Gary Sinise
American actor
John Osborne was a renowned English playwright, screenwriter, actor, and entrepreneur who is considered one of the most influential figures in post-war British theatre. His play ‘Look Back in Anger’ is credited with initiating the ‘kitchen sink realism’ movement and he later co-founded the production company Woodfall Film Productions, which produced several notable films.
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About the John Osborne
John James Osbornewas an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, and entrepreneur, who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in post-war theatre. Born in London, he briefly worked as a journalist before starting out in theatre as a stage manager and actor. He lived in poverty for several years before his third produced play, Look Back in Angerwere also well-received, Luther winning the 1964 Tony Award for Best Play, though reception to his later plays was less favourable. During this period Osborne began writing and acting for television and appearing in films, most notably as crime boss Cyril Kinnear in Get Carter(co-written by Nigel Kneale), and Inadmissible Evidenceand Almost a Gentleman (1991), and a collection of his non-fiction writing, Damn You, England, was published in 1994. He died from complications of diabetes on 24 December of that year at the age of 65.
Frequently Asked Questions
John Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, and entrepreneur who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in post-war British theatre.
John Osborne’s most famous play was ‘Look Back in Anger’, which is considered the first work of ‘kitchen sink realism’ and initiated a movement that used social realism and domestic settings to address disillusion with British society.
John Osborne’s volatile relationship with his first wife, Pamela Lane, was the basis for his play ‘Look Back in Anger’, which is considered a pioneering work of kitchen sink realism.
In addition to ‘Look Back in Anger’, John Osborne also wrote other well-received plays such as ‘The Entertainer’, ‘Luther’, and ‘Inadmissable Evidence’, with ‘Luther’ winning the 1964 Tony Award for Best Play.
In 1958, John Osborne joined director Tony Richardson and producer Harry Saltzman to form Woodfall Film Productions, which produced the film adaptation of ‘Look Back in Anger’ and other works of kitchen sink realism, helping to spearhead the British New Wave in cinema.
John Osborne won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay for the film adaptation of ‘Tom Jones’.
Osborne was married five times, and his first four marriages were troubled by affairs and his mistreatment of his partners, which influenced the themes and subject matter of his plays.
14 Quotes by John Osborne
- 1.
It is easy to answer the ultimate questions – it saves you bothering with the immediate ones.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 2.
Don’t clap too hard – it’s a very old building.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 3.
There’s no such thing as failure – just waiting for success.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 4.
Heaven be thanked, we live in such an age when no man dies for love except upon the stage.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 5.
The whole point of a sacrifice is that you give up something you never really wanted in the first place. People are doing it around you all the time. They give up their careers, say – or their beliefs – or sex.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 6.
They spend their time looking forward to the past.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 7.
Why do I do this every Sunday? Even the book reviews seem to be the same as last week’s. Different books same reviews.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 8.
In London, love and scandal are considered the best sweeteners of tea.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 9.
I never deliberately set out to shock, but when people don’t walk out of my plays I think there is something wrong.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 10.
Go on – but don’t think you can kill my confidence. I’ve had experts doing it for years.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 11.
It is not true that drink changes a man’s character. It may reveal it more clearly.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 12.
Heroes, whatever high ideas we may have of them, are mortal and not divine. We are all as God made us and many of us much worse.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 13.
Here we are, we’re alone in the universe, there’s no God, it just seems that it all began by something as simple as sunlight striking on a piece of rock. And here we are. We’ve only got ourselves. Somehow, we’ve just got to make a go of it. We’ve only ourselves.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)
- 14.
It is widely held that too much wine will dull a man’s desire. Indeed it will in a dull man.
John OsborneEnglish playwright (1929-1994)