Willy Russell Willy Russell William Russell (born 23 August 1947) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are "Educating Rita", "Shirley Valentine", "Blood Brothers" and "Our Day Out". Russell was born in Whiston in Lancashire. On leaving school, aged 15, he became a ladies' hairdresser eventually running his own salon until the age of 20 when he decided to try to go back to college, eventually qualifying as a teacher. During these years Russell also worked as a semi-professional singer, writing and performing his own songs on the then flourishing and vibrant folk scene. At college, he began
International Theatre Vienna Gin Game, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker, The Removalists, The Collector, The Miracle Worker, On Golden Pond, Eden End, What the Butler Saw, Crimes of the Heart, The Foreigner, Baby with the Bathwater, Beyond Therapy, Parallel Lives, Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine, Charley's Aunt, Harvey, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park, Moon Over Buffalo, Lend Me a Tenor, Play it Again Sam, The Mousetrap, Dial "M" for Murder, Deathtrap, Wait Until Dark, Rebecca, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Dracula, Night, Mother, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Pygmalion, Arms and the Man, Into the Woods, Quilters, 'Art',