Bridie, James

Bridie, James (1888–1951), pseudonym of Osborne Henry Mavor, Scottish dramatist and professor of medicine. He was a founder of the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre in 1943, and his plays include the comedies Tobias and the Angel and The Anatomist (both 1930). Bridie was born in Glasgow, studied there, practised medicine there until 1938, and was for a time professor of medicine at Anderson College.

Bridie’s plays show a richness of imagination and outstanding theatrical technique, although the problems set out in the first acts are not always satisfactorily resolved. Other plays by Bridie include A Sleeping Clergyman (1933), Susannah and the Elders (1937), Mr Bolfry (1943), Dr Angelus (1947), The Queen's Comedy (1950), and The Baikie Charivari (1951). His autobiography, One Way of Living, was published in 1939.