The Entertainer (play) Holm as Jean and Bertie Carvel as Frank. In 1960, a paperback novelization by John Burke was published by Four Square Books to coincide with the release of the film. Though the attribution line says "based on the play", it is actually based on the screenplay by Osborne and Nigel Kneale. The Entertainer (play) The Entertainer is a three-act play by John Osborne, first produced in 1957. His first play, "Look Back in Anger", had attracted mixed notices but a great deal of publicity. Having depicted an "angry young man" in the earlier play, Osborne wrote at Laurence Olivier's request
John F. Osborne John F. Osborne John F. Osborne (March 15, 1907 – May 3, 1981) was an American magazine editor and journalist. He was born in Corinth, Mississippi. Osborne wrote for the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Associated Press before joining the National Recovery Administration, and then the Tennessee Valley Authority, as a U.S. government public relations officer during the Great Depression. He became an editor at Time–Life. In 1940, William Saroyan lists him among "contributing editors" at "Time" in the play, "Love's Old Sweet Song". Eventually, he became "Time"'s London editor and then Far East editor (based in Hong Kong) in