One of the forgotten stars of the golden years of Hollywood is the actor Laird Cregar. Although he appeared in only sixteen films, he made such an impression in supporting roles that he was not easily forgotten. His most remembered roles were as Slade, Jack the Ripper, in a remake of "The Lodger", alongside Merle Oberon, and as George Henry Bone in " Hangover Square. " with Linda Darnell. The tragedy of Laird Cregar was that  he was appalled by his weight, he weighed over three hundred pounds, and decided to go on a crash course diet, sheding over 100 pounds in weight, whilst making his final film. He wanted to be a leading man. This folly was to cost him his life less than two months after the final film was completed. He died of heart attack after undergoing an operation: he was thirty-one years of age. Cregar acted alongside such greats as Tyrone Power, George Sanders, Carol Landis, Don Ameche, Victor Mature, and Alan Ladd to name but a few.

The play now in development, mentioned on the title page, is a character study of Laird Cregar, with his contradictory nature, as he prepares for the opening night of the play that was to bring him to prominence in Hollywood: Oscar Wilde. The role had previously been played, to great acclaim on Broadway,  by Robert Morley.