Sam Wanamaker

Sam Wanamaker (born Samuel Watenmaker) (June 14, 1919, Chicago – December 18, 1993, London, England) was an American actor and director.

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Wanamaker began his acting career at the age of just 17. After training at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, he began working with summer stock theatre companies in Chicago and worked on Broadway and in travelling shows. He attended Drake University, Iowa prior to serving in the U.S. Army between 1943-1946 during the Second World War. After learning that he had become blacklisted by the House_Un-American_Activities_Committee after filming Mr. Denning Drives North in the U.K. in the early 1950s, Wanamaker declined to return to the U.S..

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In 1952, he made his London debut. In 1957, he was appointed director of the New Shakespeare Theatre, in Liverpool. In 1959, he joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre company at Stratford-upon-Avon. In the 1960s and 1970s, he produced or directed several works at Covent Garden and elsewhere including the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations in 1974.

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He worked both as a director and actor in both films and television, and his appearances included such movies as The Spiral Staircase (1974), Private Benjamin (1980), (1986), and Baby Boom (1987).

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In 1940 he married Charlotte Holland, who was an American radio soap star of the 1940s and later an actress. She died in 1997 from cancer at the age of 82. In the 1970s, Sam Wanamaker began an intimate, long-standing relationship with the then-widowed American actress Jan Sterling.

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Wanamaker was instrumental in the rebuilding of the Globe Theatre in London, England, however he did not get to see the theatre's grand opening in 1997, having died of prostate cancer in 1993 at the age of 74. He and his wife are survived by their three daughters, Abby, Jessica & British-based actress Zoe Wanamaker.

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June 14: June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining....

1919: 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar)....

Chicago: (), Make Big Plans (Make No Small Plans), I Will...

Sam Wanamaker related Images and Photos (experimental)

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