Daphne du Maurier
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Dame Daphne du Maurier DBE (13 May, 1907–19 April, 1989) is a famous British novelist best known for her short stories like The Birds and her classic novel Rebecca, published in 1938, which was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's Oscar-winning film.
She was born in London, the daughter of the actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier, and granddaughter of the author and cartoonist, George du Maurier. These connections gave a head start to her literary career, and her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931.
Du Maurier married Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick "Boy" Browning and had one son and two daughters.
Her writing went from strength to strength. She is most noted for the novel Rebecca, which has been filmed on several occasions. One of her strongest influences here was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Her fascination for the Brontë family is also apparent in The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë.
In addition to Rebecca, several of her other novels were made into films, including Jamaica Inn (1936), Frenchman's Creek (1942), Hungry Hill (1943) and My Cousin Rachel (1951). The Hitchcock film The Birds (1963) is based on a treatment of one of her short stories, as is the film Don't Look Now (1973). She also wrote non-fiction. One of her most imaginative works, The Glass-Blowers, traces her French ancestry.
She was named a Dame of the British Empire, and died at the age of 81 in 1989, at her home in Cornwall, in a region which had been the setting for many of her books.
She was a member of the Cornish nationalist pressure group/political party Mebyon Kernow. In accordance with her wishes, Dame Daphne's body was cremated and her ashes were scattered on the cliffs near her home.
In Ken Follett's thriller The Key to Rebecca, du Maurier's novel Rebecca is used as the key for a code used by a German spy in World War II Cairo.
References
- Daphne du Maurier by Richard Kelly (Twayne, 1987)
- Obituary in The Independent (April 21, 1989) [link]
External links
- [Daphne du Maurier]
- [Daphne du Maurier]
- [Interview with Daphne du Maurier — 1977]
- [Website of The Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Yorkshire]
- [Web news magazine of the Brontë Parsonage Museum]
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