Christopher Hassall

Christopher Vernon Hassall (24 March 1912 – 25 April 1963) was an English actor, dramatist, librettist, lyricist and poet, who found his greatest fame in a memorable musical partnership with the actor and composer Ivor Novello after working together in the same touring company. He was also a noted biographer of Rupert Brooke (1964, Faber and Faber) and Edward Marsh (1958, James Tait Black Memorial Prize 1959).

Hassall was born in London and educated at St Michael's College, Tenbury, Brighton College and Wadham College, Oxford. He was the son of the illustrator John Hassall and brother of Joan Hassall, who engraved the title page of his book of poetry, Devil's Dyke, published in 1936. Hassall married the actress Eve Lynett, with whom he had a son and a daughter, the actress Imogen Hassall.

Hassall was an experienced actor serving as Ivor Novello's understudy in a minor London drama when Novello invited him to provide the lyrics for a new musical. Their successful collaboration for Glamorous Night (1935) ("Shine Through My Dreams", "Fold Your Wings") began a fifteen-year partnership that included six long-running hits. ('Perchance to Dream' the other hit which Novello wrote during this period, had lyrics by Novello himself). While their musicals delighted West End audiences, they were judged "too British" for America.Jeremy Northam, who played a character based on Ivor Novello in the 2001 Robert Altman movie, Gosford Park, sang "I Can Give You the Starlight" from The Dancing Years, Hassall's and Novello's 1939 musical.

...
Wikipedia