Daphne Du Maurier(1907-1989)
- Writer
Daphne Du Maurier was one of the most popular English writers of the
20th Century, when middle-brow genre fiction was accorded a higher
level of respect in a more broadly literate age. For her services to
literature, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British
Empire in 1969, the female equivalent of a knighthood. Thus, she
achieved a trifecta of sorts, as her father and her husband were both
knights.
She was born on May 13, 1907 in London, the second daughter of the
famous actor-manager
Gerald du Maurier, who himself was
knighted in 1922, and the actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was
the famous anglo-French writer
George L. Du Maurier, the creator
of Svengali in his 1894 novel "Trilby". (She was also cousin to the
Llewelyn Davies boys, through her grandfather Gerald. The boys were the
inspiration for the boys in J.M. Barrie'
Peter Pan (1924) and his Neverland
works.) Her husband was also famous: Frederick A. M. Browning, the WWII
Commander "Boy" Browning renowned as the "father of the British
airborne forces." He helped plan and execute Operation Market Garden,
an airborne operation that put Allied troops into Germany and the
Netherlands, an ultimately unsuccessful venture chronicled in
Cornelius Ryan's
A Bridge Too Far (1977). During
the Second World War, Boy Browning achieved the rank of Lieutenant
General and a knighthood.
Browning's quote that Arnheim was a bridge too far later became famous as a book title and ultimately a movie title.
Daphne published her first short story in 1928; her first novel, "The
Loving Spirit", was published in 1931, and her last, "Rule Britannia",
forty-one year later. In between, she achieved her greatest success
with the novel Rebecca (1940), which was
adapted by Alfred Hitchcock
into a classic film that won the Best Picture Oscar for 1940. Another
novel, Don't Look Now (1973),
adapted by Nicolas Roeg, is also considered
a classic film in Britain.
Along with "Rebecca", she had great successes with her novels
Jamaica Inn (1939) and
Frenchman's Creek (1944), both
of which were adapted into movies. The three novels were set in
Cornwall, where she lived. In addition to multiple non-fiction books,
Daphne Du Maurier also wrote three plays (including an adaptation of
"Rebecca").
She died on April 19, 1989, in Par in her beloved Cornwall, five weeks
shy of her 82nd birthday.
20th Century, when middle-brow genre fiction was accorded a higher
level of respect in a more broadly literate age. For her services to
literature, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British
Empire in 1969, the female equivalent of a knighthood. Thus, she
achieved a trifecta of sorts, as her father and her husband were both
knights.
She was born on May 13, 1907 in London, the second daughter of the
famous actor-manager
Gerald du Maurier, who himself was
knighted in 1922, and the actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was
the famous anglo-French writer
George L. Du Maurier, the creator
of Svengali in his 1894 novel "Trilby". (She was also cousin to the
Llewelyn Davies boys, through her grandfather Gerald. The boys were the
inspiration for the boys in J.M. Barrie'
Peter Pan (1924) and his Neverland
works.) Her husband was also famous: Frederick A. M. Browning, the WWII
Commander "Boy" Browning renowned as the "father of the British
airborne forces." He helped plan and execute Operation Market Garden,
an airborne operation that put Allied troops into Germany and the
Netherlands, an ultimately unsuccessful venture chronicled in
Cornelius Ryan's
A Bridge Too Far (1977). During
the Second World War, Boy Browning achieved the rank of Lieutenant
General and a knighthood.
Browning's quote that Arnheim was a bridge too far later became famous as a book title and ultimately a movie title.
Daphne published her first short story in 1928; her first novel, "The
Loving Spirit", was published in 1931, and her last, "Rule Britannia",
forty-one year later. In between, she achieved her greatest success
with the novel Rebecca (1940), which was
adapted by Alfred Hitchcock
into a classic film that won the Best Picture Oscar for 1940. Another
novel, Don't Look Now (1973),
adapted by Nicolas Roeg, is also considered
a classic film in Britain.
Along with "Rebecca", she had great successes with her novels
Jamaica Inn (1939) and
Frenchman's Creek (1944), both
of which were adapted into movies. The three novels were set in
Cornwall, where she lived. In addition to multiple non-fiction books,
Daphne Du Maurier also wrote three plays (including an adaptation of
"Rebecca").
She died on April 19, 1989, in Par in her beloved Cornwall, five weeks
shy of her 82nd birthday.