Noel Coward: A Private Life (1983)

Channel	BBC Two
Broadcast Date	25 March 1983
Broadcast time	21:25:00
Length (minutes)
Black and White	No
Series	Unknown
Episode
Broadcast Notes
Description	From the programme description: The author of Private Lives, Blithe Spirit and Brief Encounter (who died ten years ago this Saturday) is as popular today as he was at the height of his fame in the 1930s and his plays are now widely admired as classics of modern theatre. The work still lives and so does the legend that grew out of it - the potent image of the cad in the silk dressing-gown, sneering at marriage and family life and dashing off plays and songs in the intervals between orgies. And yet the man himself was not at all like that. Noel Coward: A Private Life is an attempt to tell the truth about the vulnerable man behind that dazzling but insensitive front. It reveals a man more complex, more fascinating and more admirable than the famous public figure. It uses Coward's own home movies, never shown on TV before; includes American film, never screened here, of Coward performing at the height of his powers, and talks to his closest friends; Graham Payn, Coward's companion for 27 years, talks for the first time about their relationship. Pinter contributes alongside George C Scott, Maggie Smith and Sir John Mills. Pinter's interview comes in at the 50:50 mark, and he talks about what his and Coward's approach to playwrighting had in common.
Language	English