Robert Thomas (28 September 1927 in

Gap, Hautes-Alpes Gap (, ) is the prefecture of the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, the commune had a population of 40,631, making it the most populated city in Hautes-Alpes. At a height of 750 ...

– 3 January 1989) was a French writer, actor and film director. As a writer, almost from the beginning, he was fascinated by a curious genre that he helped invent: the comédie policière or comedy thriller, of which ''Eight Women'' is an example. In 1960, Thomas had a hit with ''Trap for a Lonely Man'', a humorous murder mystery which was an overnight success in Paris. Alfred Hitchcock bought the rights and the play established Thomas as a writer of psychological crime dramas with a distinctively Gallic comic twist. The following year the second outing of ''Eight Women'' was far more successful as it won the Hachette Prix du Quai des Orfevres for Best Play in 1961. Thomas was a prolific actor, playwright and movie director. If he is best known for ''Eight Women'' it is probably because it was adapted into a movie musical by

François Ozon François Ozon (; born 15 November 1967) is a French film director and screenwriter. Ozon is considered one of the most important modern French filmmakers. His films are characterized by aesthetic beauty, sharp satirical humor and a free-wheeli ...

in 2002 with a star-studded line-up that included

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...

Fanny Ardant Fanny Marguerite Judith Ardant (born 22 March 1949) is a French actress and film director. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two César Awards and a Lumières Award. Early life Ardant was born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, ...

and

Emmanuelle Béart Emmanuelle Béart (born 14 August 1963)
''Tecinema.jeuxactu.com''. Retrieved 21 April 2020. is a F ...

. Thomas’s plays were never fashionable and he was often dismissed by French critics but he was a popular dramatist. By the time he was 18, he claimed he had read every play published in French since 1900. Thomas died in 1989 in Paris.

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* *A Uk version of ''Eight Women'' was shown a
Southwark Playhouse
from 9 April 2011 1927 births 1989 deaths People from Gap, Hautes-Alpes 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights {{France-writer-stub