John Osborne

Born

in Fulham, London, The United Kingdom

December 12, 1929

Died

December 24, 1994

Genre

John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of The Establishment. The stunning success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre. In a productive life of more than 40 years, Osborne explored many themes and genres, writing for stage, film and TV. His personal life was extravagant and iconoclastic. He was notorious for the ornate violence of his language, not only on behalf of the political causes he supported but also against his own family, including his wives and children though they often gave as good as they got.

He came onto the theatrical scene at a time when British acting was enjoying a golden age, but most great plays came from the United States and France. British plays remaine ...more

Combine Editions
John Osborne’s books

Average rating: 3.58 · 9,627 ratings · 486 reviews · 122 distinct works • Similar authors

	Look Back in Anger 3.58 avg rating — 8,685 ratings — published 1957 — 38 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Entertainer 3.36 avg rating — 225 ratings — published 1957 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Luther 3.62 avg rating — 174 ratings — published 1961 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Don't Need the Sunshine 3.43 avg rating — 46 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Newsagent's Window: Adventures in a World of Second-Hand Cars and Lost Cats 3.39 avg rating — 38 ratings — published 2010	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Patriot for Me 3.32 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 1971	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Inadmissible Evidence 3.15 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 1965 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Better Class of Person 3.65 avg rating — 26 ratings — published 1981 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Plays 2: The Entertainer / The Hotel in Amsterdam / West of Suez / Time Present 3.76 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 1998 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Picture Of Dorian Gray; A Moral Entertainment by John Osborne, Oscar Wilde 4.04 avg rating — 25 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by John Osborne…

Quotes by John Osborne

“Why don't we have a little game? Let's pretend that we're human beings, and that we're actually alive.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

414 likes

“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs."

[Time Magazine, October 31, 1977]”
― John Osborne

tags: critics, humor, literary-criticism, writing

68 likes

“You're hurt because everything is changed. Jimmy is hurt because everything is the same. And neither of you can face it. Something's gone wrong somewhere, hasn't it?”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

24 likes

See all John Osborne's quotes »

Polls

What should we be reading first? (set to start on February 1st, 2016)

George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty-Four

6 votes, 26.1%

Hanif Kureishi - The Buddha of Suburbia

4 votes, 17.4%

Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange

3 votes, 13.0%

Truman Capote - In Cold Blood

3 votes, 13.0%

Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita

2 votes, 8.7%

Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita

2 votes, 8.7%

Angela Carter - Nights at the Circus

2 votes, 8.7%

Don DeLillo - White Noise

1 vote, 4.3%

Junot Díaz - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

0 votes, 0.0%

John Osborne - Look Back in Anger

0 votes, 0.0%

23 total votes

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