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The Miracle Worker (play)
''The Miracle Worker'' is a three-act play by William Gibson adapted from his 1957 ''Playhouse 90'' teleplay of the same name. It was based on Helen Keller's 1903 autobiography '' The Story of My Life''. The play's title was inspired by a Mark Twain quote: "Helen is a miracle, and Miss Sullivan is the miracle‐worker". Plot In Tuscumbia, Alabama, an illness renders infant Helen Keller blind, deaf, and consequently mute (deaf-mute). Pitied and badly spoiled by her parents, Helen is taught no discipline and, by the age of six, grows into a wild, angry, tantrum-throwing child in control of the household. Desperate, the Kellers hire Annie Sullivan to serve as governess and teacher for their daughter. After several fierce battles with Helen, Annie convinces the Kellers that she needs two weeks alone with Helen in order to achieve any progress in the girl's education. In this time, Annie teaches Helen discipline through persistence and consistency, and language through hand signals, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Gibson (playwright)
William Gibson (November 13, 1914 – November 25, 2008) was an American playwright and novelist. He won the Tony Award for Best Play for ''The Miracle Worker'' in 1959, which he later adapted for the film version in 1962. Early life and education Gibson graduated from the City College of New York in 1938, and was of Irish, French, German, Dutch and Russian and Greek ancestry. Work as playwright Gibson's Broadway debut had been with ''Two for the Seesaw'' in 1958, a critically acclaimed two-character play which starred Henry Fonda and, in her own Broadway debut, Anne Bancroft. It was directed by Arthur Penn. Gibson published a chronicle of the vicissitudes of rewriting for the sake of this production with a nonfiction book in the following year, ''The Seesaw Log''. His most famous play is ''The Miracle Worker'' (1959), the story of Helen Keller's childhood education, which won him the Tony Award for Best Play after he adapted it from his original 1957 telefilm script. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft (born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano; September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Cannes Film Festival Award. She is one of only 24 thespians to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. Associated with the method acting technique, having studied under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Bancroft made her film debut in the noir thriller ''Don't Bother to Knock'' in 1952, and then appeared in 14 other films over the following five years. In 1958 Bancroft made her Broadway debut with the play ''Two for the Seesaw'', winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. The following year she portrayed Anne Sullivan in the original Broadway production of ''The Miracle Worker'', winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Following her continued success on stage, Ban ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Gaunt
William Charles Anthony Gaunt (born 3 April 1937 in Pudsey, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English actor. He became widely known for television roles such as Richard Barrett in ''The Champions'' (1968–1969), Arthur Crabtree in '' No Place Like Home'' (1983–87) and Andrew Prentice in ''Next of Kin'' (1995–97). He has had many other roles on television and also an extensive stage career as an actor and director, including performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Early life Gaunt's father was a solicitor. Gaunt attended Giggleswick School and Baylor University, Texas, and then the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He then spent three years working in repertory theatre at Worthing, Bath, Salisbury and Cheltenham after which he was in America for another year, later returning to the UK working on productions at Birmingham, Coventry and Cheltenham, interrupted by a spell in the army. After minor roles in 1960s series such as ''Z-Cars'' and '' The Avengers'', and the ''E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jenny Seagrove
Jennifer Ann Seagrove (born 4 July 1957) is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and first came to attention playing the lead in a television dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's '' A Woman of Substance'' (1984) and the film '' Local Hero'' (1983). She starred in the thriller ''Appointment with Death'' (1988) and William Friedkin's horror film ''The Guardian'' (1990). She later played Louisa Gould in ''Another Mother's Son'' (2017). She is known for her role as the character of Jo Mills in the long-running BBC drama series ''Judge John Deed'' (2001–07). Early life Seagrove was born Jennifer Ann Seagrove in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya (now Malaysia) in 1957, to British parents, Pauline and Derek Seagrove. Her father ran an import-export firm, which afforded the family a privileged lifestyle. When Seagrove was less than a year old, her mother suffered a stroke, and was unable to care for her. Seagrove attended St Hilary's School in Godalming, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catherine Holman
Catherine Holman (born in Surrey) is an English actress. She trained at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. She made her theatre début as Scout in ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' opposite ''Alan Dobie'' at the ''Mermaid Theatre''. This was followed by the role of Flora in '' The Innocents'' at ''The Mill at Sonning'', Laurie in ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' at ''Library Theatre'' and Charlie Pringle in ''Postman Pats Special Delivery. Catherine played the role of '' Helen Keller'' opposite ''Jenny Seagrove'' in '' Bill Kenwrights Production of ''The Miracle Worker'', a National Tour before transferring to the ''Comedy Theatre'' and then the ''Wyndham's Theatre'', '' West End''. Other credits include the role of Rose in Dancelands at the ''Old Red Lion Theatre'', Islington; Flora in '' The Innocents'' at the '' Haymarket Theatre'' in Basingstoke; Sarah in a film short by Sean Rogg ''All the King's Horses''; Jackie in '' The Ghostbusters of East Finchley'' for ''BBC'' Telev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916. It was designed to seat 759 patrons on three levels; later refurbishment increased this to four seating levels. The theatre was Grade II* listed by English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ... in September 1960. History Wyndham had always dreamed of building a theatre of his own, and through the admiration of a patron and the financial confidence of friends, he was able to realise his dream. Wyndham's Theatre opened on 16 November 1899, in the presence of the Ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janina Faye
Janina Faye Smigielski (born 1948) is an English actress and director. She is a daughter of Florence Louisa Jonathan and Jan Smigielski. Her father was a Polish pilot from No. 303 Squadron RAF during the Battle of Britain. Faye began her career as an actress in 1956, and it includes theatre and television work in addition to many film appearances. She appeared in several major fantasy and horror films when she was young, such as Hammer Films' original version of ''Dracula'' (1958), as well as the same company’s ''Never Take Sweets from a Stranger'' (1960) and ''The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll'' (1960). In 1961 she appeared on stage as Helen Keller in the William Gibson play '' The Miracle Worker'', and in 1962 she appeared in the film thrillers ''Don't Talk to Strange Men'' and ''The Day of the Triffids''. In 1998, she teamed up with director Paul Cotgrove and Hammer co-star Ingrid Pitt Ingrid Pitt (born Ingoushka Petrov; 21 November 193723 November 2010) was a Polish-Briti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anna Massey
Anna Raymond Massey (11 August 19373 July 2011) was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's novel ''Hotel du Lac'', a role that one of her co-stars, Julia McKenzie, has said "could have been written for her". Massey is best known for her role as Babs Milligan in Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 film, ''Frenzy''. Early life Massey was born in Thakeham, Sussex, England, the daughter of British actress Adrianne Allen and Canadian-born Hollywood actor Raymond Massey. Her brother Daniel Massey was also an actor. She was the niece of Vincent Massey, a Governor General of Canada, and her godfather was film director John Ford. Career Although she had no formal training at either drama school or in repertory, Anna Massey made her first appearance on stage in May 1955 at the age of 17, at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, as Jane in '' The Reluctant Debutante'', subsequently making her first London appearance in the same pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suzanne Pleshette
Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 – January 19, 2008) was an American theatre, film, television, and voice actress. Pleshette started her career in the theatre and began appearing in films in the late 1950s and later appeared in prominent films such as ''Rome Adventure'' (1962), Alfred Hitchcock's '' The Birds'' (1963), and ''Spirited Away'' (2001). She later appeared in various television productions, often in guest roles, and played Emily Hartley on ''The Bob Newhart Show'' from 1972 until 1978, receiving several Emmy Award nominations for her work. Early life Pleshette was born on January 31, 1937, in Brooklyn Heights, New York to Geraldine (née Kaplan) and Eugene Pleshette. Her parents were Jewish, the children of emigrants from Russia and Austria-Hungary. Her mother was a dancer and artist who performed under the stage name Geraldine Rivers. Her father was a stage manager of the Paramount Theater in Manhattan and of the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, and later, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beah Richards
Beulah Elizabeth Richardson (July 12, 1920 – September 14, 2000), known professionally as Beah Richards and Bea Richards, was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She was also a poet, playwright, author and activist. Richards was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her supporting role in the film ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' in 1968, as well as winning two Primetime Emmy Awards for her guest roles in the television series ''Frank's Place'' in 1988 and ''The Practice'' in 2000. She also received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in the 1965 production of ''The Amen Corner''. Early life and education Beulah Elizabeth Richardson was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi; her mother was a seamstress, and her father was a Baptist minister. In 1948, she graduated from Dillard University in New Orleans, and two years later moved to New York City. She was taught dance by Ismay Andrews. Career Her career began in 1955 when she portrayed an 84-ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Constantine
Michael Constantine (born Gus Efstratiou (Ευστρατίου); May 22, 1927 – August 31, 2021) was an American actor. He is most widely recognized for his portrayal of Kostas "Gus" Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos), in the film ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' (2002). Earlier, he earned acclaim for his television work, especially as the long-suffering high school principal, Seymour Kaufman, on ABC's comedy-drama, ''Room 222,'' for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1970; he was again recognized by the Emmy Awards, as well as the Golden Globe Awards, the following year. After the conclusion of ''Room 222'', Constantine portrayed night court magistrate Matthew J. Sirota on the 1976 sitcom ''Sirota's Court'', receiving his second Golden Globe nomination. Constantine reprised his role as Gus Portokalos in ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2'' (2016). Early life Constantine was born ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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