|
The Bad Seed (play)
''The Bad Seed'' is a 1954 play by American playwright Maxwell Anderson, adapted from the 1954 novel of the same name by American writer William March. Characters * Rhoda Penmark is the seemingly perfect daughter of Christine and Kenneth Penmark. She is an excellent student, talented, and polite to all adults in her life. However, it is later revealed that she is truly very sinister and will do whatever she needs to achieve greatness. In the end of the play, Christine attempts to kill both herself and Rhoda to make sure the secret of Rhoda's actions don't get publicized. However, Monica Breedlove, their landlady, hears the gunshot and saves Rhoda. * Christine Penmark is Rhoda's mother and Kenneth's wife. She is in close spirits with her adoptive father, Richard Bravo, and learns in the second act that her biological mother was an infamous serial killer named "Bessie Denker." She is also close friends with Monica Breedlove, her brother Emory Breedlove, and Reginald Tasker. In t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maxwell Anderson
James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Background Anderson was born on December 15, 1888, in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist minister, and Charlotte Perrimela ('Premely') Stephenson, both of Scotch-Irish descent. His family initially lived on his maternal grandmother Sheperd's farm in Atlantic, then moved to Andover, Ohio, where his father became a railroad fireman while studying to become a minister. They moved often, to follow their father's ministerial posts, and Maxwell was frequently sick, missing a great deal of school. He used his time sick in bed to read voraciously, and both his parents and Aunt Emma were storytellers, which contributed to Anderson's love of literature. During a visit to his grandmother's house in Atlantic, at age 11, he met the first love of his life, Hallie Loomis, a slightly older girl from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patty McCormack
Patricia McCormack (born Patricia Ellen Russo in 1945) is an American actress with a career in theater, films, and television. McCormack began her career as a child actress. She is perhaps best known for her performance as Rhoda Penmark in Maxwell Anderson's 1956 psychological drama ''The Bad Seed''. She received critical acclaim for the role on Broadway and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mervyn LeRoy's film adaptation. Her acting career has continued with both starring and supporting roles in film and television, including Helen Keller in the original ''Playhouse 90'' production of ''The Miracle Worker'', Jeffrey Tambor's wife Anne Brookes on the ABC sitcom ''The Ropers'', and as Pat Nixon in '' Frost/Nixon'' (2008). She also appeared in the November 11, 1982, season 3 episode 8..."Foiled Again" of ''Magnum, P.I.'' with Tom Selleck. She was also cast and appeared as Adriana La Cerva's mother in ''The Sopranos''. Life and career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Lee Mahin
John Lee Mahin (August 23, 1902, Evanston, Illinois – April 18, 1984, Los Angeles) was an American screenwriter and producer of films who was active in Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1960s. He was known as the favorite writer of Clark Gable and Victor Fleming. In the words of one profile, he had "a flair for rousing adventure material, and at the same time he wrote some of the raciest and most sophisticated sexual comedies of that period." Biography Mahin was born in Winnetka, Illinois in 1902, the son of John Lee Mahin, Sr. (1869–1930), a Chicago newspaper and advertising man, and Julia Graham Snitzler. Mahin attended Harvard University; while there he reviewed movies and plays for the Boston ''American'' at $30 a week. Mahin worked as a journalist for two years in New York, at the ''Sun'', the ''Post'' and the ''City News''. He then tried to make a living as an actor, starting as a chorus boy in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Patience'' at the Province Playhouse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' is a three-act play written by Tennessee Williams. An adaptation of his 1952 short story "Three Players of a Summer Game", the play was written by him between 1953 and 1955. One of Williams's more famous works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955. Set in the "plantation home in the Mississippi Delta" of Big Daddy Pollitt, a wealthy cotton tycoon, the play examines the relationships among members of Big Daddy's family, primarily between his son Brick and Maggie the "Cat", Brick's wife. ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' features motifs such as social mores, greed, superficiality, mendacity, decay, sexual desire, repression and death. Dialogue throughout is often written using nonstandard spelling intended to represent accents of the Southern United States. The original production starred Barbara Bel Geddes, Burl Ives and Ben Gazzara. The play was adapted as a motion picture of the same name in 1958, starring Elizabeth Ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Pulitzer Jr
Joseph Pulitzer III (May 13, 1913 – May 26, 1993) was an American newspaperman and publisher of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' for 38 years. A grandson of the famous newsman Joseph Pulitzer, for 31 years he chaired the board which was responsible for awarding the Pulitzer Prize, and from 1955 to 1993 was chairman of the Pulitzer Publishing Company. Biography Born in St. Louis, Missouri on May 13, 1913, he was baptized in the Episcopal Church as Joseph Pulitzer III, but later adopted the junior designation (his father had dropped the junior designation after the death of his father). A graduate of the St. Mark's School and Harvard University, Pulitzer ran the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' through the social and political challenges of the 20th century while holding fast to the liberal vision set out by his grandfather in 1907. His paper was among the first to oppose the Vietnam War. He served as chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board at Columbia University for 31 years and was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulitzer Prize For Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year."1917 Winners" The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2013-12-20. (No Drama prize was given, however, so that one was inaugurated in 1918, in a sense.) It recognizes a theatrical work staged in the U.S. during the preceding calendar year. Until 2007, eligibility for the Drama Prize ran from March 1 to March 2 to reflect the Broadway "season" rather than the calendar year that governed most other Pulitzer Prizes. The drama jury, which consists of one academic and four critics, attends plays in |
Life (magazine)
''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography, and was one of the most popular magazines in the nation, regularly reaching one-quarter of the population. ''Life'' was independently published for its first 53 years until 1936 as a general-interest and light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes, and social commentary. It featured some of the most notable writers, editors, illustrators and cartoonists of its time: Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell and Jacob Hartman Jr. Gibson became the editor and owner of the magazine after John Ames Mitchell died in 1918. During its later years, the magazine offered brief capsule reviews (similar to those in ''The New Yorker'') of plays and movies currently running in New York City, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eileen Heckart
Anna Eileen Heckart ( Herbert; March 29, 1919 – December 31, 2001) was an American stage and screen actress whose career spanned nearly 60 years. Early life Heckart was born Anna Eileen Herbert in Columbus, Ohio. The daughter of Esther (), who wed Leo Herbert (not the child's father) at her own mother's insistence so her child would not be born with the stigma of illegitimacy. Eileen was soon after legally adopted by her maternal grandmother's wealthy second husband, J.W. Heckart, the surname by which she would be known her entire life. She had two stepsisters, Anne and Marilyn. She graduated from Ohio State University with a B.A. in drama. She additionally studied drama at HB Studio in New York City. Career Stage Heckart began her Broadway career as the assistant stage manager and an understudy for '' The Voice of the Turtle'' in 1943. Her many credits include ''Picnic'', ''The Bad Seed'', ''A View from the Bridge'', ''A Memory of Two Mondays'', '' The Dark at the Top of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wells Richardson
Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells is an English surname of Norman origin, but is possibly a Welsh surname, from an old English word for Wales. It normally derives from occupation, location, and topography. The occupational name (i.e. "Wellman") derives from the person resp ... Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells (Priory Road) railway station was a railway station in Wells, Somerset * Wells (Tucker Street) railway station was a railway station in Wells, Somerset * Wells (UK Parliament constituency), the UK parliamentary constituency in which the city of Wells, Somerset, is located * Wells-next-the-Sea, town and port in Norfolk ** Wells-on-Sea railway station was a railway station in Wells-next-the-Sea Scotland * Wells, Roxburghshire, a Scottish feudal barony United States *Wells, California, former ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Croydon
Joan Croydon (May 15, 1908 – April 23, 1985) was an American stage actress. Early years Born as Vivian Giesen in Tarrytown, New York to a French mother and a father of German/French descent. She was trained as a dancer at Isadora Duncan dance school. She was cast as a substitute lead nun in Max Reinhardt's '' The Miracle''. She also had Broadway credits in the 1930s under her real name. Career She appeared in only one film, ''The Bad Seed'', in which she reprised her stage role, Miss Fern. The character she played, a murderous child's suspicious teacher, is one described in the play's stage notes as "dowdy", "a spinster", and "middle aged", and is generally played by much older actresses. In any event, Croydon received a poor review for her film performance from the ''New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, who gave poor or mixed reviews to the entire cast in his review. Croydon received rave reviews for playing the Mother in William Ball's production of ''Six Cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Chalmers (actor)
Thomas Hardie Chalmers (October 20, 1884 – June 11, 1966) was an American opera singer and actor. Biography Chalmers was born on October 20, 1884 in New York City, the son of Thomas Hardie and Sophia Amanda (De Bann) Chalmers. In 1909, he went to Florence to study singing with Vincenzo Lombardi and made his operatic debut in May 1911 in Fossombrone as Marcello in ''La bohème''. His first appearance in the United States was as Jack Rance in '' The Girl of the Golden West'' with Henry Wilson Savage's English Grand Opera Company. Chalmers toured the United States with the company from 1911 to 12. He then sang as the leading baritone with the Boston National Opera Company and the Century Opera Company before making his Metropolitan Opera debut on November 17, 1917 as Valentin in ''Faust''. He went on to appear regularly at the Met until 1922 and sang in the world premiere of ''Shanewis'', the US premiere of '' Mârouf'', and the first Met performances of ''La forza del destino'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lloyd Gough
Lloyd Gough (born Michael Gough; September 21, 1907 – July 23, 1984) was an American theater, film, and television actor. Life and career Born Michael Gough in New York City, he was a noted character actor. Married to actress-turned-activist Karen Morley, both were brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee and when they invoked the Fifth Amendment they were blacklisted, effectively terminating their careers in Hollywood until the late 1960s. In 1952, he appeared as the main villain in '' Rancho Notorious'', but his name was removed from the credits due to the blacklist. In 1966, he played Richard Bayler in the ''Perry Mason'' episode, "The Case of the Scarlet Scandal". Also in 1966, he played open minded fur hunter “Jacob Beamus” in S11E29's “The Treasure of John Walking Fox” on ''Gunsmoke''. Gough played ''Daily Sentinel'' crime reporter Mike Axford in the TV series ''The Green Hornet'' in 1966–67. He would later appear in a film about the Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
