Daphne du Maurier was an English writer of romantic suspense novels, mostly set on the coast of Cornwall where she spent most of her life. She is best-known for her bestseller novels Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek, and My Cousin Rachel, with all these novels becoming film blockbusters.
Du Maurier's Life in a Nutshell
Daphne du Maurier was born in London on May 13, 1907. She came from an artistic family whose father was an actor-manager. Her grandfather was an artist and novelist. She was married to Frederick Arthur Montague Browning, a lieutenant-general in the British Army.
In 1969, Du Maurier was made a Dame of the British Empire. She died in Cornwall on April 19, 1989, at the age of 81.
Du Maurier's Bestseller Novels into Blockbuster Films
Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published when Du Maurier was 24-years-old. A string of other novels followed, some of them with historical settings.
Her most famous book, Rebecca, is a Gothic bestseller. The hero in the story is unable to forget his tragic first marriage while he tries to be happy with his second wife, Rebecca.
Rebecca was made into a movie in 1940, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, and was voted the best picture of that year. It was directed by the famous director Alfred Hitchcock, who also directed the 1963 film of du Maurier's frightening novel The Birds starring Tippi Hedren in her movie debut.
Other bestsellers also made into successful motion pictures include Jamaica Inn, a tale of smugglers, Frenchman's Creek, a pirate romance, and My Cousin Rachel, a sensational romance.
Other Writing Genres of Du Maurier
Du Maurier also wrote biographies of members of her family and of Francis Bacon, an English statesman in the 1500s and 1600s, and a notable biography of Anne Brontë. At age 70 she published her autobiography, Myself When Young.
Daphne Du Maurier Quote
Du Maurier once wrote, "We are all ghosts of yesterday, and the phantom of tomorrow awaits us alike in the sunshine or in shadow, dimly perceived at times, never entirely lost." ~ Growing Pains, Published in the USA as Myself When Young.
Works by Daphne Du Maurier
- The Loving Spirit, 1931
- Jamaica Inn, 1936
- Rebecca, 1938
- Frenchman's Creek, 1941
- September Tide, 1948
- My Cousin Rachel, 1951
- Kiss Me Again, Stranger (including The Birds), 1952
- The Scapegoat, 1957
- Vanishing Cornwall, 1967
- Myself When Young, 1977
Sources:
- Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994.
- Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
- Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.
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