Noel Langley was a South African-born novelist, playwright, screenwriter and director.
21 Facts About Noel Langley
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Noel Langley wrote the screenplay which formed the basis for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and is one of the three credited screenwriters for the film.
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Noel Langley's finished script for the film was revised by Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf, the other credited screenwriters.
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Noel Langley attempted to write a sequel based on The Marvelous Land of Oz using many of the concepts he had added to its predecessor, but this was never released.
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Noel Langley attended his father's school until 1930.
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Noel Langley's relationship with his headmaster father was a strained one as he did not meet his father's expectations.
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Noel Langley rejected his son, who was artistically inclined and physically weak.
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Noel Langley then studied at the University of Natal, from which he graduated with a BA in 1934.
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Noel Langley wrote other plays for the West End stage in this period, which included For Ever and Farm of Three Echoes.
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Noel Langley began writing for films in the 1930s, helping to write the British films King of the Damned and Secret of Stamboul.
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Noel Langley then left London for Hollywood, having accepted a seven-year contract as a screenwriter for MGM.
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Noel Langley introduced Miss Almira Gulch, the Wicked Witch's Kansas counterpart.
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Noel Langley co-wrote the hit West End play Edward, My Son with Robert Morley.
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In 1964, Noel Langley made a series of tapes for New York radio station WBAI, reading The Tale of the Land of Green Ginger in its entirety.
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Noel Langley subsequently edited it down to fit on an LP, which was issued by the listener-sponsored station and offered as a fund-raising premium.
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Noel Langley continued to write novels and plays throughout his life.
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Noel Langley wrote short stories for the Saturday Evening Post and other magazines.
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In 1937, Noel Langley married Naomi Mary Legate in Los Angeles.
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The couple divorced in California in 1954 and Noel Langley obtained custody of the children.
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Noel Langley is believed to have returned to her hometown of Pietermaritzburg.
21.
Noel Langley died in 1980 in Desert Hot Springs, California, United States.