO URL)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No%C3%ABl_Coward