Scottish-born writer Muriel Spark, author of more than 20 books including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, died on Apr. 13 in Tuscany.
Spark became famous after Jean Brodie was published in 1962. The book – about a teacher fascinated with Mussolini – was turned into a play, and seven years after its publication Ronald Neame directed the film version that brought Maggie Smith a Best Actress Academy Award.
Besides writing fiction, Spark also wrote critical studies of Emily Bronte and Mary Shelley. She won the TS Eliot prize in 1992 and the British Literature Prize in 1997, and was made a Dame in 1993 in recognition of her services to British literature.
Dame Muriel Spark was 88.
Intellectual Monster: The Life and Work of Muriel Spark
Ronald Neame goes from The Prime of Mrs. Jean Brodie to The Poseidon Adventure. That's strange. Such an unlikely project for Neame's talent.