Fry, Christopher

Fry, Christopher, 1907–2005, English dramatist, b. Bristol as Christopher Fry Harris. Like his friend and mentor, T. S. Eliot, he was one of the few 20th-century dramatists to write successfully in verse. Fry's first major success was The Lady's Not for Burning (1949), a wry comedy set in the Middle Ages in which love overcomes prejudice and hypocrisy. His other works include Venus Observed (1950), The Dark Is Light Enough (1954), Yard of Sun (1970), and English versions of plays by Anouilh (Ring Round the Moon, 1950, The Lark, 1955), Giraudoux (Tiger at the Gates, 1955), Ibsen (Peer Gynt, 1970), and Rostand (Cyrano de Bergerac, 1975). Among his screenplays were Ben Hur (1959; Academy Award) and The Bible (1966).

Bibliography

See his autobiography (1978); studies by E. Roy (1968), S. M. Wiersma (1970), and G. Leeming (1990).

---

Fry, Christopher

 orig. Christopher Harris

(born Dec. 18, 1907, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Eng.—died June 30, 2005, Chichester, West Sussex) British playwright. He worked as an actor, director, and playwright before achieving success with The Lady's Not for Burning (1948), an ironic comedy in verse set in medieval times. Noted for his wit and his religious preoccupations, he wrote other verse plays, including Venus Observed (1950), A Sleep of Prisoners (1951), The Dark Is Light Enough (1954), and A Yard of Sun (1970). He also wrote several television plays and collaborated on the screenplays of Ben Hur (1959) and Barabbas (1962).

---

Fry, Christopher 

Born Dec. 18, 1907, in Bristol. English playwright and theatrical figure.

Fry has written a number of comedies in verse that explore Christian themes, including The Boy With a Cart (1939), The Firstborn (1946), Thor, With Angels (1949), and A Sleep of Prisoners (1951). The plays reveal the influence of the poet and playwright T. S. Eliot. Fry’s poetic style permits the blending of lofty rhetoric and witty dialogue, as well as fantasy and reality. He makes extensive use of symbolism, various levels of meaning, and reflections on the past. He is also the author of the historical drama Curtmantle (1961), musical revues, and screenplays. Fry has also adapted plays by J. Anouilh and J. Giraudoux.

WORKS

Venus Observed. London, 1950.
A Phoenix Too Frequent. London, 1946.
A Yard of Sun. New York, 1970.

REFERENCES

Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 3. Moscow, 1958. Pages 700–01.
Ivasheva, V. V. Angliiskaia literatura XX v. Moscow, 1967. Pages 394–95.
Roy, E. Christopher Fry. London-Amsterdam [1968].

A. IA. LIVERGANT