Pam Gems was known for finding stage plays in the lives of persons as diverse as French chanteuse Edith Piaf and English painter Stanley Spencer. Born on Aug. 1, 1925, in Bransgore, Hampshire, England, Pam Gems studied psychology at Manchester University. She didn't begin writing until she was in her forties, producing work for radio and television

Ms. Gems' forte was the bio-play. Her first work for the Royal Shakespeare was Queen Christina, a 1977 work about the Swedish monarch. Shortly thereafter, she achieved wide fame and success with Piaf, a musical play which starred Jane Lapotaire as the iconic and tragic French singer. The play transferred from the RSC to the West End, and then to Broadway, where it ran for five months in 1981, and won Lapotaire a Tony as Best Actress in a Play.

She would return to Broadway in 1997 with Stanley, a sprawling drama that followed the life and marital misadventures of mid-20th-century English painter Stanley Spencer. Anthony Sher starred in the drama. The play earned Ms. Gems a Tony Award nomination

Her other original plays, which very often included a healthy sexual component, included Camille, The Blue Angel, Mrs. Pat, Nelson, The Snow Palace, The Danton Affair, and Aunt Mary.

Source: Playbill.com