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The Millionairess (play)
''The Millionairess'' is a play written in 1936 by George Bernard Shaw. It tells the story of Epifania, a spoilt heiress, and her search for a suitor. Shaw wrote the play in 1936 expressly for Edith Evans. Evans rejected the role, calling it "too icy". However, she did act the part in 1940, in a pre-London production tour in the provinces. Plot Act One Epifania Ognisanti di Parerga, the richest woman in England (and possibly Europe), barges into the offices of solicitor Julius Sagamore wanting him to draw out a will leaving everything to her husband Alistair Fitzfassenden (an amateur tennis and boxing champion), and states that after the will is signed, she intends to kill herself. Sagamore manages to get her to calm down, and she explains her circumstances: before her father died and left her thirty million pounds, he had made her promise that if any man wanted to marry her, she was to give him one hundred fifty pounds and six months to turn it into fifty thousand; if the ma ...
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George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as ''Man and Superman'' (1902), ''Pygmalion'' (1913) and '' Saint Joan'' (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876, where he struggled to establish himself as a writer and novelist, and embarked on a rigorous process of self-education. By the mid-1880s he had become a respected theatre and music critic. Following a political awakening, he joined the gradualist Fabian Society and became its most prominent pamphleteer. Shaw had been writing plays for years ...
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Frank Cellier (actor)
Frank Cellier (23 February 1884 – 27 September 1948) was an English actor. Early in his career, from 1903 to 1920, he toured in Britain, Germany, the West Indies, America and South Africa. In the 1920s, he became known in the West End for Shakespearean character roles, among others, and also directed some plays in which he acted. He continued to act on stage until 1946. During the 1930s and 1940s, he also appeared in more than three dozen films. Biography Early years François Cellier,''The Times'', 27 March 1925, p. 5 always known as Frank, was born in Surbiton, Surrey, the only son of the conductor François Cellier and his wife, Clara ''née'' Short. He had five sisters and was educated at Cranleigh School.''The Times'', obituary notice, 28 September 1948, p. 7 After leaving school, he spent three years in business. In 1903, Cellier made his first stage appearance as Clement Hale in Arthur Wing Pinero's '' Sweet Lavender'' at the ''Town Hall'' in Reigate and thereaf ...
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West End Theatre
West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. Famous screen actors, British and international alike, frequently appear on the London stage. There are a total of 39 theatres in the West End, with the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opened in May 1663, the oldest theatre in London. The Savoy Theatre – built as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan – was entirely lit by electricity in 1881. Opening in October 2022, @sohoplace is the first new West End theatre in 50 years. The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) announced ...
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New Theatre (London)
New Theatre or New Theater may refer to: United Kingdom * Hull New Theatre, a theatre in Kingston-upon-Hull, England * Lisle's Tennis Court, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, a former theatre known as the New Theatre in its first incarnation from 1695 * New Theatre, Cardiff, one of the main theatres in Cardiff, Wales * New Theatre Oxford, the main commercial theatre in Oxford, England * Noël Coward Theatre, London, known as the New Theatre from 1903 to 1972 * Nottingham New Theatre, the University of Nottingham's student-run theatre company and playhouse in Nottingham, England * Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, formerly the New Theatre United States New York City * Century Theatre (Central Park West) (1909–1931), formerly New Theatre * New Theatre (off-Broadway) (1964–1974) * Park Theatre (Manhattan) (1798–1848), formerly New Theatre * Theatre on Nassau Street (1732–1758) Other states * Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formerly New Theatre * Hol ...
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Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly playing strong-willed, sophisticated women. Her work was in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and earned her various accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named the greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute. Raised in Connecticut by wealthy, progressive parents, Hepburn began to act while at Bryn Mawr College. Favorable reviews of her work on Broadway brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Her early years in film brought her international fame, including an Academy Award for Best Actress for her thir ...
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Woodrow Parfrey
Sydney Woodrow Parfrey (October 5, 1922 – July 29, 1984) was an American film and television actor from the 1950s to the early 1980s. He is often remembered as "one of TV's great slimeball villains". Early life Parfrey was born on October 5, 1922, in New York City. He was orphaned as a teenager. He attended The New School, and worked as an automobile mechanic before going into the military. Military service Parfrey fought at the Battle of the Bulge during World War II and was wounded and captured by the Germans. When he was released from the Army, testing indicated that he should become an actor, which led to his new profession. Career Parfrey acted almost entirely on Broadway or regional stage in the late 1940s and 1950s, turning to television and film substantially in the 1960s. He played the unbalanced informer Herbert Gelman on Broadway in the original production of ''Advise and Consent'' (1961), for which he won the Fanny Kemble Award. Though usually a supporting ...
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The New School
The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. Since then, the school has grown to house five divisions within the university. These include the Parsons School of Design, the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, the College of Performing Arts (which itself consists of the Mannes School of Music, the School of Drama, and the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music), The New School for Social Research, and the Schools of Public Engagement. In addition, the university maintains the Parsons Paris campus and has also launched or housed a range of institutions, such as the international research institute World Policy Institute, the Philip Glass Institute, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, the India China Institute, the Observatory on Latin America, and the Center for New York Cit ...
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Dramatic Workshop
Dramatic Workshop was the name of a drama and acting school associated with the New School for Social Research in New York City. It was launched in 1940 by German expatriate stage director Erwin Piscator. Among the faculty were Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler, among the students Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, Tony Curtis, Beatrice Arthur, Walter Matthau, Tennessee Williams and Elaine Stritch. The Dramatic Workshop considerably contributed to the resurgence of the Off-Broadway theatre. History In the spring of 1939, Alvin Johnson, the president of the New School for Social Research in New York City, signed an agreement with German expatriate stage director Erwin Piscator to found a drama and acting school at The New School. The “Dramatic Workshop” started its operations in January 1940 with some 20 students. In September 1940 the Workshop began to launch semi-professional theatre productions within the “Studio Theatre” (i.e. the Tishman Auditorium) at 66 West 12th Street. In ...
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Onslow Stevens
Onslow Stevens (born Onslow Ford Stevenson; March 29, 1902 – January 5, 1977) was an American stage, television and film actor. Early years Born in Los Angeles, California, Stevens was the son of British-born character actor Houseley Stevenson. Career Stevens became involved in performing in 1926 at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where his entire family worked as performers, directors and teachers. His Broadway debut came in ''Stage Door'' (1936). He performed in over 80 films, at first as the lead actor, but mostly in character roles later in his career. Death He spent the last years of his life in a nursing home in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, where, according to his wife, he was abused by his fellow residents and that his death was neither from natural causes nor an accident. He died of pneumonia after suffering a broken hip in 1977, at the age of 74. His interment was in an unmarked grave located at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, ...
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Jessie Royce Landis
Jessie Royce Landis (born Jessie Medbury, November 25, 1896 – February 2, 1972) was an American actress. Her name is also seen as Jesse Royce-Landis. She remains perhaps best-known for her mother roles in the Hitchcock films ''To Catch a Thief'' (1955) and ''North by Northwest'' (1959). Early life Jessie Royce Landis was born Jessie Medbury in Chicago, Illinois, to Paul, an orchestra musician, and Ella Medbury. As per Ancestry.com, "Royce" does not appear to have been her middle name by birth; her middle initial is cited as either "J." or "T". Her acting surname "Landis" derives from her first husband, although she was married twice more. A scholarship that Landis received when she was 14 enabled her to attend the Hinshaw Dramatic School, which led to her acting two years later with the Evanston Stock Company. Career Landis was a stage actress for much of her career. When her first husband's family encountered financial problems, she joined the North Shore Players as leadin ...
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Westport, Connecticut
Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History The earliest known inhabitants of the Westport area as identified through archaeological finds date back 7,500 years. Records from the first white settlers report the Pequot Indians living in the area which they called ''Machamux'' translated by the colonialists as ''beautiful land''. Settlement by colonialists dates back to the five ''Bankside Farmers''; whose families grew and prospered into a community that continued expanding. The settlers arrived in 1693, having followed cattle to the isolated area. The community had its own ecclesiastical society, supported by independent civil and religious elements, enabling it to be independent from the Town of Fairfield. As the settlement expanded its name changed: it was briefly known as "Banksid ...
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Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit regional theater in Westport, Connecticut. It was founded in 1931 by Lawrence Langner, a New York theater producer. Langner remodeled an 1830s tannery with a Broadway-quality stage. History Construction and early use The building that now houses Westport Country Playhouse was originally constructed in 1835 as a tannery by R&H Haight, owned by Henry Haight. Charles H. Kemper acquired the tannery from Henry Haight's widow in 1866 and subsequently renamed the business C.H. Kemper Co. In 1930, the former tannery, which had been unused since the 1920s, was purchased for $14,000 by Lawrence Langner. Cleon Throckmorten, a Broadway designer, was commissioned to renovate the interior of the building. Grand opening On June 29, 1931, the curtain went up on the first production at the Westport Country Playhouse. The Playhouse quickly became an established stop on the New England "straw hat circuit" of summer stock theaters. Tw ...
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