# Frederick Knott > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Frederick_Knott > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Frederick_Knott.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Knott > Source revision: 1351502890 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|English playwright and screenwriter}} {{about|the English playwright|the English cricketer|Freddie Knott}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}} {{Use British English|date=October 2015}} {{Infobox writer |name=Frederick Knott |birth_name=Frederick Major Paull Knott |birth_date={{Birth date|1916|8|28|df=yes}} |birth_place=[Hankou](/source/Hankou), China |death_date={{Death date and age|2002|12|17|1916|8|28|df=yes}} |death_place=[New York City](/source/New_York_City), New York |occupation=[playwright](/source/playwright), [screenwriter](/source/screenwriter) |language=English }} '''Frederick Major Paull Knott''' (28 August 1916 – 17 December 2002) was an English playwright and screenwriter known for complex crime-related plots. Although he was a reluctant writer and completed a small number of plays, two have become well-known: the London-based stage thriller ''[Dial M for Murder](/source/Dial_M_for_Murder)'', later filmed in Hollywood by [Alfred Hitchcock](/source/Alfred_Hitchcock), and the 1966 play ''[Wait Until Dark](/source/Wait_Until_Dark)'', [which was adapted to a Hollywood film](/source/Wait_Until_Dark_(film)) directed by [Terence Young](/source/Terence_Young_(director)). He also wrote the Broadway mystery ''[Write Me a Murder](/source/Write_Me_a_Murder)''.Carly Higley, “Frederick Knott: The Reluctant Writer,” in ''Insights: A Study Guide to the Utah Shakespeare Festival—Dial M for Murder'' (Utah Shakespeare Festival, 2011): 6. He has a son named Tony Knott who attended Princeton Day School in the 1970s. ==Life and career== Knott was born in Hankou, China, the son of English [missionaries](/source/Missionary), Margaret Caroline (née Paull) and Cyril Wakefield Knott.{{cite web |url=http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_Descendants_of_John_Backhouse_Yeoman_of_Moss_Side_1000768059/195 |title=P.195-6. The Descendants of John Backhouse, Yeoman: Of Moss Side, Near Yealand Redman, Lancashire |accessdate=2015-03-18 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402195754/http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_Descendants_of_John_Backhouse_Yeoman_of_Moss_Side_1000768059/195 |archivedate=2 April 2015 |df=dmy-all }} He became interested in theatre after watching performances of [Gilbert and Sullivan](/source/Gilbert_and_Sullivan) works held by the Hankow Operatic Society.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/frederick-knott-137362.html|title=Frederick Knott|date=2002-12-26|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-01-30|language=en-GB}} Descended from a line of Lancashire mill-owners, Knott came from a wealthy enough background to be sent back to England to be schooled privately, and from 1926 he was educated at [Sidcot School](/source/Sidcot_School) and then, from 1929, at [Oundle School](/source/Oundle_School) in [Northamptonshire](/source/Northamptonshire). In 1934, Knott went up to [Downing College, Cambridge](/source/Downing_College%2C_Cambridge), to read law."University News", ''The Times'', 18 June 1938, p. 19. An exceptional tennis player (a profession he gave the central character in ''Dial M for Murder''), he became a [Blue](/source/Blue_(university_sport)), and in 1937 was a member of the Oxford-Cambridge tennis team that played the Harvard-Yale squad at [Newport](/source/Newport_Casino). He graduated in 1938 with a third-class degree in law, but the outbreak of the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) prevented his competing at Wimbledon. He served in the [British Army](/source/British_Army) [Artillery](/source/Royal_Artillery) as a signals instructor from 1939 to 1946, rising to the rank of [major](/source/Major_(rank)), and eventually moved to the United States. He met Ann Hillary in 1952 and married her in 1953; they lived in New York for many years. Although ''Dial M for Murder'' was a hit on the stage, it was originally a BBC television production. As a theatre piece, it premiered at the Westminster Theatre in Victoria, London in June 1952, directed by John Fernald and starring [Alan MacNaughtan](/source/Alan_MacNaughtan) and [Jane Baxter](/source/Jane_Baxter). This production was followed in October by a successful run in New York City at the [Plymouth Theater](/source/Gerald_Schoenfeld_Theatre), where Reginald Denham directed [Maurice Evans](/source/Maurice_Evans_(actor)), Richard Derr, and [Gusti Huber](/source/Gusti_Huber). Knott also wrote the screenplay for the [1954 Hollywood movie](/source/Dial_M_for_Murder) which Hitchcock filmed for [Warner Brothers](/source/Warner_Brothers) in [3D](/source/3-D_film), starring [Ray Milland](/source/Ray_Milland) and [Grace Kelly](/source/Grace_Kelly), with [Anthony Dawson](/source/Anthony_Dawson) and [John Williams](/source/John_Williams_(actor)) reprising their characters from the New York stage production, which had won Williams a [Tony Award](/source/Tony_Award) for his role as Inspector Hubbard. He previously sold the screen rights to [Alexander Korda](/source/Alexander_Korda) for only £1,000. The play was also made into a 1981 TV movie starring [Christopher Plummer](/source/Christopher_Plummer) and [Angie Dickinson](/source/Angie_Dickinson), as the 1985 film ''Aitbaar in India'', and as ''[A Perfect Murder](/source/A_Perfect_Murder)'' in 1998 with [Michael Douglas](/source/Michael_Douglas) and [Gwyneth Paltrow](/source/Gwyneth_Paltrow). Based on the same plot, a Soviet TV film ''Tony Wendice's Mistake'' ([:ru:Ошибка Тони Вендиса](/source/%3Aru%3A%D0%9E%D1%88%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8_%D0%92%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%B0)) was released in 1981. In 1960, Knott wrote the stage thriller ''[Write Me a Murder](/source/Write_Me_a_Murder)'', produced at the [Belasco Theatre](/source/Belasco_Theatre_(Broadway)) in New York in October 1961. It was directed by [George Schaefer](/source/George_Schaefer_(director)) and included [Denholm Elliott](/source/Denholm_Elliott) and [Kim Hunter](/source/Kim_Hunter) in the cast. In 1966, Knott's stage play ''[Wait Until Dark](/source/Wait_Until_Dark)'' was produced on Broadway at the [Ethel Barrymore Theatre](/source/Ethel_Barrymore_Theatre). The director was [Arthur Penn](/source/Arthur_Penn) and the play starred [Lee Remick](/source/Lee_Remick) who received a Tony Award nomination for her performance. Later the same year, [Honor Blackman](/source/Honor_Blackman) played the lead in London's [West End](/source/West_End_theatre) at the [Strand Theatre](/source/Novello_Theatre). The film version, also titled ''[Wait Until Dark](/source/Wait_Until_Dark_(film))'' and released in 1967, had [Audrey Hepburn](/source/Audrey_Hepburn) in the lead role. The play ran on Broadway in 2001, featuring [Quentin Tarantino](/source/Quentin_Tarantino). Knott stopped writing plays, choosing to live comfortably on the income from his earlier works. "I don't think the drive was there any more. He was perfectly happy the way things were," said his wife Ann Hillary. He died in New York City in December 2002. ==Select credits== ===Film screenplays=== *''[The Last Page](/source/The_Last_Page)'' (1952) *''[Dial M for Murder](/source/Dial_M_for_Murder)'' (1954) *''[The Honey Pot](/source/The_Honey_Pot)'' (1967) ===TV plays=== *[''Dial M for Murder''](/source/Dial_M_for_Murder_(Sunday_Night_Theatre)) (1952) – for ''[BBC Sunday-Night Theatre](/source/BBC_Sunday-Night_Theatre)'' *''[Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates](/source/Hans_Brinker_and_the_Silver_Skates_(film))'' (1958) *''Dial M for Murder'' (1959) (German TV movie) ===Plays=== *''Dial M for Murder'' (1952) *''Mr. Fox of Venice'' (1959) *''[Write Me a Murder](/source/Write_Me_a_Murder)'' (1961) *''[Wait Until Dark](/source/Wait_Until_Dark)'' (1966) ==Bibliography== * ''Dial M for Murder'' (Samuel French, London {{ISBN|0-573-01102-8}}) * ''Dial M for Murder'' (Random House Plays, New York 1952) * ''Write Me a Murder'' (Dramatists Play Service Inc, New York 1962) * ''Wait Until Dark'' (Samuel French, London {{ISBN|0-573-01050-1}}) * Weill, Richard (2026). ''Frederick Knott and Dial M for Murder: The Creation and Evolution of an Iconic Thriller'' (McFarland, Jefferson, NC {{ISBN|978-1-4766-9950-9}}) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * {{IBDB name|5685}} * {{IMDb name|0461425}} * [Frederick Knott Papers](/source/hdl%3A10079%2Ffa%2Fbeinecke.knott). General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Knott, Frederick}} Category:1916 births Category:2002 deaths Category:20th-century English dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century English male writers Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:Edgar Award winners Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:English male dramatists and playwrights Category:English male tennis players Category:British male tennis players Category:People educated at Oundle School Category:People educated at Sidcot School Category:Royal Artillery officers Category:Writers from Wuhan Category:20th-century English sportsmen --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Frederick Knott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Knott) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Knott?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.