Sam Wanamaker

Background

Wanamaker, Sam was born on June 14, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Maurice and Molly (Bobele) Wanamaker.

Education

Drake University, Iowa, and Goodman Theatre, Chicago.

Career

Director Jewish People"s Institute, Chicago 1930-1940. Radio acting New York 1940-1941. Acted in Cafe Crowm 1941 and Counterattack 1942, Broadway.

United States Army 1942-1945.

Actor and director since 1946. Artistic Director New Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool 1957-1959.

Three-picture* contract with Mahatma Gandhi Memorial 1968. Acted in and directed Joan of Lorraine (Broadway) 1946.

Acted in My Girl Tisa 1947, Christ in Concrete 1949, Denning Drives North 1951.

Directed Gentlemen from Athens 1948, Goodbye my Fancy 1949, Caesar and Cleopatra, Revival of Gardsman. Acted in and/or directed Winter Journey, The Shrike, The Rainmaker, Threepenny Opera, The Big Knife. A Hatful of Rain, A View from the Bridge, Reclining Figure, Othello, The Rose Tattoo 1959, A Far Country 1961.

Acted in film Taras Bulba 1962.

Directed on Broadway plays Children from Their Games (Irwin Shaw) 1962, Case of Libel (Louis Nizer) 1963, A Murderer Among Us (Louis Nizer) 1963. Directed at Covent Garden opera King Priam (Tippett) 1963, Forza del Destino (Verdi) 1963.

Acted in film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines 1964. Directed and acted in Macbeth, Goodman Theatre, Chicago 1964.

Acted in film The Spy Who Came in From the Cold 1965.

Directed or acted in television films The Defenders, Foreign the People, Gunsmoke, The Baron 1962-1966. Acted in and/or directed (television) The Day the Fish Came Out 1966, Warning Shot 1966, and television films Custer, Hawk, Lassiter, Cimmarron Strip, Court Martial, The Champions, Lancer 196667. Director The Chinese Visitor 1968, The File of the Golden Goose 1968, The Executioner 1969, Catlow 1969-1970.

Founder Globe Playhouse Trust and World Centre for Shakespeare Studies 1970-1971.

Producer War and Peace (opening production Sydney Opera House) 1973, John Player Season at Bankside Globe Playhouse 1972-1973, Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations Southwark Cathedral 1972-1973. Acted in films The Law, The Spiral Staircase, produced Dickens, Shakespeare and Bankside Summer Festivals 1974, acted in film The Sell Out, directed film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger 1975, acted in film The Voyage of the Damned 1975.

Billy Jack Goes to Washington, Billion Dollar Bubble, Impossible Dream (British Broadcasting Corporation), Blind Love (Granada television) 1976. Directed film Colombo (National Broadcasting Company), opera Ice Break (Tippett), Covent Garden, acted in television films Blind Love 1976, The Holocaust (also director) 1977, The Return of the Saint (also director) 1978, Charlie Muffin 1979, The Family Business 1981.

Acted in films Death on the Nile 1978, From Hell to Victory 1978.

Director Chicago Lyric Opera Gala 1979. Acted in films Private Benjamin 1980, The Competition 1980, The Ghost Writer (British Broadcasting Corporation) 1982, The Aviator 1983, Irreconcilable Differences 1984, The Berrengers (television series National Broadcasting Company) 1984. Directed opera Aida, San Francisco 1981, King Priam, Covent Garden, London 1985, acted in Elegy for a Lady (British Broadcasting Corporation) Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex (narrator, British Broadcasting Corporation) 1985, film Raw Deal 1985, television films Embassy (National Broadcasting Company) 1985, Deceptions (Columbia Broadcasting System) 1985, Two Mrs Granvilles (National Broadcasting Company television) 1986, Superman IV (film) 1986, Baby Boom (film) 1986, Tosca (opera) 1986, Sadie and Son (National Broadcasting Company television) 1987, Judgment in Berlin (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) Secret Ingredient (Columbia) 1987, Baby Boom (National Broadcasting Company television series) 89, The Shell Seekers 1989, Guilt by Suspicion 1990, A Time to Remember 1990, To Cast a Shadow 1990.

Achievements

• Sam Wanamaker has been listed as a notable Actor, director by Marquis Who's Who.

Membership

1990, To Cast a Shadow 1990. Leisure interest: art

Interests

• Artist

Connections

Married Charlotte Holland, 1940 (deceased January 1997). 3 children.

Father:

Maurice Wanamaker

Mother:

Molly (Bobele) Wanamaker

Spouse:

Charlotte Holland