Lady Diana Cooper
The Viscountess Norwich | |
---|---|
Born | Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners 29 August 1892 London, England |
Died | 16 June 1986 London, England | (aged 93)
Occupation(s) | Actress, socialite |
Spouse | |
Children | John Julius Norwich |
Parents |
|
Diana Cooper, Viscountess Norwich (née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners; 29 August 1892 – 16 June 1986) was an English silent film actress and aristocrat who was a well-known social figure in London and Paris.
As a young woman, she moved in a celebrated group of intellectuals known as
After his death, she wrote three volumes of memoirs which reveal much about early 20th-century upper-class life.
Birth and youth
Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners was born at 23A
In her prime, she had the widespread reputation as the most beautiful young woman in England, and appeared in countless profiles, photographs and articles in newspapers and magazines.[
Lady Diana was the most famous of the group, which included
His death in the First World War devastated her, and was compounded by the loss of other men in her circle: Horner, Charles Lister, Julian and Billy Grenfell and Shaw-Stewart in the war; Anson by drowning. Lady Diana married
In 1929, she gave birth to her only child,
Career on stage and in silent films
She worked as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse at Guy's Hospital during the war, and later at a hospital for officers her mother set up in London (though she annoyed her co-workers with her inconsistent attendance, and tendency to take off with friends). She also worked briefly as editor of the magazine Femina, and she wrote a column in the Beaverbrook newspapers before turning to acting. Her work as a nurse increased her popularity and public notoriety. Her name appears in the wartime version of the music hall song "Burlington Bertie": "I'll eat a banana/with Lady Diana/Aristocracy working at Guy's".[8]
In 1918 Lady Diana took uncredited film roles; in The Great Love she played herself in her capacity of a celebrity. She also appeared in a
Social figure, wife of ambassador
In 1924 she lent her fame to her husband's successful campaign for election to
She supported her husband in his political posts, even travelling with him to the Far East in late 1941 prior to the Japanese attack on British Malaya.[11] As Prime Minister Churchill's personal representative, Duff Cooper MP was unsuccessful in effecting a positive strategy, and he was recalled in January 1942, shortly before Singapore fell in February.[12] In between accompanying her husband on his wartime appointments abroad, Lady Diana converted her three-acre property at Bognor Regis into a smallholding to provide her family with extra food in light of shortages and rationing. Aided by her friend Conrad Russell, she raised livestock, grew crops, practised beekeeping, and made her own butter and cheeses.[13] She also volunteered at a YMCA canteen, and worked briefly in a workshop making camouflage nets for gunners.[14]
Between January and August 1944 the couple lived in
Following Duff Cooper's retirement in 1947, the couple continued to live in France at
Later years
Lady Diana sharply reduced her activities in the late 1950s but produced three volumes of memoirs: The Rainbow Comes and Goes, The Light of Common Day, and Trumpets from the Steep. The three volumes are included in a compilation called Autobiography (
Books about or influenced by Lady Diana
Diana Cooper Autobiography: The Rainbow Comes and Goes (1958), The Light of Common Day (1959), Trumpets from the Steep, (1960) (
In 2013, her son, John Julius Norwich, edited a volume of her letters to him as a youth entitled Darling Monster: The Letters of Lady Diana Cooper to Her Son John Julius Norwich. Published by Chatto & Windus,
Arms
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Selected filmography
- The Great Love (1918) (*as herself)
- The Glorious Adventure (1922)
- The Virgin Queen (1923)
See also
- List of covers of Time magazine (1920s) – 15 February 1926
- Bob cut
References
- ^ Diana Cooper (1958). The Rainbow Comes and Goes. Penguin Books. p. 9.
- ^ a b Shusha Guppy (1982). "Circle of Friends: An Interview with Lady Diana Cooper". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ Diana herself revealed in her autobiography that although she was brought up as a daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland, she was actually fathered by Cust, a Lincolnshire landowner and MP. See Khan, Urmee. "Allegra Huston Speaks of the Shock at Discovering She was the Love Child of a Lord", The Daily Telegraph, 6 April 2009.
- ^ See The Crawford Papers. The Journals of David Lindsay, Twenty-seventh Earl of Crawford and tenth Earl of Balcarres (1871–1940), during the years 1892 to 1940, ed. by John Vincent (Manchester University Press, 1984), p. 109.
- ^ a b c d Robert Gottlieb (7 August 2015). "The life of Lady Diana Cooper: 'the most beautiful girl in the world'". Financial Review. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ James, Clive (4 February 1982). "MRS Stitch in Time". London Review of Books. 04 (2).
- ^ "Obituary - John Julius Norwich, historian and television personality". The Herald. 5 June 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- ^ a b Judith Mackrell (2015). Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation. Sarah Crichton Books. pp. 15–16.
- ^ Diana Cooper (1958). The Rainbow Comes and Goes. Penguin Books. pp. 212–213.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ Swinson, A. Defeat in Malaya: the fall of Singapore London Macdonald 1970 pp41-44 with photograph
- ^ Norwich, 2005; p. 281
- ^ Cooper, 1960; p. 78-90
- ^ Cooper, 1960; p. 37, 150-151
- ^ Cooper, 1960; p. 169-216
- ^ Cooper, 1960; p. 183
- ^ Cooper, 1960; p. 183-191
- ISBN 978-0-241-10659-4), pp 232–234
- ISBN 978-0-297-78857-7), pp 196–197
- ISBN 978-0-297-84843-1), pp 350–351
- ^ Richard Smith (13 September 2019). "Reopening the British Embassy following the liberation of Paris". history.blog.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
- ^ Web of Stories-Life Stories of Remarkable People (19 June 2018). John Julius Norwich - Open house at the British Embassy. YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
- ^ Anthony Haden-Guest (17 April 2017). "When Venice Threw The 'Ball of the Century'". Daily Beast. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: British Pathé (13 April 2014). Ball of the Century (1951). YouTube.com. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-241-10659-4), pp 271-2
- ^ "The Times". 9 January 1954: 8.
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(help): 'A statement issued on behalf of the Dowager Viscountess Norwich announces that she has reverted to the name and title of Lady Diana Cooper'. - ^ Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald, ASIN: B000JQUPK0
- ^ 'The Loved and Envied', Literary Ladies Guide
- ^ Cooke, Rachel, "Darling Monster: The Letters of Lady Diana Cooper to Her Son John Julius Norwich by Diana Cooper – review", The Guardian, 5 October 2013
External links
- Autobiography published by Faber Finds
- Images at the UK National Portrait Gallery
- "More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers" by William F. Buckley Jr., a New York Times book review of The Letters of Evelyn Waugh and Diana Cooper
- Diana Manners at IMDb
- Lady Diana Manners at the Internet Broadway Database
- The Papers of Lady Diana Cooper, Viscountess Norwich held at Churchill Archives Centre