Playwright. Born Leicester. Came to London in 1951 as a student at RADA, where he met fellow student Kenneth Halliwell. Works include Entertaining Mr Sloane and Loot, in which he wrote the part of Inspector Truscott for his close friend Kenneth Williams. In 1962 Orton and his partner, Halliwell, were prosecuted for stealing and defacing books from the Islington Public Library. Jealous of his sexual adventures, Halliwell murdered Orton with a hammer and then committed suicide with sleeping pills, at 25 Noel Road.