John Osborne John Osborne John James Osborne (Fulham, London, 12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter and actor, known for his excoriating prose and intense critical stance towards established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play "Look Back in Anger" transformed English theatre. In a productive life of more than 40 years, Osborne explored many themes and genres, writing for stage, film and TV. His personal life was extravagant and iconoclastic. He was notorious for the ornate violence of his language, not only on behalf of the political causes he supported but also against
John Osborne (barrister) Parliament. After the Glorious Revolution he was restored to office as Serjeant-at-law. His notable independence of mind, and his hatred of all former Jacobites, Protestant as well as Roman Catholic, even those who had pledged their loyalty to the new King William III, soon made him almost as obnoxious to the new regime as he had been to the old. He was dismissed from office shortly before his death in 1692. His father Francis Osborne was the fifth son of Sir John Osborne of Chicksands Priory, Shefford, Bedfordshire and his wife Dorothy Barlee of Effingham Hall, Essex; Peter Osborne, Royal