This caricature shows Emlyn Williams (1905-1987) as Louis in He Was Born Gay at the Oxford New Theatre on 17 May 1937. It was drawn by Gilbert Sommerlad (1904-1976), a rehearsal pianist and orchestral violinist at the Brighton Theatre Royal from 1932 until 1936, and at the Oxford New Theatre from 1936 for over forty years. Sommerlad sketched the stars on stage when he wasn't needed in the orchestra pit, compiling the sketches in a series of albums.

The Welsh actor and dramatist Emlyn Williams was born in North Wales and won a scholarship to Christ Church College, Oxford. In 1927 he joined a repertory company and made his first stage appearance at the Savoy Theatre in And So To Bed. By 1930 he had branched out into play writing, and his first major success was the thriller Night Must Fall (1935), which was later made into a film. His other great play was The Corn is Green (1938) which received the New York Circle Drama Award in 1941. He often appeared in his own plays, and was famous for his one-man-show with which he toured the world, playing Charles Dickens in an evening of readings from Dickens's novels. His autobiography appeared in two volumes: George (1961) and Emlyn (1973).