Daphne du Maurier was an English author and playwright. She is best known books Rebecca (1938), The Birds (1952) and The Scapegoat (1957). Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca (the film adaptation of which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1941) and Jamaica Inn and the short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now. The first three film adaptations were directed by Alfred Hitchcock and the last by Nicolas Roeg.