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