Robin Hawdon

English playwright and novelist Robin Hawdon is also a former actor and theater director whose stage comedies and novels are what he is best known for. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art after attending Whitgift Grammar School and Uppingham, then acted in repertory seasons at Chesterfield, York, Guildford and the Bristol Old Vic and in London's West End. His stage roles included Hamlet in Cape Town and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion at Salisbury. On screen he appeared in The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), Bedazzled (1967), The Love Factor (1969) and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970). His writing began with plays at the Hampstead Theatre and the King's Lynn and Salzburg Festivals, and his first big commercial hit, The Mating Game, ran for an extended period at London's Apollo Theatre and was staged in over thirty countries. Don't Dress for Dinner later ran for six years in London and on Broadway.