Home, William Douglas

Home, William Douglas (1912–92), English dramatist, who was for a time on the stage, making his first appearance in London in Dodie Smith's Bonnet over the Windmill (1937). After service in the Second World War he devoted his energies to playwriting and acted only occasionally in his own plays, which are mainly light comedies with an upper-class background. He first achieved success with a political comedy The Chiltern Hundreds (1947), which starred A. E. Matthews, following it with a serious play about prison life, Now Barabbas … (also 1947). Among his later plays were The Bad Samaritan (1953), The Manor of Northstead (1954), a sequel to The Chiltern Hundreds which again starred Matthews, and the highly popular The Reluctant Débutante (1955; NY, 1956). The Reluctant Peer (1964), with Sybil Thorndike, The Secretary Bird (1968), and The Jockey Club Stakes (1970; NY, 1973), a comedy about racing, all had long runs. During the next few years Home's plays attracted major stars— Ralph Richardson and Peggy Ashcroft in Lloyd George Knew My Father (1972), Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray in At the End of the Day (1973); Celia Johnson in The Dame of Sark (1974); and Richardson with Celia Johnson in The Kingfisher (1977; NY, 1978, with Rex Harrison). His many subsequent plays were unsuccessful.