10 June
1911 |
Rattigan was born in London |
1925 |
Rattigan entered Harrow on a scholarship |
1929 |
Rattigan played cricket for Harrow against Eton at Lords
Cricket Ground, in which he later claimed was the happiest
year of his life |
10 October 1930 |
Rattigan entered Trinity College, Oxford |
31 October 1931 |
Rattigan published his first article, a film review
in one of the leading university papers |
1933 |
Rattigan wrote his first play FIRST
EPISODE loosely based on his involvement
with an undergraduate friend, Philip Heimann |
11 September 1933 |
FIRST EPISODE
opened at the Q Theatre new Kew Bridge |
March 1934 |
Rattigan left Oxford to be a playwright |
1935 |
Worked with John Gielgud on an adaptation of Charles
Dickens's A TALE OF TWO
CITIES |
1936 |
FRENCH WITHOUT TEARS
was written and then performed at the Criterion Theatre.
The play was a huge success and described by the morning
post as "gay, witty, thoroughly contemporary without
being unpleasantly modern" |
June 1940 |
Rattigan served the war in the RAF |
13 August 1942 |
FLARE PATH
opened at the Apollo Theatre London - this was the play
that was to establish Rattigan as the " country's
leading theatrical craftsman" |
1944 |
Rattigan collaborated with Asquith on the film THE
WAY TO THE STARS. The film was released
in 1945 and was hugely successful |
1946 |
Terence Rattigan's new play, THE
WINSLOW BOY, won the ELLEN TERRY BEST
PLAY award.
Rattigan and Anatole de Grunwald set up their own film
company - International Screenplays |
1947 |
the browning version won
the ELLEN TERRY BEST PLAY award |
1952 |
Rattigan's father, Frank Rattigan,
died of a stroke and Rattigan bought his country house
in Sunningdale backing onto his favorite golf course |
1955 |
Rattigan agreed to let Marilyn Monroe
produce the film version of his play THE
SLEEPING PRINCE, in which she was a star with Lawrence
Olivier and the film was called
THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL |
1956 |
LOOK BACK IN
ANGER opened at the Royal Court where the play
marked a sea change in British Theatre away from the measured
craftsmanship of Rattigan's work. A fact emphasized by
John Osborne's comment when challenged on the vulgarity
of his play "Look, Ma, I'm not Terence Rattigan!" |
1960 |
JOIE DE VIVRE
opened and closed after four days. Rattigan himself marked
this as the start of a period in which he fell out of
favor with theatre audiences |
1964 |
Rattigan made the acquaintance of Joe
Orton and wrote to him about ENTERTAINING
MR SLaNE, "I do think you have written the
most exciting and stimulating first play I have seen in
thirty years of play going"
Rattigan rented a house in Bermuda and established his
non-residency in Britain for Tax purposes. |
June 1971 |
Rattigan, at the age of sixty, was
knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honors
In the same year, Rattigan was diagnosed with Leukemia |
January 1972 |
A midnight matinee was held in Rattigan's
honor at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Rattigan appeared
on stage to receive cheers and this was the ending of
his time out in the cold |
September 1973 |
IN PRAISE OF
LOVE opened at the Duchess Theatre and then in
New York. Unfortunately, due to problems with actors and
notably Rattigan's friend Rex Harrison, it was not the
success that it could have been |
1974 |
Rattigan campaigned actively for the
Liberal Party in the General Election |
27 October 1975 |
Rattigan's new Radio play CAUSE
CELEBRE, based on a real life murder case, was
broadcast to a warm reception and he was asked to adapt
it for Stage |
4 July 1976 |
CAUSE CELEBRE
opened at Her Majesty's Theatre and was attended by Rattigan,
who was now very ill and had to be cared for in Hospital |
August 1977 |
Rattigan returned to Bermuda |
Wednesday 30 November
1977 |
Rattigan dies at his home in Bermuda |
