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Noel Coward: A Biography of Noel Coward
The definitive biography of one of the twentieth century’s most celebrated and controversial dramatists.
To several generations, actor, playwright, songwriter, and filmmaker Noël Coward (1899-1973) was the very personification of wit, glamour, and elegance. Given unprecedented access to the private papers and correspondence of Coward family members, compatriots, and numerous lovers, Samuel Johnson Prize-winning biographer Philip Hoare has produced an illuminating and sophisticated biography of Coward, whose relentless drive for success and approval fueled the stunning bursts of creativity that launched the once-painfully middle class boy from the suburbs of London into a pantheon of theatrical deities that includes Gilbert and Sullivan, Oscar Wilde, and George Bernard Shaw. As much the embodiment of a lifestyle as an actual inhabitant of it, Coward’s carefully cultivated image defined the aspirations of untold numbers of actors, artists, and writers who succeeded him, and Hoare’s meticulously researched biography peels away the layers of this complex persona to reveal the man underneath it all, whom The Times of London decreed upon his death to be the most versatile of all the great figures of the English theater.
To several generations, actor, playwright, songwriter, and filmmaker Noël Coward (1899-1973) was the very personification of wit, glamour, and elegance. Given unprecedented access to the private papers and correspondence of Coward family members, compatriots, and numerous lovers, Samuel Johnson Prize-winning biographer Philip Hoare has produced an illuminating and sophisticated biography of Coward, whose relentless drive for success and approval fueled the stunning bursts of creativity that launched the once-painfully middle class boy from the suburbs of London into a pantheon of theatrical deities that includes Gilbert and Sullivan, Oscar Wilde, and George Bernard Shaw. As much the embodiment of a lifestyle as an actual inhabitant of it, Coward’s carefully cultivated image defined the aspirations of untold numbers of actors, artists, and writers who succeeded him, and Hoare’s meticulously researched biography peels away the layers of this complex persona to reveal the man underneath it all, whom The Times of London decreed upon his death to be the most versatile of all the great figures of the English theater.
958 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 21, 2013
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About the author
Philip Hoare
43 books132 followersPhilip Hoare is an English writer, especially of history and biography. He instigated the Moby Dick Big Read project. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton and Leverhulme artist-in-residence at the Marine Institute, Plymouth University, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 3, 2025
Hoare (of Morecock & Fartwell) presents the bestest, automatically definitive, bio of Coward, though you have to cope with a sticky-wicket at center : ie, the self-invented personality of Coward. He loved his mum and took care of her, but Rebecca West thought his vanity and temper tantrums were excessive. Though I find Coward (1899-1973) obnoxious, he was a "star" writer, composer, actor, director for 50 years. (Actually, he was a lousy actor).
He left us, amid 45+ plays, 6 classics : Private Lives, Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Present Laughter, Design for Living, Fallen Angels. Who can top that in any century? ~ Plus dozens of songs fr musicals and revue sketches. Hoare keeps referring to him as coming fr "lower-middle class," but if your mum works as a "char," I'd be exact and knuckle "lower-class." He taught himself to be the epitome of worldly sophistication. (I mention class as it's very UK)...
Age 14, he was sent by dear mum off for the summer to Cornwall "to expand" w society portraitist Philip Streatfeild, age 35. ~~ Say no more. ~~ Before Philip shortly died of TB, he implored obese society dowager Mrs. Astley Cooper to "look after Noel." She did. The talented teen always had a "marvelous party" and, when W1 was underway, he and bestest femme pal, Esme Wynne , co- writing songs-sketches, competed for the gallants in uniform. (Hoare puts to rest the pr myth of young Noel & Gert Lawrence). Mrs A-C "connected" him to U-Life. Here's his "life," warts and all. And do mind those warts--.
Noel had no Looks. He was Sexless. His play, "The Vortex" - 1924-25 - (mum w young lover learns her son has a drug problem. Read: same-sex issue) -- was a wild success in Lon & NYC, and suddenly, Noel was an intl star who kept open bed. Insisted upon it w actors who wanted a leg up in the Biz. (Several are named, you can figure out the rest). Today, the play reads as rubbish. But Noel developed super-confidence, arrogance and image. This section -- his emergence as a star -- is superb social, sociological and theatre history.
In 1925 he met hotsy Yalie & stockbroker John C Wilson, who became his lover and manager. Like all couples - het or hs - they had a few romantic years (5), then sought others and ended as friends, which hets, (married or not) cannot do. Wilson became a producer and director (the musical, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," starring Carol Channing, 1949).
5 years (fr my research) seems to be the top for "coupular" romance in any form, anywhere.
In mid40s, Noel tried to make his heir, young Graham Payn, a star - and failed. Payn adds nothing to the bio that fleshes out the Coward personality. Dark shadows consumed horny Coward in 1957 when he cast a young, naive US actor in his Bwy debut (Bill Traylor) in "Nude with Violin" -- and demanded sex, often. Traylor tried to kill himself. Old Fartessa Noel bawled, "I was in love..." It never occurred to Noel, nearing 60, that he was repulsive. (Lizard skin, false teeth etc)...The incident was shussshed x PRs, but it screwed up Traylor's life... This, indeed, is show biz. Wanna succeed? Keep barf bags handy.
Anyway : 6 plays.
He left us, amid 45+ plays, 6 classics : Private Lives, Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Present Laughter, Design for Living, Fallen Angels. Who can top that in any century? ~ Plus dozens of songs fr musicals and revue sketches. Hoare keeps referring to him as coming fr "lower-middle class," but if your mum works as a "char," I'd be exact and knuckle "lower-class." He taught himself to be the epitome of worldly sophistication. (I mention class as it's very UK)...
Age 14, he was sent by dear mum off for the summer to Cornwall "to expand" w society portraitist Philip Streatfeild, age 35. ~~ Say no more. ~~ Before Philip shortly died of TB, he implored obese society dowager Mrs. Astley Cooper to "look after Noel." She did. The talented teen always had a "marvelous party" and, when W1 was underway, he and bestest femme pal, Esme Wynne , co- writing songs-sketches, competed for the gallants in uniform. (Hoare puts to rest the pr myth of young Noel & Gert Lawrence). Mrs A-C "connected" him to U-Life. Here's his "life," warts and all. And do mind those warts--.
Noel had no Looks. He was Sexless. His play, "The Vortex" - 1924-25 - (mum w young lover learns her son has a drug problem. Read: same-sex issue) -- was a wild success in Lon & NYC, and suddenly, Noel was an intl star who kept open bed. Insisted upon it w actors who wanted a leg up in the Biz. (Several are named, you can figure out the rest). Today, the play reads as rubbish. But Noel developed super-confidence, arrogance and image. This section -- his emergence as a star -- is superb social, sociological and theatre history.
In 1925 he met hotsy Yalie & stockbroker John C Wilson, who became his lover and manager. Like all couples - het or hs - they had a few romantic years (5), then sought others and ended as friends, which hets, (married or not) cannot do. Wilson became a producer and director (the musical, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," starring Carol Channing, 1949).
5 years (fr my research) seems to be the top for "coupular" romance in any form, anywhere.
In mid40s, Noel tried to make his heir, young Graham Payn, a star - and failed. Payn adds nothing to the bio that fleshes out the Coward personality. Dark shadows consumed horny Coward in 1957 when he cast a young, naive US actor in his Bwy debut (Bill Traylor) in "Nude with Violin" -- and demanded sex, often. Traylor tried to kill himself. Old Fartessa Noel bawled, "I was in love..." It never occurred to Noel, nearing 60, that he was repulsive. (Lizard skin, false teeth etc)...The incident was shussshed x PRs, but it screwed up Traylor's life... This, indeed, is show biz. Wanna succeed? Keep barf bags handy.
Anyway : 6 plays.
July 19, 2025
The definitive Coward biography—as it likes to proclaim on the cover. Cecil Beaton cover photo, homage to Proust and Saki on page 41; Noel Coward’s spiritual companions are clear. Oscar Wilde too of course but one only talked about that whole mess quietly in private. Wilde became the perfect example of what not to do.
So Coward did everything in plain view yet remained hidden. How did he manage that feat? Everyone helped him, you see, there was so much that one never talked about, never mentioned, and if it was never declared out loud it never became important. Everyone knew of course but somehow it was never really true—such is the power of discretion. The unspoken didn't matter so much.
Books like these I enjoy revisiting through perusing the index. A fantastic life, a very readable biography with three sections of photos. Noel Coward in Las Vegas! Coward entertaining the troops in Australia! Knighted at Buckingham Palace!
Insecure egomaniacs always make the most fabulous over-achievers, bless their hearts.
So Coward did everything in plain view yet remained hidden. How did he manage that feat? Everyone helped him, you see, there was so much that one never talked about, never mentioned, and if it was never declared out loud it never became important. Everyone knew of course but somehow it was never really true—such is the power of discretion. The unspoken didn't matter so much.
Books like these I enjoy revisiting through perusing the index. A fantastic life, a very readable biography with three sections of photos. Noel Coward in Las Vegas! Coward entertaining the troops in Australia! Knighted at Buckingham Palace!
Insecure egomaniacs always make the most fabulous over-achievers, bless their hearts.
December 21, 2025
Mad about the boy.
November 5, 2010
Written at a rather breathless pace, and somehow I never got a palpable feeling of what Coward was like--there were so many excellent external details, but the man himself eluded me. . .interesting because in Maria Riva's bio of her mother, she includes a letter from Coward to Dietrich. And in this one page, the whole man springs to life: Sad, independent, wise, wary, and deeply mistrustful of love.
Too bad this book couldn't provide an image of similar complexity.
Too bad this book couldn't provide an image of similar complexity.
May 16, 2022
Thank God, that's that finished. I had gotten about two-thirds the way through this very comprehensive biography of one of the world's most charismatic theatre characters of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, when I kept thinking to myself, I wish this was over and done with.
It is well researched and reasonably written, but long-drawn out with too much retrospection and detail on things and happenings that are nor relative at all.
However, what does come out is the character of the man. And what a nasty, sometimes evil, unfriendly, bitten, person he was. He came from a poor background, had little education and used his "wit" to cover his many shortcomings. He fawned the rich, the famous and, above all, royalty. In fact, a better title for this book would have been "An Old Queen is feted by An Old Queen".
Oscar Wilde wrote that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence." Well, Noel Coward was the exception to the rule. Yes, he wrote some good plays and good to middling musicals, though as an actor he was way OTT, in contradiction to what he thought. However, for me, anyone who takes the mickey out of the very class of people he comes from while at the same time looking to them to throng to his plays and top up his coffers, is a hypocrite and traitor to his class. And, of course he took the proverbial out of the very famous and rich on whom he fawned.
I'll end up by saying yet again, Thank God. Thank God I was not around when he was at his peak.
It is well researched and reasonably written, but long-drawn out with too much retrospection and detail on things and happenings that are nor relative at all.
However, what does come out is the character of the man. And what a nasty, sometimes evil, unfriendly, bitten, person he was. He came from a poor background, had little education and used his "wit" to cover his many shortcomings. He fawned the rich, the famous and, above all, royalty. In fact, a better title for this book would have been "An Old Queen is feted by An Old Queen".
Oscar Wilde wrote that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence." Well, Noel Coward was the exception to the rule. Yes, he wrote some good plays and good to middling musicals, though as an actor he was way OTT, in contradiction to what he thought. However, for me, anyone who takes the mickey out of the very class of people he comes from while at the same time looking to them to throng to his plays and top up his coffers, is a hypocrite and traitor to his class. And, of course he took the proverbial out of the very famous and rich on whom he fawned.
I'll end up by saying yet again, Thank God. Thank God I was not around when he was at his peak.
September 10, 2023
A fine biography, which I remember was favourably reviewed when it came out. Noel was a prodigy, pushed onstage early by his doting mother Violet and permanently shaped by becoming the family breadwinner while still in his teens, thus missing out on the education that would have helped round out his self-confidence. He might have been a better writer, although it seems clear that he was a skilled dramatist and recognised as such by the discerning Kenneth Tynan. Not a nice man, perhaps but with a genuine unscripted wit and a keen appreciation of the value of friendship. He was also a grafter, working until almost the end.
Philip Hoare is an interesting character, an academic who has stayed close to his Portsmouth origins, writing on a wide range of subjects because they interest him. He was in his thirties when he researched and had this book published.
Philip Hoare is an interesting character, an academic who has stayed close to his Portsmouth origins, writing on a wide range of subjects because they interest him. He was in his thirties when he researched and had this book published.
September 16, 2025
Noel Coward (1899 – 1973) actor, playwright, songwriter, filmmaker, wit, internationally known figure on and off the stage.
This bio is a deeply detailed look at Coward’s life and times, the people he knew and worked with and socialized with. For those interested in Coward and his life and the years he lived through, this is a must read.
Author Philip Hoare was given access to Coward’s private papers, diaries and correspondence by the Noel Coward Estate. He also had contact with people who could provide archival materials and photos.
From his early years as a child performer to the end of his life, it is a timeline of his writing, stage performances, travels, emotional ups and downs and more. It is lengthy (500+ pages, plus list of sources and index) It is not a fast read but definitely interesting and a good read for someone very interested in Coward and others of that time.
This bio is a deeply detailed look at Coward’s life and times, the people he knew and worked with and socialized with. For those interested in Coward and his life and the years he lived through, this is a must read.
Author Philip Hoare was given access to Coward’s private papers, diaries and correspondence by the Noel Coward Estate. He also had contact with people who could provide archival materials and photos.
From his early years as a child performer to the end of his life, it is a timeline of his writing, stage performances, travels, emotional ups and downs and more. It is lengthy (500+ pages, plus list of sources and index) It is not a fast read but definitely interesting and a good read for someone very interested in Coward and others of that time.
July 26, 2017
Interesting, but repetitive.
April 4, 2019
A wonderful view into the life of a fascinating man
April 2, 2023
Enjoyable summation of the man and his career
December 25, 2015
I didn't actually read this book cover-to-cover, especially Coward's ancestry and background - just skimmed over that (I knew a little of it, anyway). But I couldn't resist keeping on reading when I would dip into it! I think Philip Hoare writes in a very readable style and he certainly does a lot of research. Coward emerges as a very complex man: the polished sophistication and light musical touch is actually a carefully wrought persona. Underneath, he was much more complex and difficult to know and to remain friends with. Well, he did write Private Lives. Still, anyone interested in digging a bit below the surface of a fascinating and unique twentieth century entertainer could do worse than start here.
March 3, 2008
Hoare wrote a wonderful biogpraphy on one of the most underrated talents of the 20th Century. I don't always see eye-to-eye with Coward, but I find him fascinating. I am a fan of his plays and songs. His fiction I think is kind of weak, but he's so important aesthetically with respect to the U.K. arts.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews