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Daphne du Maurier:
Novelist, playwright and
biographer. Daphne du Maurier was born 13th May 1907 in London, the
second of three daughters. She came from a creative family, her
grandfather, George du Maurier, being artist (Punch
cartoonist) and writer (he created the character Svengali in his
novel Trilby).
Her formative years in
London included time spent with characters like J M Barrie and Edgar
Wallace. In 1928 she began writing short stories and her first novel
The Loving Spirit was published in 1931.The novels she is
most famous for are Rebecca, Jamaica Inn and Frenchman's
Creek - each no doubt inspired by her love of Cornwall where she
made her home for many years -a seventeenth-century mansion,
Menabilly (the setting for Manderley) overlooking the sea. She moved
from Menabilly after her husband's death to Kilmarth where she lived
out her life. One can see that the Brontė family had an influence on
Daphne and in fact she published a biography of Branwell Brontė,
brother of Emily, Charlotte and Anne.
She married
Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Browning and had two daughters and
a son. Some other works we know her for are The Scapegoat and
The House on the Strand, Hungry Hill, My Cousin
Rachel. Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds is loosely
based on a short story written by Daphne of the same name. Hitchcock
also made a film of her Rebecca. Daphne died in 1989 aged 81
in her home in Cornwall.
Since 1997 there has been a
festival of arts and literature in Fowey named after Daphne - the
Daphne
du Maurier Festival of Arts & Literature. For 2008 it is 8th -
197h May. An event for all Daphne fans with drama, music, talks
concerts, guided walks. Keep an eye on the web site for new dates.
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