Edward Knoblock

Who was Edward Knoblock?

Edward Knoblock was an American-born British playwright and novelist most remembered for the often revived 1911 play, Kismet.

Knoblock was born in New York City of German parents and was the grandson of the Berlin architect Eduard Knoblauch. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1896, but he spent much of his professional life in Europe, first in France, then in Great Britain. In 1912, his Milestones, written with Arnold Bennett, became a hit at the Royalty Theatre, playing for over 600 performances.

He became a British subject in 1916 during World War I, anglicized the spelling of his name, received a commission as a captain in the British Army and served in the Secret Service Bureau in the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Greece. In 1917 he bought and subsequently restored the Regency Beach House, Worthing, Sussex. Knoblock was a lifelong collector of Regency style furniture and furnishings and kept much of the celebrated Thomas Hope collection intact. His London bachelor apartment was at The Albany.

Knoblock wrote many screenplays, perhaps the best known being Douglas Fairbanks' Robin Hood, though he was uncredited, and The Three Musketeers.