''The First and the Last'' is a 1919 play by the British writer
John Galsworthy. It was based on a short story published in 1917. It was staged successfully in the early 1920s by
Basil Dean
Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, after organising unof ...
featuring the actors
Owen Nares
Owen Ramsay Nares (11 August 1888 – 30 July 1943) was an English stage and film actor. Besides his acting career, he was the author of ''Myself, and Some Others'' (1925).
Early life
Educated at Reading School, Nares was encouraged by his mo ...
and
Meggie Albanesi. In 1937, it was adapted by Dean for the film ''
21 Days'', which was not released until 1940, starring
Laurence Olivier and
Vivien Leigh.
Burt Lancaster and
Harold Hecht
Harold Adolphe Hecht (June 1, 1907 – May 26, 1985) was an American film producer, dance director and talent agent. He was also, though less noted for, a literary agent, a theatrical producer, a theatre director and a Broadway actor. He was a m ...
also procured the filming rights in 1948, hoping to produce the movie through their film production company
Norma Productions Norma may refer to:
* Norma (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
Astronomy
* Norma (constellation)
*555 Norma, a minor asteroid
* Cygnus Arm or Norma Arm, a spiral arm in the Milky Way galaxy
Geography
*Norma, La ...
. The film was to star
Marlon Brando and
Meg Mundy
Margaret Anne Mary Mundy (January 4, 1915 – January 12, 2016) was an English-born American actress and model. She was born in London, and in 1921, at the age of six, emigrated to the United States with her family.
Personal life
Mundy was born ...
before it fell through.
In 1933 a radio adaptation in Czech ''První a poslední'' directed by
Josef Bezdíček) was broadcast on Czexh radio.
References
Bibliography
* Cody, Gabrielle H. & Sprinchorn, Evert. ''The Columbia encyclopedia of modern drama, Volume 1''. Columbia University Press, 2007.
* Sweet, Matthew. ''Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema''. Faber and Faber, 2005.
Plays by John Galsworthy
1919 plays
British plays adapted into films
West End plays
{{1910s-play-stub