Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith (May 3, 1896 - November 24, 1990) was an English novelist and playwright.

Her first play was Autumn Crocus (1931) and her first novel was I Capture the Castle (1948). She is best known for her later novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956), which was rather loosely adapted into the Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).

Her autobiography was published in four volumes, respectively: Look Back with Love: a Manchester Childhood (1974), Look Back with Mixed Feelings (1978), Look Back with Astonishment (1979), and Look Back with Gratitude (1985).

Trivia

• Pongo, the canine protagonist of The Hundred and One Dalmatians, was named after Smith's own pet Dalmatian, the first of nine. Smith got the idea for her novel when she was walking two Dalmatians in the street, and she passed a woman who loudly remarked: “Those dogs would make a lovely fur coat!”

External links

• The Dodie Smith Information Site

1896 births | 1990 deaths | English novelists | English dramatists and playwrights | English children's writers | Women writers

Dodie Smith