John Osborne It was an ironic situation as Osborne had been playing a dentist in the company's production of Shaw's "You Never Can Tell" and that it was Osborne who had inadvertently introduced them by succumbing to a toothache he attributed to marital woes. This was in the summer of 1955 and Osborne spent much of the next two years before their divorce hoping they would reconcile. In 1956, after "Look Back in Anger" had opened, Osborne met her at the railway station in York, at which meeting she told Osborne of her recent abortion and enquired after his relationship with Mary
John Osborne and the two of them saw it together. Miller found the play revelatory, and they went backstage to meet Osborne. Olivier was impressed by the American's reaction, and asked Osborne for a part in his next play. John Heilpern suggests the great actor's about-face was due to a midlife crisis, Olivier seeking a new challenge after decades of success in Shakespeare and other classics, and fearful of losing his pre-eminence to this new kind of theatre. George Devine, artistic director of the Royal Court, sent Olivier the incomplete script of "The Entertainer" (1957, film version released in 1960) and Olivier