''The Emperor Jones'' was a 1953 BBC Television production of the 1920

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Literature, literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama tech ...

play of the same title, and transmitted live on 7 July that year. It was adapted and directed by

Alvin Rakoff Alvin Rakoff (born Abraham Rakoff; February 6, 1927) is a Canadian director of film, television and theatre productions. He has worked with actors including Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Rex Harrison, Rod Steiger, Hen ...

(uncredited), starring

Gordon Heath Gordon Heath (September 20, 1918 – August 27, 1991) was an American actor and musician who narrated the animated feature film ''Animal Farm'' (1954) and appeared in the title role of ''The Emperor Jones'' (1953) and ''Othello'' (1955), both l ...

in the title role, with music by Billy Shalanki and choreography by

Boscoe Holder Boscoe Holder (16 July 1921 – 21 April 2007), born Arthur Aldwyn Holder in Arima, Trinidad and Tobago, was Trinidad and Tobago's leading contemporary painter, who also had a celebrated international career spanning six decades as a designer and ...

. The production was not recorded, and is now lost. As summarised in ''

The Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'', "The action of the play takes place on an island in the West Indies as yet not fully exploited by Western civilisation.""The Emperor Jones"
''Radio Times'', Issue 1547, 3 July 1953, p. 24. The BBC had previously broadcast an earlier production of O'Neil's play as two separate live and unrecorded performances on 11 and 13 May 1938, in which Robert Adams played Jones, and

Frederick Burtwell Augustus Frederick Burtwell (23 December 1894 – 16 November 1948) was an English actor, on stage from 1914, who featured in supporting roles in over 40 British films of the 1930s and 1940s. Partial filmography * ''Other People's Sins'' ( ...

the Trader.

Cast

* Cecil Brock as The Prison Guard * John Harrison as Len Griffin *

as Brutus Jones *

as The Congo Witch-doctor * Dan Jackson as Jeff * Connie Smith as An Old Native Woman *

Harry Towb Harry Towb (27 July 1925 – 24 July 2009) was an actor from Northern Ireland. Early life and career Towb was born in Larne, County Antrim, to a Russian-Jewish father and an Irish-Jewish mother; he once claimed he was the only Jew ever born ...

as The Auctioneer * Neil Wilson as Henry Smithers

References

External links

1953 films Films based on works by Eugene O'Neill Films set in the Caribbean British television films Films directed by Alvin Rakoff {{UK-tv-film-stub