This author wrote a film in which a woman says “I didn’t think such violent things could happen to ordinary people,” before being asked “whatever your dream was, it wasn’t a very happy one, was it?” by a man who puts down his crossword. Ben Hecht adapted a play by this author into Ernst Lubitsch’s romcom Design for Living. A housewife and doctor meet at a train station in this author’s play Still Life, which inspired David Lean’s film Brief Encounter. Kay Hammond wore green makeup for a film that abandons this author’s signature finale, in which the protagonist tiptoes offstage. In a play by this author, Charles Condomine deals with the jealousies of his second wife Ruth and the ghost of his deceased wife, Elvira. For 10 points, a séance occurs in what author’s play Blithe Spirit? ■END■
ANSWER: Noël Coward [or Sir Noël Peirce Coward]
<AP, British Literature>
= Average correct buzz position