A Patriot For Me

John Osborne was born in London in 1929. Before becoming a playwright he worked as a journalist, assistant stage manager and repertory theatre actor. Seeing an advertisement for new plays inThe Stagein 1956, Osborne submittedLook Back in Anger. Not only was the play produced, but it was to become considered as the turning point in post-war British theatre. Osborne's protagonist, Jimmy Porter, captured the rebelliousness of an entire post-war generation of 'angry young men'. His other plays includeThe Entertainer(1957),Luther(1961),Inadmissible Evidence(1964), andA Patriot for Me(1966). He also wrote two volumes of autobiography,A Better Class of Person(1981) andAlmost a Gentleman(1991) published together asLooking Back: Never Explain, Never Apologise. His last play,Deja Vu(1991), returns to the characters ofLook Back in Anger, over thirty years later. BothLook Back in AngerandThe Entertainerwere adapted for film, and in 1963 Osborne won an Academy Award for his screenplay forTom Jones. John Osborne died on 24 December 1994.