Welsh playwright and screenwriter (1908?1996)
Mary Diana Morgan
(29 May 1908 ? 9 December 1996) was a Welsh playwright, screenwriter and novelist, mostly associated with her work for
Ealing Studios
as
Diana Morgan
. She was married to fellow screenwriter Robert MacDermot.
Career
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Mary Diana Morgan was born in
Cardiff
, Wales on 29 May 1908. She studied at the
Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art
. Her London stage debut was in
Noel Coward
's
Cavalcade
at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
in 1931.
[1]
On 8 September 1934, she married Robert MacDermot Barbour (born 1910 in
Poona
, India), who would become Head of BBC TV Drama in 1948. They had a son, Richard Morgan Derry MacDermot Barbour.
[2]
After their marriage, they began writing as a partnership. Their early work was for the London stage and included a full revue in 1938 at the
London Hippodrome
,
Black and Blue
, starring
Frances Day
,
Vic Oliver
and
Max Wall
.
[1]
Morgan and MacDermot were later hired by stage director
Norman Marshall
, who was impressed with their witty and satirical scripts. Their task was to write a stage show for
Hermione Gingold
. Although slow to begin, the show was a great success, selling out for its eight-week run.
Morgan and MacDermot would go on to write the stage shows,
Lets Face It!
(1939) and
Swinging the Gate
(1940), as well as many revues for the
West End
and the outlying club theatres. In the 1940s Morgan wrote several plays including a
House in the Square
(1940) and
Rain before Seven
(1949).
Also during the 1940s, Morgan made significant script contributions to several Ealing screenplays. She is currently better known for her screenplays than her stage work. A contract writer, her film work included
Went the Day Well?
(1942) and additional dialogue for
A Run for Your Money
(1949). In 1960 she scripted
Philip Leacock
's film
Hand in Hand
about a Roman Catholic child and his Jewish friend, for which she won several international awards.
Her television work included
Emergency ? Ward 10
and its spin-off
Call Oxbridge 2000
, while she also made contributions to radio and wrote two novels:
Delia
(1974) and
Thomas the Fish
.
Death
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MacDermot died in
London
on 21 November 1964. Morgan died in
Northwood, Middlesex
on 9 December 1996, at the age of 88.
[3]
Notable stage work
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- Bats In The Belfry
(1937)
- Transatlantic Lullaby
(1939)
- Black & Blue
Revue ?
Frances Day
(1939)
- Let's Face it!
(1939)
- A House in the Square
(1940)
- Three Waltzes
(1945)
- My Sex Right or Wrong
(1947)
- Swinging the Gate
(1950)
- Everyman
(1952)
- After my Fashion
(1952)
- The Starcross Story
(1953)
- I"ll Take the High Road...
(1956)
- Your Obedient Servant
(1960)
- Rain Before Seven
(1960)
- Time to Kill
(1961)
- Hand in Hand
(1963)
- Little evenings
(1971)
- My Cousin Rachel
(1980) (based in the novel
My Cousin Rachel
by
Daphne Du Maurier
)
Notable film work
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]
References
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]
External links
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]
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