Daphne du Maurier Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English author and playwright. Although she is classed as a romantic novelist, her stories have been described as "moody and resonant" with overtones of the paranormal. Her bestselling works were not at first taken seriously by critics, but have since earned an enduring reputation for narrative craft. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels "Rebecca", "My Cousin Rachel", and "Jamaica Inn", and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now/Not After Midnight". Du Maurier spent much of
Sooty shearwater birds; in 2009 the number was estimated to be closer to 40 per cage. On August 18, 1961, the "Santa Cruz Sentinel" reported that thousands of crazed sooty shearwaters were sighted on the shores of North Monterey Bay in California, regurgitating anchovies, flying into objects, and dying on the streets. The incident sparked the interest of local resident Alfred Hitchcock, along with a story about spooky bird behavior by British writer Daphne du Maurier, helping to inspire Hitchcock's 1963 thriller "The Birds", a cautionary tale of nature revolting against man. The film is now ranked among the American Film Institute's