Background
Marcus was born 30 June 1928 into a Jewish family in Breslau (then in Germany). They came to England as refugees in 1939.
Marcus was born 30 June 1928 into a Jewish family in Breslau (then in Germany). They came to England as refugees in 1939.
Until 1943 Frank attended Bunce Court School at Otterden, near Faversham in Kent, (a school founded by Anna Essinger, a German Jewish-Quaker who had started Landschulheim Herrlingen, a private school in southern Germany, which was relocated to England in 1933). He then spent a year at Saint Martin's School of Art.
Frank started as an actor and playwright with the International Theatre Group and the Unity Theatre. His plays were noted for their strong parts for female actors, such as in his one big success, The Killing of Sister George, starring Beryl Reid, which was later made into a film. As well as his own plays he made several translations and adaptations from his native German. He worked as Theatre Critic for The Sunday Telegraph between 1968 and 1978.
During his career he also wrote for Plays and Players and Dramatists’ Guild Quarterly, and he acted, directed, and designed sets at London’s Unity Theatre. He also founded the International Theatre Group.
He started as an actor and playwright with the International Theatre Group and the Unity Theatre.
Frank Marcus was an actress's dream: a playwright who wrote rewarding parts for women. Not that he was a feminist.
In 1951 Frank married actress Jacqueline Sylvester, who collaborated with him on some of his plays. They gave birth to one son and two daughters.