Wissenswertes

Co-founder of the Glasgow Citizen's Theatre.

One of the instigators of the Edinburgh Festival.

James Bridie wrote mainly comedies, but comedies that dealt with oftentimes fearsome themes. His play "The Sunlight Sonata", for example was subtitled The Seven deadly sins, and the plays that followed it focused on such harsh realities as death, damnation, disease, and drunkenness

James Bridie's famous biblical plays are Tobias and the angel, Susanna and the Elders, and Jonah and the Whale. James Bridie is also famous for his play "Dr. Angelus."

James Bridie worked with famous Director Alfred Hitchcock in 3 films - The Paradine Case, Under Capricorn, and Stage Fright.

Father: Henry Alexander Mavor; Mother: Janet Osborne.

Many of his plays were written specifically for his close friend Alastair Sim, who became the most renowned interpreter of his work.

His son Ronald Mavor was also a writer and physician.

Bridie was the first chairman of the Arts Council in Scotland and was also instrumental in the establishment of the Edinburgh Festival. In 1950 he founded the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, part of the Royal Conservatoire today.

Bridie worked with the director Alfred Hitchcock in the late 1940s. Hitchcock, a great admirer of Bridie's plays, was determined to persuade him to write for films, although the playwright was not keen. They first worked together on "The Paradine Case" (1947). Bridie originally wrote the screenplay, working with Hitchcock and the latter's wife Alma Reville; Ben Hecht contributed some additional dialogue. But David O. Selznick insisted on making changes and later claimed that he had "had to write another script" himself - an attempt to present himself as a kind of hero of the hour, although his interference had been what had caused the problems in the first place. Bridie took no credit on the final film; nor did Hecht. However, Bridie was credited as the main writer on "Under Capricorn" (1949) and was then re-united with Hitchcock a third time on "Stage Fright" (1950). His uncredited contributions to this film probably had to do with providing dialogue for Alastair Sim, who was a close friend of his.

The Bridie Library at the Glasgow University Union is named after him, as is the annual Bridie Dinner that takes place in the Union each December.

James Bridie was the pseudonym of a Scottish playwright, screenwriter and physician whose real name was Osborne Henry Mavor. He took his pen-name from his paternal grandfather's first name and his grandmother's maiden name.