Noël Coward

Data di nascita
16 dicembre 1899 · Teddington, Middlesex, Inghilterra, Regno Unito
Data di morte
26 marzo 1973 · Blue Harbor, Giamaica (attacco cardiaco)
Nome alla nascita
Noël Peirce Coward
Soprannome
- The Master
Altezza
1,83 m

Worked undercover for British Intellegence during WWII.
He once encountered Edna Ferber, who was wearing a tailored suit. "You look almost like a man," said Coward. "So do you," replied Ferber.
On September 13, 1945, the discovery of Adolf Hitler's secret plan for the extermination of certain prominent British figures once England was taken over was made public. Among the figures were Winston Churchill, Vic Oliver, Dame Sybil Thorndike, author and journalist Rebecca West and Coward himself. "What a cast!" he remarked. West, learning that she and Coward were on the list of those to be executed, sent Coward a postcard, saying "Just think who we'd have been seen dead with!".
He and Marlene Dietrich had become, and remained, close friends since their first conversation--by transatlantic telephone--in 1935.
Jules C. Stein was an American physician and businessman who co-founded Music Corporation of America (MCA). When Coward was visiting New York City in September 1947, Stein and his MCA associate Charles Miller made a fantastic proposition: if he would guarantee Paramount Pictures three commitments, either as an actor, author or director, they would pay him $500 a week for 23 years. He visualized British newspaper headlines back in England: "Coward signs up to American film company--another rat leaving the sinking ship". His instincts told him to refuse. He did and they were astounded. Coward valued his freedom more than the money they were going to pay him.

Having to read a footnote resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love.
[About Oscar Wilde] It is extraordinary indeed that such a posing, artificial old queen should have written one of the greatest comedies in the English language!
[To Peter O'Toole] If you'd been any prettier, it would have been "Florence of Arabia".
Comedies of manners swiftly become obsolete when there are no longer any manners.
Everybody worships me, it's nauseating.