Noel Pierce Coward (spelling his forename Noël was an affectation of later life) (December 16, 1899 - March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music.
Born at Teddington, Middlesex, he began performing in the West End at an early age. He wrote and starred in his first full-length play I Leave It To You in 1920. The controversy surrounding his play The Vortex (1924) made him an overnight sensation.
Throughout the next thirty years, he enjoyed enormous popularity, turning out comedies and musicals such as Hay Fever (1925), Bitter Sweet (1929), Private Lives (1930) and Blithe Spirit (1941), several of which were made into films. He also appeared in and produced films such as In Which We Serve, Brief Encounter and The Italian Job.
A homosexual, he was romantically linked with many notable people, including Laurence Olivier and Prince George, Duke of Kent, whose love letters to Noel were stolen from Coward's house in 1942.
He did intelligence work during World War II, and received a knighthood shortly before his death in 1973.
Parodies of him and his style include:
- Eric Idle's "Penis Song" from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
- Charles and Fiona, (Dame Celia Molestrangler and Aging juvenile Binkie Huckaback) characters in Round the Horne.
