Johnston, Denis, 1901-1984

Irish dramatist, author, journalist, and theater director; b. William Denis Johnston; d. 1984.

Denis Johnston was an Irish playwright and writer. He was born in Dublin and educated at Dublin, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Harvard Law School, receiving an M.A. and LL.M. from Cambridge in 1926. He became interested in playwriting while he was at Harvard. Upon his return to Dublin, he wrote "Shadowdance" (later called "The Old Lady Says No!") in 1926. After practising law, both in Ireland and England, he joined the Dublin Gate Theatre and became its Director from 1931-1936. Next, he worked in various capacities for the BBC. After moving to America, he became head of the Department of Theatre at Smith College, Massachusetts in 1961 and subsequently held many academic posts in the United States until 1973. He authored numerous plays including "The Old Lady Says 'No'", "The Moon in the Yellow River", "The Golden Cuckoo", and "The Scythe and the Sunset". His autobiography, "Nine Rivers from Jordan", was published in 1953. This formed the basis for his later work "The Brazen Horn". He died in Dublin.

(William) Denis Johnston (18 June 1901-8 August 1984) was an Irish writer. Born in Dublin, he wrote mostly plays, but also works of literary criticism, a book-length biographical essay on Jonathan Swift, a memoir, and a work of philosophy. He also worked as a war correspondent and as both a radio and television producer for the BBC. His first play, The Old Lady Says No!, helped establish the reputation of the Dublin Gate Theatre; his second, The Moon in the Yellow River, has been widely performed.

Johnston was a protege of W.B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw; he had a stormy friendship with Sean O'Casey. He was a pioneer of television and war reporting. He worked as a lawyer in the 1920s and 1930s before joining the BBC as a writer and producer, first in radio and then in the fledgling television service. During World War II, he served as a BBC war correspondent, reporting from El Alamein to Buchenwald. For this, he was awarded an OBE 1945. He then became Director of Programmes for the television service.

Johnston later moved to the United States and taught at Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and other universities. He kept extensive diaries throughout his life (now deposited in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin). He received honorary degrees from the University of Ulster and Mount Holyoke College and was a member of Aosdana, which was established by the Irish Arts Council in 1981 to honor artists whose work had made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland.

(Note adapted from Wikipedia and other web posts viewed in July 2012.)