Coward, (Sir) Noël (Pierce)

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Coward, (Sir) Noël (Pierce) (b Teddington, 1899; d Blue Harbour, Jamaica, 1973). Eng. actor, playwright, and composer. No formal mus. training. Author and composer of several successful mus. shows and plays with mus., e.g. This Year of Grace (1928); Bitter-Sweet (1929); Private Lives (1930); Conversation Piece (1934); Operette (1938); Sail Away (1961); and several revues in which his songs such as ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ were perf. (most effectively in his own light bar.). Knighted 1970. Wrote two books of autobiography.

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