British actor and writer
Nicholas Stuart Gray (born Phyllis Loriot Hatch; 23 October 1912 – 17 March 1981) was a British actor and playwright perhaps best known for his work in children's theatre in England. He was also an author of children's fantasy; he wrote a number of novels, a dozen plays, and many short stories. Gray worked as an actor during the 1930s. He began presenting as male around 1939, and underwent a medical transition in 1959. Neil Gaiman has written that Gray "is one of those authors I loved as a boy who holds up even better on rereading as an adult". Many other modern fantasy authors, such as Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Kate Forsyth, Cassandra Golds, Sophie Masson, and Garth Nix, cite Gray's work as something they enjoyed as children.
Perhaps his best-known books are "The Seventh Swan" and "Grimbold's Other World." Gray often produced adaptations or continuations of traditional fairy tales and fantasy works, as in his "Further Adventures of Puss in Boots." His "The Stone Cage" is a re-telling of "Rapunzel" from a cat's point of view. "Over the Hills to Fabylon" is about a city whose king has the ability to make it fly off across the mountains if he feels it is in danger.
Gray maintained a long-term collaborative relationship with set designer and illustrator Joan Jefferson Farjeon, who supplied the costume and scenic designs for many of the theatrical productions of his plays, as well as the illustrations for most of his printed plays and for the novel version of "The Seventh Swan".
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