Daphne Du Maurier an English author and playwright. Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1941, Jamaica Inn, and her short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now. The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Her elder sister was Angela du Maurier, also a writer. Her father was the actor Gerald du Maurier, and her grandfather was the writer George du Maurier. She fell in love with Cornwall and lived at Menabilly just outside Fowey.   The surrounding area provides inspiration for her books anyone who has walked through the giant rhodos of Heligan or Gendurgan will recognize this passage from Rebecca.