Biography
Frederick Knott was an English playwright and screenwriter. He was born on 28 August 1916 in Hankow, China, the son of English missionaries, and was educated at Oundle School and Cambridge University, where he read law. He served in the British Army from 1939 to 1946, rising to the rank of major, before moving to the United States in 1952.
Knott wrote the stage thriller Dial M for Murder, which premiered in London in 1952 and on Broadway later that year. He also wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film adaptation. His other plays include Write Me a Murder (1961) and Wait Until Dark (1966), the latter adapted into a 1967 film. He wrote the screenplay for The Honey Pot (1967).
