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Tom Erhardt
Thomas Joseph Erhardt (13 March 1928 – 28 December 2019) was an American-born theatrical literary agent whose career in British theatre spanned over five decades. Early career Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Erhardt started his professional working life in 1956, transcribing plays and musicals at New Dramatists Committee in New York. He went on to work as assistant to agent Lucy Kroll who represented clients including; Carl Sandburg, Norman Mailer and James Earl Jones. During those years working for Kroll, Tom was seconded for a while to Oscar Hammerstein, who needed a typist to write up the manuscripts that he and Richard Rodgers were working on, including ''The Sound of Music''. Moving to London in 1966, Erhardt worked as an assistant to English theatre producer Peter Bridge. Erhardt would also work as an assistant to scriptwriter Larry Kramer on a feature film adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's ''Women in Love'', directed by Ken Russell. In 1967, Erhardt had his first and only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Michigan, second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the central city of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area, which has a population of 1,087,592 and a combined statistical area population of 1,383,918. Situated along the Grand River (Michigan), Grand River approximately east of Lake Michigan, it is the economic and cultural hub of West Michigan, as well as one of the fastest-growing cities in the Midwestern United States, Midwest. A historic furniture manufacturing center, Grand Rapids is home to five of the world's leading office furniture companies and is nicknamed "Furniture City". Other nicknames include "River City" and more recently, "Beer City" (the latter given by ''USA Today'' and adopted by the city a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit '' Relatively Speaking'' opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967. Major successes include ''Absurd Person Singular'' (1975), ''The Norman Conquests'' trilogy (1973), '' Bedroom Farce'' (1975), ''Just Between Ourselves'' (1976), '' A Chorus of Disapproval'' (1984), ''Woman in Mind'' (1985), ''A Small Family Business'' (1987), '' Man of the Moment'' (1988), ''House'' & ''Garden'' (1999) and ''Private Fears in Public Places'' (2004). His plays have won numerous awards, includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Callow
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English film, television and voice actor, director, narrator and writer. He was twice nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his roles in ''A Room with a View (1985 film), A Room with a View'' (1985), and ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' (1994). He has also starred in ''Amadeus (film), Amadeus'' (1984), ''Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls'' (1995), ''Shakespeare in Love'' (1998) and ''Victoria & Abdul'' (2017). His television work includes ''Chance in a Million'' (1984) and ''Outlander (TV series), Outlander'' (2014). Early years Callow was born on 15 June 1949 in Streatham, south London, the son of Yvonne Mary (née Guise), a secretary, and Neil Francis Callow, a businessman. His father was of French descent and his mother was of Danish and German ancestry. He was raised as a Roman Catholic. Callow was a student at the London Oratory School in west Brompton, and then went on to study briefly at Queen's U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Sherman
Martin Gerald Sherman (born December 22, 1938) is an American dramatist and screenwriter best known for his 20 stage plays which have been produced in over 60 countries. He rose to fame in 1979 with the production of his play '' Bent'', which explores the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust. ''Bent'' was a Tony nominee for Best Play in 1980 and won the Dramatists Guild's Hull-Warriner Award. It was adapted by Sherman for a major motion picture in 1997 and later by independent sources as a ballet in Brazil. Sherman is an openly gay Jew, and many of his works dramatize "outsiders," dealing with the discrimination and marginalization of minorities whether "gay, female, foreign, disabled, different in religion, class or color." He has lived and worked in London since 1980. Life and career Early life Sherman was an only child, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Russian Jewish immigrants, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Hampton
Sir Christopher James Hampton ( Horta, Azores, 26 January 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter, translator and film director. He is best known for his play ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' based on the novel of the same name and the film adaptation. He has thrice received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: for ''Dangerous Liaisons'' (1988), ''Atonement'' (2007) and '' The Father'' (2020); winning for the former and latter. Hampton is also known for his work in the theatre including ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'', and '' The Philanthropist''. He also translated the plays ''The Seagull'' (2008), ''God of Carnage'' (2009), '' The Father'' (2016), and ''The Height of the Storm'' (2019). He also wrote the books and lyrics for musical ''Sunset Boulevard'' (1995) and its revival in 2016. He received two Tony Awards for Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. Early life and theatrical debut Hampton was born in Faial, Azores, to British parents Doro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Hare (playwright)
Sir David Hare is an English playwright, screenwriter and theatre and film director. Best known for his stage work, Hare has also enjoyed great success with films, receiving two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing ''The Hours'''' ''in 2002, based on the novel written by Michael Cunningham, and ''The Reader'''' ''in 2008, based on the novel of the same name written by Bernhard Schlink. In the West End, he had his greatest success with the plays'' Plenty'' (1978), which he adapted into a 1985 film starring Meryl Streep, ''Racing Demon'' (1990), ''Skylight'' (1997), and ''Amy's View'' (1998). The four plays ran on Broadway in 1982–83, 1996, 1998 and 1999 respectively, earning Hare three Tony Award nominations for Best Play for the first three and two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best New Play. Other notable projects on stage include ''A Map of the World'', ''Pravda'' (starring Anthony Hopkins at the National Theatre in London), ''Murmu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dame Muriel Spark
Dame Muriel Sarah Spark (née Camberg; 1 February 1918 – 13 April 2006). was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. Life Muriel Camberg was born in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, the daughter of Bernard Camberg, an engineer, and Sarah Elizabeth Maud (née Uezzell). Her father was Jewish, born in Edinburgh of Lithuanian immigrant parents, and her English mother had been raised Anglican. She was educated at James Gillespie's School for Girls (1923–35), where she received some education in the Presbyterian faith. In 1934–35 she took a course in "commercial correspondence and précis writing" at Heriot-Watt College. She taught English for a brief time, and then worked as a secretary in a department store. In 1937 she became engaged to Sidney Oswald Spark, thirteen years her senior, whom she had met in Edinburgh. In August of that year, she followed him out to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and they were married on 3 September 1937 in Salisbury. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Václav Havel
Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then as the first president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003 and was the first democratically elected president of either country after the fall of communism. As a writer of Czech literature, he is known for his plays, essays, and memoirs. His educational opportunities having been limited by his bourgeois background, when freedoms were limited by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Havel first rose to prominence as a playwright. In works such as '' The Garden Party'' and ''The Memorandum'', Havel used an absurdist style to criticize the Communist system. After participating in the Prague Spring and being blacklisted after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, he became more politically active and helped found several dissident ini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manuel Puig
Juan Manuel Puig Delledonne (December 28, 1932 – July 22, 1990), commonly called Manuel Puig, was an Argentine author. Among his best-known novels are '' La traición de Rita Hayworth'' (''Betrayed by Rita Hayworth'', 1968), ''Boquitas pintadas'' ('' Heartbreak Tango'', 1969), and ''El beso de la mujer araña'' ('' Kiss of the Spider Woman'', 1976) which was adapted into the film released in 1985, directed by the Argentine-Brazilian director Héctor Babenco; and a Broadway musical in 1993. Early life, education and early career Puig was born in General Villegas, Buenos Aires Province. Since there was no high school in General Villegas, his parents sent him to Buenos Aires in 1946. Puig attended Colegio Ward in Villa Sarmiento ( Morón County). This is when he began to read systematically, beginning with a collection of texts by Nobel Prize winners. A classmate named Horacio, in whose home Puig rented accommodation when he first moved to Buenos Aires introduced him to readin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallace Shawn
Wallace Michael Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor, playwright, and essayist. His film roles include Wally Shawn (a fictionalized version of himself) in '' My Dinner with Andre'' (1981), Vizzini in ''The Princess Bride'' (1987), Mr. James Hall in ''Clueless'' (1995) and the voice of Rex in the ''Toy Story'' franchise (1995–2019). He has also had roles in six of Woody Allen's films. His television work includes recurring roles as Jeff Engels in ''The Cosby Show'' (1987–1991), Grand Nagus Zek in '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999), Cyrus Rose in ''Gossip Girl'' (2008–2012), and Dr. John Sturgis in ''Young Sheldon'' (2018–present). His plays include the Obie Award–winning ''Aunt Dan and Lemon'' (1985), ''The Designated Mourner'' (1996) and ''Grasses of a Thousand Colors'' (2008). He also co-wrote the screenplay for ''My Dinner with Andre'' with Andre Gregory, and scripted ''A Master Builder'' (2013), a film adaptation of the play by Henrik Ibs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peggy Ramsay
Margaret Francesca Ramsay (27 May 1908 - 4 September 1991) was an Australian-born British theatrical agent.Christopher Stevens ''Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams'', London: John Murray, 2010, p.409 Early life Peggy Ramsay was born to English parents in Molong, New South Wales, Australia. Her father's name was originally Vilenski, but her mother believed this Jewish name was a social drawback so had it changed to Venniker. Her family had settled in South Africa by the end of the Great War, in which her father served in the South African Medical Corps. During a brief and unhappy marriage, she came to England in 1929; her husband Norman Ramsay was under investigation in South Africa. After touring with an opera company, and a spell as an actress, she began reading scripts for theatrical managers including Peter Daubeny, who was later known for organising annual World Theatre Seasons. Theatrical agent As she was gaining no financial return from scripts she was fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nicholas Hern in 1988. History Nick Hern Books was founded in June 1988,Sarah HemminInterview: Nick Hern ''The Independent'', 14 April 1994. Retrieved on 18 April 2009. when Nick Hern left Methuen to establish his own imprint under the aegis of Walker Books. In 1990, the NHB imprint was taken on by Random House. It became a fully independent company on 1 January 1993 when Nick Hern acquired the list from Random House, and he subsequently won ''The Sunday Times'' "Small Publisher of the Year Award" in 1994. First titles The first title published by Nick Hern Books was Nicholas Wright's '' Mrs. Klein'', which opened at the National Theatre in August 1988 before transferring to the West End and Broadway. There followed plays by Caryl Churchill, Arthur Miller, Mike Leigh and Stephen Sondheim, alongside theatre b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
