Portrait of the day: Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier was an English author and playwright. Many of her stories have been adapted into films, including Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now/Not After Midnight. Daphne du Maurier was born in London on May 13, 1907. She was the middle of three daughters of prominent actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and actress Muriel Beaumont.
Her family connections helped her establish her literary career, and she published some of her early work in Beaumont's Bystander magazine. She wrote four novels at a very young age. Her fifth novel named “Rebecca” was one of her most successful works. It was an immediate hit, selling nearly 3 million copies between 1938 and 1965. She won the National Book Award for her novel Rebecca, voted by members of the American Booksellers Association. She died on 19 April 1989, aged 81, in Cornwall, which had been the setting for many of her books.