Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was George du Maurier, a writer and cartoonist.
du Maurier, c. 1930
Cannon Hall, Hampstead, drawn by A.R. Quinton, 1911, where du Maurier spent much of her childhood
Menabilly house in Fowey, which du Maurier leased in 1943. She restored it from a neglected state, and made it her home until 1969.
Sir Gerald Hubert Edward Busson du Maurier was an English actor and manager. He was the son of author George du Maurier and his wife, Emma Wightwick, and the brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. In 1903, he married the actress Muriel Beaumont, with whom he had three daughters: writers Angela du Maurier (1904–2002) and Dame Daphne du Maurier (1907–1989), and painter Jeanne du Maurier (1911–1997). His popularity was due to his subtle and naturalistic acting: a "delicately realistic style of acting that sought to suggest rather than to state the deeper emotions". His Times obituary said of his career: "His parentage assured him of engagements in the best of company to begin with; but it was his own talent that took advantage of them."
Gerald du Maurier
du Maurier caricatured by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1907.
Gerald du Maurier with his three daughters, Angela, Daphne and Jeanne (1913)
Cannon Hall, Hampstead, drawn by A.R. Quinton, 1911, the family home in London from 1916 and where du Maurier died.
