Peter Levin Shaffer and his twin brother Anthony were born on May 15, 1926, in Liverpool , England Trinity College in Cambridge New York and worked at a variety of jobs: at Doubleday’s Book Shop, an airline terminal, Grand Central Station, Lord and Taylors London British Empire . Shaffer’s production is large; he wrote The Woman in the Wardrobe (1950) How Doth the Little Crocodile? (1952) and Withered Murder (1955), three detective stories; the television play The Salt Lands and his thriller Balance of Terror ; The Prodigal Father broadcast on the radio; the stage play, Five Finger Exercise (all 1957); The Private Ear and The Public Eye (1962). But his main success are in the 1970s: The Battle of Shrivings(1970), where a mad poet challenges (sfida) an old humanist not to throw
him out of his home, a former (prima) medieval convent, whatever (qualunque sia) his behaviour; Equus (1973), a drama about an analyst’s relationship with his horse-obsessed patient; and his success Amadeus (1979), a penetrating psychological study of the effects of success and failure (fallimento) and the search for spirituality through a portrayal (ritratto) of the composers Mozart and Salieri. The popularity of the play ensured (assicurò) the success of the 1984 film version, directed by Milos Forman, which received nominations for eleven Oscars and won eight, including best picture, best director, and best actor.