The exhibition, featuring photographs, programs, scripts, costumes, personal effects, memorabilia, as well as audio and video, will launch March 12, 2012, and continue through Aug. 12, 2012. It was originally scheduled to end June 9.

"Star Quality," which was seen across the country and in London, is being expanded for its New York debut. It promises to offer the most comprehensive exhibition ever assembled on Coward's life and work.

The NYPL has also announced that it will align with cultural institutions across the city to celebrate Coward's work through screenings, play readings, concerts, master classes and discussions. Participating organizations include the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Paley Center for Media, the Juilliard School, the Actors Company, TACT, the Mabel Mercer Foundation, Feinstein’s and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

As previously reported, the exhibition will cull material from Coward's homes in Switzerland and Jamaica, as well as private collections throughout Europe and the U.S.

Coward's plays Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit and the Coward-inspired Brief Encounter (borrowing from his film of the same name and the one-act Still Life) were seen on Broadway in the past two seasons. A Broadway revival of his play Private Lives, starring Kim Cattrall and Paul Gross, will arrive on Broadway Nov. 6 at the Music Box Theatre.