Terence Rattigan

Profession: Playwright

Nationality:

Biography: Terence Rattigan was one of the most popular and successful British playwrights of the 20th century. He was born in 1911 into a wealthy and upper-class family, and was educated at prestigious public schools. He began writing plays while still a student, and had his first success with “French Without Tears” in 1936.

During the Second World War, Rattigan served in the Royal Air Force and wrote several propaganda plays for the Ministry of Information. After the war, he had a string of hits with plays such as “The Winslow Boy,” “The Browning Version,” and “Separate Tables.”

His work often dealt with issues of class, morality and sexual repression, and he was one of the first British playwrights to openly portray homosexual characters.

Rattigan’s work fell out of favour in the 1960s, as the “Angry Young Men” of the British Theatre began to challenge the Establishment. However, he enjoyed a revival in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with a successful television adaptation of “Brideshead Revisited” and a series of revivals of his plays.

Born: June 10, 1911
Birthplace: London, England, United Kingdom

Generation: Greatest Generation
Chinese Zodiac: Pig
Star Sign: Gemini

Died: November 30, 1977 (aged 66)