Nicholas Stuart Gray (born Phyllis Loriot Hatch; 23 October 191217 March 1981) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

actor and playwright perhaps best known for his work in children's theatre in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He was also an author of children's

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

; he wrote a number of novels, a dozen plays, and many short stories. Gray worked as an actor during the 1930s. He began presenting as male around 1939, and underwent a medical transition in 1959.

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

has written that Gray "is one of those authors I loved as a boy who holds up even better on rereading as an adult". Many other modern fantasy authors, such as Cecilia Dart-Thornton,

Kate Forsyth Kate Forsyth (born 3 June 1966) is an Australian author. She is best known for her historical novel ''Bitter Greens'', which interweaves a retelling of the ''Rapunzel'' fairy tale with the true life story of the woman who first told the tale, t ...

Cassandra Golds Cassandra Golds (born 1962) is an Australian children's author. Career Her first book, ''Michael and the Secret War'', was accepted for publication when she was nineteen years old. In collaboration with the artist Stephen Axelsen, she went on ...

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, and

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, cite Gray's work as something they enjoyed as children. Perhaps his best-known books are ''The Seventh Swan'' and ''Grimbold's Other World.'' Gray often produced adaptations or continuations of traditional

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

s and fantasy works, as in his ''Further Adventures of Puss in Boots.'' His ''The Stone Cage'' is a re-telling of ''

Rapunzel "Rapunzel" ( ; ; or ) is a German fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and it was published in 1812 as part of '' Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Grimms' story was developed from the French literary fairy tale ...

'' from a cat's point of view. ''Over the Hills to Fabylon'' is about a city whose king has the ability to make it fly off across the mountains if he feels it is in danger. Gray maintained a long-term collaborative relationship with set designer and illustrator

Joan Jefferson Farjeon Joan Jefferson Farjeon (26 May 1913 – 8 August 2006) was an English scenographer and costume designer. Born into a literary family, she began illustrating in 1939 and began working as a sceneographer and costume designer in 1941, working in th ...

, who supplied the costume and scenic designs for many of the theatrical productions of his plays, as well as the illustrations for most of his printed plays and for the novel version of ''The Seventh Swan''.

Bibliography

Theatre

Plays for children

* ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1951) * ''The Princess and the Swineherd'' (1952) * ''The Tinder Box'' (1954) * ''The Hunters and the Henwife'' (1954) * ''The Marvellous Story of Puss in Boots'' (1955) * ''New Clothes for the Emperor'' (1957) * ''The Imperial Nightingale'' (1957) * ''The Other Cinderella'' (1958) * ''The Seventh Swan: A Play'' (1962) * ''The Stone Cage: A Play'' (1963) * ''New Lamps for Old'' (1968) * ''Gawain and the Green Knight'' (1969)

Prose

Novels for children

* ''Over the Hills to Fabylon'' (1954) * ''Down in the Cellar'' (1961) * ''The Seventh Swan: A Novel'' (1962) * ''Grimbold's Other World'' (1963) * ''The Stone Cage: A Novel'' (1963) * ''The Apple Stone'' (1965) * ''The Further Adventures of Puss in Boots'' (1971) * ''The Wardens of the Weir'' (1978) * ''The Garland of Filigree'' (1979)

Short fiction for children

=Collections

= * ''Mainly in Moonlight'' (1965) (twelve short stories) * ''The Edge of Evening'' (1976) (eight short stories) * ''A Wind from Nowhere'' (1978) (nine short stories)

=Other short fiction

= * ''The Sorcerer's Apprentices'' (1986) (picture book of a story from ''Mainly in Moonlight'')

Novels for adults

* ''Killer's Cookbook'' (1976)

Nonfiction

* ''The Boys: Cats with Everything'' (1968)

Poetry

* ''Facets: Poems and Pictures'' (1977)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Nicholas Stuart English people of Scottish descent Writers from London British fantasy writers British children's writers 1912 births 1981 deaths 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights LGBTQ people from London British transgender men British transgender writers Male actors from London British transgender actors