Derek Marlowe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Born: | May 21, 1938 Perivale, Middlesex  England |
|---|---|
| Died: | November 14, 1996 Los Angeles  |
| Occupation: | Author & Screenwriter |
| Nationality: | British |
| Writing period: | 1960 - 1996 |
| Genres: | Mystery, Recent history |
| Debut works: | A Dandy in Aspic |
| Influences: | Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John LeCarre |
Derek William Mario Marlowe (May 21, 1938–November 14, 1996) was an English playwright, novelist, and screenwriter.
[edit] Life
Derek Marlowe was born in Perivale, Middlesex, and lived there and in Greenford as a child. His father was Frederick William Marlowe (an electrician) and his mother Helene Alexandroupolos. He had early education at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in Holland Park.
In 1959 Marlowe went to Queen Mary College of the University of London to study English literature. He never finished his degree course, but the college had a particularly fine theatre (the former People's Palace in Mile End Road) and Marlowe became part of a core theatre group there. In 1960 the college group formed a semi-professional theatre company, the 60 Theatre Group, and took their production of Tennessee Williams' play Summer and Smoke to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with Marlowe in the leading role opposite Audrey "Dickie" Gaskell.
He married Susan Rose "Suki" Phipps, step-daughter of Sir Fitzroy Maclean, in 1968; together they had three sons and two daughters. He divorced in 1975 and moved to Los Angeles, California.
While working there, he contracted leukaemia, and died of a brain hemorrhage after a liver transplant. He was cremated in California, but his ashes were brought back to England by his sister, Alda. At the time of his death he was planning to return to England and complete a tenth novel, Black and White.
[edit] Work
In 1960 he adapted a story, "The Seven Who Were Hanged" by Leonid Andreyev, for the stage. The 60 Theatre Group first produced the play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1961, and later took it to a student theatre festival in Zadar, Croatia (then Yugoslavia). It was produced in London as The Scarecrow in 1964, and won the Foyle award. In 1962 Marlowe adapted Maxim Gorki's book The Lower Depths for the London stage.
He was the author of nine novels, notably A Dandy in Aspic (1966), Echoes of Celandine (1970) (re-published as The Disappearance), Somebody's Sister (1974) and The Rich Boy from Chicago (1979).
His first work for the screen was as co-author with Larry Kramer of a semi-documentary about swinging London called Reflections on Love (1966) and featuring some of the Beatles.
In 1968 he wrote the screenplay of his own novel A Dandy in Aspic, directed by Anthony Mann and starring Laurence Harvey as the double agent ordered to assassinate his own alter ego.
He wrote two episodes of the BBC television series The Search for the Nile in 1971. Other screenplays included Jamaica Inn, Nancy Astor, A Married Man, The Two Mrs Grenvilles, and Grass Roots. His last work was a feature-length episode of Murder, She Wrote produced posthumously in 1997.
[edit] External links
| The Literary Works of Derek Marlowe |
|---|
| The Seven Who Were Hanged (adaptation for stage), The Lower Depths (adaptation for stage), How Disaster Struck the Harvest (play), How I Assumed the Role of a Popular Dandy for Purposes of Seduction and Other Base Matters (play), A Dandy in Aspic (novel and screeplay), The Memoirs of a Venus Lackey (novel), A Single Summer with L.B (novel and screenplay), Echoes of Celandine (novel), Requiem for Modigliani (TV play), The Search for the Nile (TV script), Do You Remember England? (novel), The Universal Soldier (screenplay), Somebody's Sister (novel), Nightshade (novel), The Rich Boy from Chicago (novel), The Knight (screenplay), Jamaica Inn (TV play), Nancy Astor, the Lady from Virginia (novel and TV play), A Married Man (TV play), First among Equals (TV play), The Two Mrs Grenvilles (TV play), Grass Roots (TV play), Jack the Ripper (TV play), Murder, She Wrote (TV movie screenplay) |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Marlowe, Derek |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | English author, playwright, screenwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 21, 1938 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Perivale, Middlesex, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 14, 1996 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Los Angeles |
