John Osborne
![](/Images/godic/202501/31/John_Osborne_by_Reginald_Gray3704.jpg")
![Graves of Osborne and his fifth wife in Clun churchyard](/Images/godic/202501/31/JohnOsborne3704.jpg")
John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, known for his excoriating prose and intense critical stance towards established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre.