--- title: Noël Coward in the Desert: An Englishman Out in the Midday Sun description: Composer, actor, singer and playwright Noël Coward photographed in the broiling Nevada sun and looking like a man waiting for a cocktail. canonical: https://time.com/3746307/behind-the-picture-noel-coward-in-the-desert/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-18T17:49:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:11:40.826Z og:title: Noël Coward in the Desert: An Englishman Out in the Midday Sun og:description: Composer, actor, singer and playwright Noël Coward photographed in the broiling Nevada sun and looking like a man waiting for a cocktail. og:url: https://time.com/3746307/behind-the-picture-noel-coward-in-the-desert/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59208ad8ee34fde8/698783b5e20a871d99a85951/150316-noel-coward.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Noël Coward in the Desert, 1955 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Noël Coward in the Desert: An Englishman Out in the Midday Sun twitter:description: Composer, actor, singer and playwright Noël Coward photographed in the broiling Nevada sun and looking like a man waiting for a cocktail. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59208ad8ee34fde8/698783b5e20a871d99a85951/150316-noel-coward.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Behind the Picture: Noël Coward in the Desert by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Aug 18, 2014 5:49 PM UTC  Noël Coward standing in a dry lake bed, Nevada, 1955. Noël Coward standing in a dry lake bed, Nevada, 1955.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Aug 18, 2014 5:49 PM UTC The greatest portraits of stars are often those that surprise us, or feature famous people in unexpected surroundings. A naked [John Lennon hugging and kissing Yoko Ono](http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/john-and-yoko/) just hours before he was gunned down by a deranged fan; [James Dean posing with a pig](http://life.time.com/culture/james-dean-dennis-stock-photos-1955/#17)—these and other photos of showbiz legends endure because they capture a side of celebrities that’s occasionally obscured by fame. Namely, the playfulness that probably drew them to performing in the first place. Case in point: Loomis Dean’s 1955 portrait of the inimitable composer, actor, singer and playwright [Noël Coward](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No%C3%ABl%5FCoward), dressed in a tux, standing in the broiling Nevada sun and looking for all the world like a man waiting for someone to bring him a cocktail at a dinner party. As Dean explained in a 1993 interview with John Loengard, published in Loengard’s book, [_LIFE Photographers: What They Saw_](http://www.amazon.com/Life-Photographers-What-They-Saw/dp/0821225189), the picture came about like this: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3746307/behind-the-picture-noel-coward-in-the-desert/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3746307/behind-the-picture-noel-coward-in-the-desert/"},"headline":"Behind the Picture: Noël Coward in the Desert","datePublished":"2014-08-18T17:49:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:11:40.826Z","description":"Loomis Dean's portrait of the composer, actor, singer and playwright Noël Coward, standing in the broiling Nevada sun and looking for all the world like a man waiting for someone to bring him a cocktail.","url":"https://time.com/3746307/behind-the-picture-noel-coward-in-the-desert/","keywords":["photography","Behind the Picture","Loomis Dean"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59208ad8ee34fde8/698783b5e20a871d99a85951/150316-noel-coward.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59208ad8ee34fde8/698783b5e20a871d99a85951/150316-noel-coward.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Noël Coward in the Desert, 1955","caption":"Noël Coward standing in a dry lake bed, Nevada, 1955.","creditText":"Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3746307/behind-the-picture-noel-coward-in-the-desert/","name":"Behind the Picture: Noël Coward in the Desert"}}]}] ```