Nevill Coghill(1899-1980)
- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Irish-born writer Nevill Coghill's much admired theatrical productions
in England had an indirect influence on Great Britain's film industry,
through those actors and artisans that worked under him before
successfully moving from stage to screen. But there were direct
actions, as well. A working relationship with Richard Burton led Coghill to
adapt Christopher Marlowe's play, co-direct with Burton, and cameo in the 1967
film, Doctor Faustus (1967). After Coghill served in World War I, he turned to
reading English at Exeter College, Oxford, England, where he became a
Fellow in 1924. His personal faith was a major influence on a friend
from his undergraduate days, atheist turned theological author C.S.
Lewis, and it was Lewis who later invited him to join the Inklings -
that informal gathering of literary minds co-founded by Lewis, J.R.R.
Tolkien, Owen Barfield and Charles Williams. While participating in
Exeter College's Essay Club, Coghill heard Tolkien recite 'The Fall of
Gondolin' from "The Silmarillion". Nevill Coghill served as Professor
of English Literature at Oxford from 1957 till 1966. He made literary
history by translating Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" into
Modern English couplets.
