John Osborne

John Osborne was born in southwest London to lower middle class parents, a barmaid and an advertising copywriter. His father died in 1941, when Osborne was twelve. Osborne briefly attended a public (non state-run) high school, but was expelled after two years when he struck a school administrator who had tried to discipline him. He wrote his first play at the age of twenty-one, in 1950. Around that time, Osborne also married his first wife, the actress Pamela Lane. Look Back in Anger is loosely based on their tumultuous relationship. Osborne wrote it in 17 days while on vacation, and it was first produced in 1956. The production catapulted the 26-year-old Osborne to fame, and ushered in a new era of British theater showcasing working class protagonists in the contemporary, post-World War 2, era. Osborne went on to write many more plays and a two-volume autobiography (in which he reveals a vehement dislike for his mother). Osborne married five times, ending his life happily married to the art critic Helen Dawson. He died in 1994 due to complications from diabetes. His last word, to Dawson, is said to have been “sorry.” Look Back in Anger remains by far his most famous work.