Osborne, John James

▪ 1995

      British playwright and film producer (b. Dec. 12, 1929, London, England—d. Dec. 24, 1994, Shropshire, England), revolutionized the British drama by spearheading the "Angry Young Men" movement with his landmark play Look Back in Anger (1956). The frustrations portrayed by the play's hero, Jimmy Porter, an underemployed man in his 20s who finds post-World War II England greatly lacking in opportunity, were acutely mirrored in London society and echoed in Osborne's motto, "Damn you, England." Osborne managed to steer generations of British playwrights away from the long-established tradition of portraying the upper classes and their boring, strangled way of life. He opened up the world of British theatre to the gritty "kitchen sink" reality of urban life and the tough lower classes that increasingly inhabited London. In his passionate monologues and throughout his memoirs, Osborne poured out his ire in spiteful outbursts against women, especially his four ex-wives. The fiery and prolific writer crafted several highly successful plays, including Luther (1961), for which he won a Tony award, Inadmissible Evidence (1964), A Patriot for Me (1965), Time Present (1968), The Hotel in Amsterdam (1968), and Déjàvu (1991), a reexamination of the characters originally introduced in Look Back in Anger. He produced such films as The Entertainer (1960), based on his 1957 play of the same name, and Tom Jones (1963), for which he won an Academy Award. Osborne wrote his first play, The Devil Inside Him (1950), with mentor Stella Linden. He provided demanding roles for actors and was credited with restoring the tirade (a passionately scathing speech) as a respectable dramatic element. In his 1981 autobiography, A Better Class of Person, Osborne attacked the mediocrity of the lower middle classes, discussed his mother's negative influence, and attempted to justify his volatile temperament. Osborne wrote two books in the 1990s, Almost a Gentleman (1991) and Damn You, England (1994). Suffering from complications of diabetes, Osborne died of heart failure.

* * *