Anthony Shaffer (writer)

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox writer Anthony Joshua Shaffer (15 May 1926Template:Spaced ndash6 November 2001)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> was an English playwright, screenwriter, novelist, barrister, and advertising executive. He is best remembered for his Tony Award winning play Sleuth, and its acclaimed 1972 film adaptation. His screenplays included Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy and folk horror The Wicker Man.

Early life

Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in Liverpool, the son of Reka (née Fredman) and Jack Shaffer, who was an estate agent with his wife's family.<ref>Film Reference bio</ref><ref>www.forward.com</ref> He was the identical twin brother of writer and dramatist Peter Shaffer, and they had another brother, Brian. He graduated with a law degree from Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career

Shaffer worked as a barrister and advertising copywriter before becoming a full-time writer.<ref>Obituary in The Guardian, 7 November 2001</ref>

Shaffer's most notable work was the play Sleuth (1970), which won the Tony Award for Best Play. The play was later adapted for the film version starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. He received Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America for both versions: for Best Play in 1971, and Best Screenplay in 1973.

His other major screenplays include the Hitchcock thriller Frenzy (1972) and the British cult thriller The Wicker Man (1973) with whose director, Robin Hardy, Shaffer had previously set up a television production company Hardy, Shaffer & Associates.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Personal life

File:Grave of Anthony Shaffer in Highgate Cemetery.jpg

Grave of Anthony Shaffer in the east side of Highgate Cemetery

Shaffer was married three times – to Henrietta Glaskie, Carolyn Soley (with whom he had two children, Claudia and Cressida), and Australian actress Diane Cilento.

Shaffer met Cilento in 1973, when she appeared in The Wicker Man. He moved to Australia in 1975 and married Cilento in 1985. Together they built a house (The Castle) and a theatre (The Karnak Playhouse). Shaffer was legally domiciled in Australia (where he owned land and a restaurant, paid taxes and voted in elections), although he did maintain a flat in London.<ref>"Shaffer's lover fails in battle over his estate". Article of 10 February 2004 by Sean O'Neill in The Daily Telegraph</ref>

In the last years of his life Shaffer had an extramarital relationship with Marie Josette "JoJo" Capece-Minutolo when in London. Cilento did not accompany Shaffer to England but remained in Australia. After Shaffer's death, Capece-Minutolo made a claim on his estate in the British High Court, arguing that Shaffer had intended to divorce Cilento and marry her and that he had given her an engagement ring. The Shaffer estate argued that Shaffer had no desire to end his marriage to Cilento. The judge found that despite Shaffer's being in "an intimate and loving relationship" with Capece in London, Shaffer and his estate were not legally domiciled in the United Kingdom at the time of his death, and that therefore Capece-Minutolo had no legal claims on his estate, other than any bequest in Shaffer's will, which had been changed in 1999.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Bibliography

Novels

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Plays

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Memoir

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Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	Mr. Forbush and the Penguins	Screenwriter	a.k.a. Cry of the Penguins
1972	Frenzy
	Sleuth
1973	The Wicker Man
1974	Murder on the Orient Express		Uncredited<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1978	Death on the Nile
	Absolution
1980	Rough Cut		Uncredited<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1982	Evil Under the Sun		Co-Writer
1985	Flesh+Blood
1988	Appointment with Death
1993	Sommersby

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Pig In The Middle	Writer	Broadcast by Harlech Television (HTV)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

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• The Life & Work of Anthony Shaffer
• telegraph.co.uk
• Obituary in The Guardian (8 November 2001)
• nytimes.com