John Osborne

Angry and acerbic British playwright/screenwriter John Osborne had a special knack for angering his fellow Britons with his rebellious and sometimes poisonous comments about the English tendency to hold themselves and their society in what he may have considered inordinately high esteem. Osborne burst onto the British theatrical scene in 1956 after penning his seminal play about youthful rebellion, Look Back in Anger, in a mere 17 days. It was a hard-hitting work that left audiences reeling and created a new symbol of the educated 1950s rebel, his character Jimmy Porter. The play and the resulting film (in 1962, starring Richard Burton) provided the launching pad for a wide variety of socially conscious dramas. As a screenwriter, Osborne is best known for penning the Academy Award-winning screenplay adaptation of Fielding's Tom Jones (1963). Born in London to a father he adored and a mother (according to his memoirs) he hated, Osborne originally aspired to act on-stage, but ended up a journalist and playwright. Look Back in Anger was his first play. Later he worked alone or in collaboration on screen adaptations of his plays. He has also acted in a couple of feature films. In addition to enjoying his plays, audiences (who apparently loved to hate him) were often entertained by details from Osborne's private life. A diabetic and a heavy drinker with a tendency toward irascibility, Osborne was married five times. He seldom hesitated from vindictively verbally bashing each of his ex-wives and former colleagues. Still, his admirers stood up for his bald honesty, his unflinching willingness to express his views, and the rich way in which was able to do it.