The British author Rosamunde Pilcher would have celebrated her 100th birthday on September 22nd. More than 170 films have been made based on her novels.
A Sunday of all days: Today, September 22nd, the British bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher (1924-2019) would have turned 100 years old. She was born in Lelant, Cornwall, the picturesque part of southwest England where her many novels are set.
She has written countless dramatic love stories, from “A Secret to Tell” (1955) to “The Shell Seekers” (1987) and into the 2000s – some under the pseudonym Jane Fraser. Several of her works first became best-selling books and then were successfully made into films. The first Pilcher film was shown on ZDF in 1993, and more than 170 have since been broadcast. Always on Sundays.
An incredible success, as the German producer Michael Smeaton (born 1952) emphasises in a statement. “Who could have expected this more than 30 years ago? I still remember our first meeting in Scotland well: At that time we were talking about the film adaptation of her novel ‘Stormy Encounter’, the first ‘Pilcher film’ ever. We could never have imagined in our wildest dreams that more than 170 more films would follow,” he told the broadcaster.
Pilcher’s most famous novel “The Shell Seekers”
Pilcher’s best-known novel, “The Shell Seekers”, set between Cornwall and London and spanning the period from World War II to the 1980s, tells the story of an artist’s elder daughter, Penelope Keeling, who discovers that her father’s painting is worth a small fortune.
Pilcher’s 14th novel, which the author wrote at the age of 63, was published in 1987 and was on the New York Times bestseller list for 49 weeks. It sold more than ten million copies and was made into a television film with British Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave (87) in the lead role.
“Rosamunde Pilcher was groundbreaking because she was the first to make family sagas accessible to a wider audience. Houses full of secrets, families full of lies, beautiful settings, gripping plots,” enthused fellow British writer Katie Fforde (71). “With ‘The Shell Seekers’ she changed the face of romantic literature.”
And Sue Fletcher, Pilcher’s editor at “Hodder”, added about Rosamunde Pilcher as a person: “She was a wonderful writer. The warmth and humanity of her writing was only surpassed by the warmth and humanity of her personality. She was so funny and a much valued friend.”
Rosamunde Pilcher was called “Dondie” by her loved ones
Rosamunde Pilcher was married to businessman Graham Pilcher from 1946 until his death in 2009. The couple had a son. Robin Pilcher (74) also became a writer. He was also the one who told the Guardian the sad news in 2019: Rosamunde Pilcher died on February 6, 2019 at the age of 94.
“She was in great shape until Christmas, then she fell ill with bronchitis in the New Year, but it was always expected that she would recover as before. However, on Sunday night she suffered a stroke and never regained consciousness,” he was quoted as saying.
Robin Pilcher further describes his mother as “a wonderful, quite alternative-thinking mother – I think she would have liked the term bohemian – who touched and influenced the lives of many people of all ages, not only through her writing but also through personal friendships.”
He also revealed about her family nickname: “When my eldest son was young, my wife used to visit my mother on her way to Dundee. He thought that when she said ‘going to Dundee’ it meant to see his grandmother, so he called her Dondie. That’s what the grandchildren, great-grandchildren and all her friends called her. She was Universal Dondie,” he said.
“Rosamunde Pilcher: In Love with a Butler”
The new Pilcher season on ZDF starts on October 6th at 8:15 p.m. with the broadcast of “In Love with a Butler”. In the leading roles: the Berlin actress Susan Hoecke (43) and her Austrian colleague Ferdinand Seebacher (35).
In “Rosamunde Pilcher: In Love with a Butler”, Anne (Hoecke) fights alone for her small fruit and vegetable farm in Cornwall after her husband left her for his lover. To help Anne, her aristocratic aunt sends her butler John (Seebacher) to the farm for six weeks…
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
