Sam Wanamaker
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
Distinguished looking, left-leaning actor who came to the screen in 1948 after considerable experience as an actor/director on the Chicago and Broadway stage. During the "Red Scare," Wanamaker appeared in "Give Us This Day" (1949), directed in London by Edward Dmytryk, a blacklisted member of the Hollywood Ten and after appearing in another film in England remained there to avoid any possible repercussions for his political commitments. After appearing in two British productions, however, he found that the tentacles of the Hollywood blacklist reached across the Atlantic, making it impossible for him to continue working in film.
Wanamaker subsequently made a name for himself as an actor, director and producer of Shakespeare and contemporary fare on the British stage and founded the Globe Playhouse Trust. He returned to the USA in 1961 and resumed his screen career with notable performances as the Russian agent in "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" (1965), as Moses Weiss in TV's "Holocaust" (1978) and ironically as a lawyer who tries to convince his clients to name names to HUAC in Irwin Winkler's Hollywood blacklist drama, "Guilty By Suspicion" (1991).
A veteran director for stage and TV ("The Defenders," "Columbo," "Hart to Hart"), Wanamaker's occasional directorial outings for film yielded mostly unexceptional results.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1936
In Chicago worked as actor-director in summer stock, also with the Shakespearean Theatre Group and the Chicago Civic Repertory Theatre
1942
Broadway acting debut, "Cafe Crown"
1946
Rose to prominence in stage production of "Joan of Lorraine"
1948
Screen acting debut in "My Girl Tisa"
1948
Broadway directing debut, "Goodbye My Fancy" (also actor)
1951
US Government tried to serve him with subpoena to appear before the HUAC committee; remained in England
1952
London stage debut, "Winter Journey"
1953
Co-produced first play (also actor), "The Shrike", London
1961
Returned to USA
1969
Feature directing debut, "The File of the Golden Goose" (Great Britain)
1974
Named director, Southwark Summer Festival, UK
1977
Founded (also executive director) Globe Playhouse Trust Ltd. And World Centre for Shakespeare Studies Ltd., UK
1984
TV series regular on "Berringers"
Videos
Trailer
Family
Companions
