John Osborne

Osborne, John James (1929-1994), Playwright

John James Osborne was born on 12 December 1929 in Fulham, West London to Thomas Godfrey Osborne and Nellie Beatrice Grove. When we was two years old his elder sister, Faith, died of tuberculosis. In 1938 the family moved to Ewell in Surrey and Osborne attended Ewell Boys Church of England School. His father died of tuberculosis in January 1940. Osborne had poor health throughout his childhood, suffering from rheumatic fever, peritonitis, and regular bouts of fainting and migraines. Funded by his father’s insurance policy, Osborne was sent to Belmont College, a boarding school in Devon, from 1943-45, until he was expelled for hitting a teacher.

From 1945-7, Osborne worked as a reporter for Fleet Street trade journals. He attended dancing lessons at Gaycroft school of Music, Dancing, Speech and Drama in Surrey and took part in an amateur dramatics society in Leatherhead. He was excused from completing his two years of national service with the British army because of his history of poor health.

Osborne desired to work in theatre. In 1948 he was hired to be an assistant stage manager for a melodrama touring England, ‘No Room at the Inn’. From 1948-55 he worked as an actor in plays touring England. He began writing plays during his spare time in 1948.

In May 1955 Osborne was acting in a play at Morecambe Rep and wrote part of ‘Look Back in Anger’ on Morecambe pier. Having just separated from his first wife, Pamela Lane, Osborne moved in with actor, Anthony Creighton. They lived together on a barge in the river Thames as Osborne finished writing the script for ‘Look Back in Anger’ in June 1955.

In 1954 the English Stage Company (ESC) at the Royal Court Theatre was founded. As a writer’s theatre, the ESC aimed to present new plays by modern authors. Artistic Director, George Devine, placed an advertisement calling for new plays in the theatre newspaper, ‘The Stage’, in the summer of 1955. Around 700 were submitted in response. Amongst them was Osborne’s play, ‘Look Back in Anger’. Devine found the play to be promising and powerful. He scheduled it for the ESC’s opening season. Osborne got a job with the ESC as an actor and in April 1956 Devine also appointed him as the reader of newly submitted scripts. 

‘Look Back in Anger’ premiered on 8 May 1956, the third play to be staged by the ESC. Disturbing theatre was entirely new to British audiences of the time. Initially, the play received hostile reviews. In October 1956, Lord Harewood organised an excerpt of the play to be aired on the BBC, causing tickets to sell out. ‘Look Back in Anger’ became a box office hit. The play attracted a new audience of young people who did not normally attend the theatre. In 1957 the production went on a nationwide tour, which was met with great success, and transferred to Broadway.

Following ‘Look Back in Anger’ Osborne wrote ‘The Entertainer’ (1957), starring Laurence Olivier at the Royal Court Theatre. In 1958 ‘Epitaph for George Dillon’, which had been co-written by Osborne and Creighton in 1955, was staged at the Royal Court. ‘Luther’ (1961) was produced by the ESC at Nottingham's Theatre Royal and starred Albert Finney, one of the first British working class actors.

Osborne’s plays are known for their contempt, honesty and humour. Osborne shocked audiences by representing homosexuality and openly criticising the monarchy. His work responded to the frustrated post-war mood of a post-imperial Britain. Newspapers labelled Osborne ‘an angry young man’, along with Kinsley Amis.

In 1958 Osborne co-founded Woodfall films, with Tony Richardson and American producer, Harry Saltzman. The company created a film version of ‘Look Back In Anger’ (1958), followed by ‘The Entertainer’ (1960). Woodfall films also produced Osborne’s screen play for Tom Jones (1963), for which Osborne won an Oscar.

Osborne’s 1965 play ‘A Patriot for Me’ was denied a licence by Lord Chamberlain’s Office. To avoid prosecution, the ESC had to stage the play as a ‘club theatre’ performance for members only. Later that year, the ESC also staged Edward Bond’s ‘Saved’ as a club theatre performance in order to evade the censor. Theatre censorship was an increasingly pressing issue. In response, a joint committee of both the houses of parliament was set up in 1966 to investigate freedom of speech in theatre.  Osborne gave evidence and argued for the abolition of censorship, which was eventually achieved with the Theatres Act 1968.

Osborne wrote several television plays throughout the 70s and 80s including ‘Ms’ in 1974, a story of reversed gender roles.

Osborne was married five times in his lifetime and was divorced four times. His final marriage was made in 1978 to journalist Helen Dawson (1939-2004) and they were together until Osborne’s death. They lived in Shropshire and she encouraged him to write his memoirs: ‘A Better Class of Person’ (1989) and ‘Almost a Gentleman’ (1991).

In 1987 Osborne suffered liver problems and became diabetic. He died at his home in Shropshire, of heart failure with diabetic complications on Christmas Eve 1994, aged 65.