Iconic English director and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock adapted three of Daphne du Maurier’s works into films – he adapted no other author more than once. Rebecca and The Birds are absolute classics, Jamaica Inn less so. [1]
Dame Daphne du Maurier was an English author and playwright, best known for her suspenseful and atmospheric novels including Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel. She died on 19 April 1989, at her home in Cornwall, England.
The death of her husband, Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Browning, in 1965, affected du Maurier profoundly and her unease was compounded by a growing sense that her talent was waning.
Known for being a private person, du Maurier became increasingly reclusive as she got older and spent much of her time in her beloved Cornwall, where she had lived since the 1940s. The news that she could not renew her lease on her much-loved home, Menabilly added to her misery, and in 1969, she moved to Kilmarth in Par. In her later years, she continued to write, but her output slowed down. The reception of her last novel, Rule Britannia (1972), destroyed her confidence and she was unable to write any more fiction afterwards. In 1977 she wrote a slim volume of autobiography named Growing Pains, which she regretted producing. During her life, she published nearly forty books.
In the years leading up to her death, du Maurier’s health declined further. In 1981 she had a nervous breakdown and then a mild coronary. The last years of her life were spent mourning her lost talent, without which she felt her days were empty and meaningless.
On 19 April 1989, du Maurier peacefully passed away from heart failure at her home in Cornwall, with her three children by her side. She was 81 years old. Her body was cremated in private and without a memorial service (at her request) and her ashes scattered off the cliffs around Kilmarth and Menabilly, Cornwall. Her death was widely mourned, and she was remembered as one of the great writers of the 20th century. Today, du Maurier’s legacy lives on through her timeless novels, which continue to captivate readers around the world.
Selected links for relevant websites, books, movies, videos, and more. Some of these links lead to protected content on this website, learn more about that here.