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Anthony Shaffer
Life Time
15 May 1926 - 6 November 2001
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Playwright and screenwriter Anthony Joshua Shaffer was born in Liverpool, the son of a real estate agent. He was born on May 15, 1926, on the same day as his twin brother Peter. The brothers changed many schools before graduating from St. Paul’s School, evacuated from London to Berkhamstead during the war. In 1948, they entered Trinity College, Cambridge University and began to compose detective stories as students. Peter later became a famous playwright, author of the plays Amadeus, Equius and
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Playwright and screenwriter Anthony Joshua Shaffer was born in Liverpool, the son of a real estate agent. He was born on May 15, 1926, on the same day as his twin brother Peter. The brothers changed many schools before graduating from St. Paul’s School, evacuated from London to Berkhamstead during the war. In 1948, they entered Trinity College, Cambridge University and began to compose detective stories as students. Peter later became a famous playwright, author of the plays Amadeus, Equius and Royal Sun Hunt. After graduating from university, Anthony, being a lawyer, worked for several years in his specialty, dealing with divorce proceedings. In the mid-fifties, he got a job as a copywriter in an advertising company, and later founded his own firm, engaged mainly in the creation of commercials for television.
In the late sixties, Shaffer left the advertising business, preferring a career as a writer. The results were not long in coming - his detective play "Sleuth", which premiered in January 1970, enjoyed unprecedented success and for eight years withstood 2,359 performances. No less success awaited the play in the United States, where it was held on Broadway and in 1971 brought its author theatrical award “Tony”. Following the adventure comedy “Mr. Forbes and the Penguins” (1971, Alfred Viola and Arne Saxdorff) on the novel of the same name by Schaffer, the film adaptation of “Sleuth” (1972) followed. The picture was put by the famous American director Leo Mankiewicz, and the main roles were performed by Sir Lawrence Olivier and Michael Kane.
The Broadway success of the "Sleuth" attracted the attention of the famous director Alfred Hitchcock to Schaffer, who during his short-term return to his homeland, shot the criminal thriller "The Excitement" (1972) about a serial killer who terrorized London. Another bright work of Schaffer was the script for the gloomy occult thriller “The Wicker Man” (1973, dir. Robin Hardy), which soon after its release acquired cult status, becoming a classic in the genre of horror films. One of the roles in this film was played by Shaffer's future wife, actress Diane Silento.
In the future, he adapted for the film the works of Agatha Christie: "Death on the Nile" (1978, John Gillermin), "Evil under the sun" (1982, directed by Guy Hamilton), "Sentenced to death" (1988, directed by Michael Winner). In addition, Schaffer was the author of the screenplay for the crime drama with Richard Burton’s “Absolution” (1979, Anthony Page) and a number of plays, including: “Cruel Parade” and “Murderer”. In recent years, the playwright has lived alternately in London and on his wife's estate in Queensland, Australia. He died of a heart attack on November 6, 2001 in London.
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