Biographical note

Michael Hastings (1937 - 2011) was the winner of two Emmy Awards, two BAFTAs, the Somerset Maugham Award and was nominated for an Oscar. His first play - Don't Destroy Me - was produced when he was just 18 years old and he went on to become part of the first wave of new playwrights at George Devine's Royal Court Theatre. He won the Evening Standard Award in 1979 for Gloo Joo, but remains best known for Tom and Viv, his 1984 play about the poet T.S. Eliot and his wife Vivienne Haigh-Wood, first seen at the Royal Court Theatre, adapted into a film, and recently revived at the Almeida Theatre. He also wrote extensively for television and film including The American, starring Diana Rigg, and The Nightcomers, starring Marlon Brando. He also wrote novels, biographies, and libretti.