Gay Directors. By Emanuel Levy. Columbia University Press.
By his own admission (Rupert Everett voices passages out of Coward’s memoirs), Coward was a complex man with many (contradictory) facets, which he showed selectively–depending on what the particular occasion called for.
Coward was a witty raconteur, the ultimate television talk show guest and Thompson’s documentary is peppered with footage of Coward’s interviews, in which he excelled in responding to serious questions with light and clever zingers.
Coward grew up on the poor side of the tracks but became his family’s provider with his precocious talent for the stage, appearing in many productions on London’s West End.
His first big success as playwright and lead actor came with The Vortex in 1924; Coward adopted his character’s playboy persona for the remainder of his life.
For years, behind the persona of the savvy man-about-town, Coward could hide his homosexuality, verboten in times when the act was illegal and imprisonable.
But British society seemed, for the most part, happy to pretend along with Coward’s bon vivant, because the he was just so talented–with sexuality that was nonn-threatening.
Coward succeeded on Broadway and then on the big screen with his friend, the great director David Lean, who helmed 3 films written by Coward.
He was also a noted composer, and struck a chord with British audiences during WWII with patriotic works, London Pride and Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans.
Coward was the progenitor of our contemporary social media influencer, in many ways created his own self image.
Both the Queen Mother and Lord Mountbatten were grateful for Coward’s pro-British spy work.
But there was a price to be paid: Winston Churchill torpedoed proposed Knighthood for Coward because of his known dislike for homosexuals.
Thompson races all too quickly through the first few decades of Coward’s life.
The film’s second half depicts a more self-reflective man, no longer popular in London, exploring a career between Las Vegas nightclub shows and relaxed life in Jamaica.
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