Shaw was born in Dublin. He left the school at the age of 15 to work as a clerk. In 1876 he moved to London, where he educated himself at the British Museum and started his career as a journalist, writing music and drama criticism. He also write novels without much success A vegetarian, who eschewed alcohol and tobacco Shaw also joined in 1884 the Fabian Society, a middle-class socialist group, which attracted also H.G. Wells. He servedon its executive committee from 1885 to 1911.

In 1895 he became drama critic for the Saturday Review. These articles were later collected in OUR THEATRES IN THE NINETIES (1932). He married in 1898 wealthy Charlotte Payne-Townshend, and remained with her until her death, although he was occasionally linked with other women.

Shaw's early plays, WIDOWER'S HOUSES (1892), as well as several subsequent ones, were not well received. It it was not until JOHN BULL'S OTHER ISLAND (1904) that he gained wider popularity with his own plays in England after becoming known in the Unites States and Germany. Between 1904 and 1907 The Royal Court Theatre staged several of his plays, including CANDIDA from his earlier works.

Shaw's plays are characterized by combining contemporary moral problems with "Shavian" wit, ironic tone. Many of the works are dramatized essays on the subject of individual responsibility or freedom of spirit against the conformist demands of society. Shaw wrote over 40 plays, and he continued to write them even in his 90s. Since the days of the silent films Shaw had been fan of of motion-picture, and he also made several screenplays, among others SAINT JOAN (1927), HOW HE LIED TO HER HUSBAND (1931), ARMS AND THE MAN (1932), PYGMALION (1938), and MAJOR BARBARA (1941). - Shaw died at Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire, on November 2, 1950.

For further reading: Bernard Shaw: Man and Writer by A. Williamson (1963); Bermard Shaw by E.R. Bentley (1967); The Genius of Shaw, ed. M. Holroyd (1979)

Selected works:

• IMMATURITY, 1879
• THE IRRATIONAL KNOT, 1880
• LOVE AMONG ARTIST, 1881
• OUR CORNER; CASHEL BYRON'S PROFESSION, 1882
• AN UNSOCIAL SOCIALIST, 1883
• FABIAN ESSAYS ON SOCIALISM, 1889
• THE QUINTESSENCE OF IBSENISM, 1891 (- see Henrik Ibsen)
• WIDOWER'S HOUSES, 1892
• ARMS AND THE MAN, 1894
• CASHEL BYRON'S PROFESSION, 1885
• CANDIDA, 1987
• THE MAN OF DESTINY, 1897
• THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE, 1897 film 1959, dir. by Guy Hamilton
• THE PERFECT WAGNERITE, 1898
• PLAYS PLEASAND AND UNPLEASANT, 1898
• THE PHILANDER, 1898
• YOU NEVER CAN TELL, 1899
• CAPTAIN BRASSBOUND'S CONVERSION, 1900
• CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA, 1901 film 1945, dir. by Gabriel Pascal
• MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION, 1902
• JOHN BULL'S OTHER ISLAND, 1904 (stage play 1907)
• MAN AND SUPERMAN, 1905
• MAJOR BARBARA, 1905 film 1941, dir. by Gabriel Pascal
• DOCTOR'S DILEMMA, 1906 film 1958, dir. by Anthony Asquith
• GETTING MARRIED, 1908
• MISALLIANCE, 1910
• FANNY'S FIRST PLAY, 1911
• OVERRULED, 1912 A
• NDROCLES AND THE LION, 1912
• GREAT CATHERINE, 1913
• PYGMANLION, 1913 film 1935, dir. by Erich Engel; My Fair Lady in 1964, dir. by Ceorge Cukor
• HEARTBREAK HOUSE, 1920
• BACK TO METUSELAH, 1922
• SAINT JOAN, 1923 - film 1957, dir. by Otto Preminger, movie version utilized a screen version by Graham Greene
• THE INTELLIGENT WOMAN'S GUIDE TO SOCIALISM AND CAPITALISM, 1928
• THE APPLE CART, 1929
• THE MILLIONAIRESS, 1936 film 1961, dir. by Anthony Asquit
• "IN GOOD KING CHARLES'S GOLDEN DAYS", 1939
• EVERYBODY'S POLITICAL WHAT'S WHAT, 1944
• SIXTEEN SELF-SKETCHES, 1948
• FARFETCHED FABLES, 1950
• WORKS, 1931-49
• SELECTED PROSE, 1953