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Noel Coward

Celebrity

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Noel Coward Fast Facts:

Was given the name Noël for being born just before Christmas.
Quit school at age nine to help the family financially by becoming a child actor.
Met actress Gertrude Lawrence while performing and maintained a lifelong friendship and working relationship.
Made first screen appearance opposite Lillian Gish in director D.W. Griffith's Hearts of the World (1918).
Soared to fame in the early 1920s writing numerous hits including the revue London Calling, the comedy Hay Fever and skewering the upper classes in the controversial smash The Vortex.
Being constantly in demand coupled with the pressure of continually topping his previous successes caused him to suffer a nervous breakdown by age 27.
By 1930, regained esteem with his play Private Lives, and with his earnings moved to a farm with his businessman and lover Jack Wilson.
While working intelligence during World War II, wrote the enduring Blithe Spirit, considered the greatest hit of his career.
Adapted one of his one-act plays into the moving tear-jerker Brief Encounter (1946) for director David Lean.
By 1955, wowed audiences with a night club engagement in Las Vegas resulting in a popular live recording
Finally knighted in 1970, after Winston Churchill blocked an earlier attempt.