Sam Wanamaker

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Sam Wanamaker (born Samuel Watenmaker) (June 14, 1919 – December 18, 1993) was an American actor and director. He was born in Chicago, Illinois and died of prostate cancer in London, England at the age of 74.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Outside the U.S. 3 Films and TV 3.1 Actor 3.2 Notable TV Guest Appearances 3.3 Director 4 External links

[edit] Early years

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 (1952) in the UK, Wanamaker declined to return to the United States.

[edit] Outside the U.S.

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.

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), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), and Baby Boom (1987).

He also directed stage productions. In 1980, he directed Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" starring Luciano Pavarotti at San Francisco Opera (now broadcast version released as DVD).

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

Wanamaker was instrumental in the rebuilding of the Globe Theatre in London, England, but died prior to its grand opening in 1997.

He is survived by three daughters, Abby, Jessica & English-American actress Zoë Wanamaker.

[edit] Films and TV

[edit] Actor

• Bloodlines: Murder in the Family (1993 TV) as Gerald Woodman
• Killer Rules (1993 TV) as Gambon
• Wild Justice (1993 TV mini-series) as Kingston Parker
• City of Joy (1992) (cameo)
• Pure Luck (1991) as Highsmith
• Guilty by Suspicion (1991) as Felix Graff
• Always Remember I Love You (1990 TV) as Grandfather Mendham
• Running Against Time (1990 TV) as Doctor Koopman
• The Shell Seekers (1989 TV) as Richard
• Baby Boom (1988 TV series based on the 1987 film) as Fritz Curtis
• Tajna manastirske rakije (1988) as Ambassador Morley
• Judgment in Berlin (1988) as Bernard Hellring
• Sadie and Son (1987 TV) as Marty Goldstein
• Baby Boom (1987) as Fritz Curtis
• Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) as David Warfield
• The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987 TV) as District Attorney
• Raw Deal (1986) as Luigi Patrovita
• Berrenger's (1985 TV series) as Simon Berrenger (1985)
• Embassy (1985 TV) as Ambassador Arthur Ingram
• The Aviator (1985) as Bruno Hansen
• Deceptions (1985 TV) as Jim Nolan
• Heartsounds (1984 TV) as Moe Silverman
• Irreconcilable Differences (1984) as David Kessler
• The Ghost Writer (1984 TV) as E.I. Lonoff
• I Was a Mail Order Bride (1982 TV) as Frank Tosconi
• Our Family Business (1981 TV) as Ralph
• Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981 TV mini-series) as Bernard Baruch
• The Competition (1980) as Andrew Erskine
• Private Benjamin (1980) as Teddy Benjamin
• Charlie Muffin (1979 TV) as Ruttgers
• Contro 4 bandiere (1979) as Ray MacDonald
• Death on the Nile (1978) as Sterndale Rockford
• Holocaust (1978 TV mini-series) as Moses Weiss
• Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977) as Bailey
• Voyage of the Damned (1976) as Carl Rosen
• The Sell-Out (1976) as Harry Sickles
• The Billion Dollar Bubble (1976) as Stanley Goldblum
• The Spiral Staircase (1975) as Lt. Fields
• The Law (1974 TV) as Jules Benson
• Mousey (1974 TV) as Inspector
• Arturo UI (1972 TV)
• Danger Route (1968) as Lucinda
• The Day the Fish Came Out (1967) as Elias
• Warning Shot (1967) as Frank Sanderman
• The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965) as Peters
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) as George Gruber
• Man in the Middle (1964) as Maj. Leon Kaufman, a psychiatrist
• Taras Bulba (1962) as Filipenko
• The Criminal (1960) as Mike Carter
• The Battle of the Sexes (1959) as Narrator (voice only)
• The Secret (1954) as Nick Delaney
• Mr. Denning Drives North (1952) as Chick Eddowes
• Give Us This Day (1949) as Geremio
• My Girl Tisa (1948) as Mark Denek

[edit] Notable TV Guest Appearances

• Return of the Saint – as Domenico in "Dragonseed" (episode # 1.22) February 25, 1979
• Rafferty – as Hollander in "Rafferty" (Pilot) (episode # 1.1) September 5, 1977
• Thirty-Minute Theatre in "A Wen" (episode # 1.233) December 27, 1971
• Judd for the Defense – as Shelly Gould in "The Gates of Cerberus" (episode # 2.8) November 15, 1968
• The Baron – as Sefton Folkard in "You Can't Win Them All" (episode # 1.19) February 1, 1967
• Run for Your Life – as Major Joe Rankin in "A Rage for Justice: Part 2" (episode # 2.17) January 16, 1967
• Run for Your Life – as Major Joe Rankin in "The Flight from Tirana: Part 1" (episode # 2.16) January 9, 1967
• Gunsmoke – as Asa Longworth in "Parson Comes to Town" (episode # 11.31) April 30, 1966
• The Wild Wild West – as Dr. Arcularis in "The Night of the Howling Light" (episode # 1.14) December 17, 1965
• The Defenders – as United States Attorney Brooker in "A Taste of Ashes" (episode # 4.8) November 12, 1964
• The Defenders – as Edward Banter in "Hollow Triumph" (episode # 3.35) June 20, 1964
• The Outer Limits – as Dr. Simon Holm in "A Feasibility Study" (episode # 1.29) April 13, 1964
• Espionage – as Sprague in "Festival of Pawns" (episode # 1.10) December 11, 1963
• Man of the World – as Nicko in "The Bandit" (episode # 2.1) May 11, 1963
• The Defenders – as James Henry David in "A Book for Burning" (episode # 2.27) March 30, 1963
• The Defenders – as Dr. Ralph Ames in "The Hundred Lives of Harry Simms" (episode # 1.7) October 28, 1961
• Danger Man – as Patrick Laurence in "The Lonely Chair" (episode # 1.8) October 30, 1960
• Cameo Theatre in "Manhattan Footstep" (episode # 1.4) June 7, 1950

[edit] Director

• Columbo: Grand Deceptions (1989) (TV)
• The Killing of Randy (1981) (TV)
• Hart to Hart (TV series) - episode "Death in the Slow Lane" (1979)
• Return of the Saint (TV series) - episode "Vicious Circle" (1979)
• Kate Love A Mystery (TV series) - episodes "A Puzzle for Prophets" and "Falling Star" (1979)
• David Cassidy - Man Undercover (TV series) - episode "Cage of Steel" (1978)
• Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
• Columbo: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case (1977) (TV)
• Catlow (1971)
• The Executioner (1970)
• The File of the Golden Goose (1969)
• Lancer (TV series) - episode "The High Riders" (1968)
• Premiere (TV series) - episode "Lassiter" (1968)
• The Champions (TV series) - episode "To Trap A Rat (1968)
• Cimarron Strip (TV series) - episode "Broken Wing" (1967)
• Custer (TV series) - episode "Sabers in the Sun" (1967)
• Dundee and the Culhane (TV series) - episode "The Jubilee Raid Brief" (1967)
• Coronet Blue (TV series) - episodes "The Rebels", "Man Running", "Saturday" and "The Presence of Evil" (1967)
• Hawk (TV series) - episodes "Do Not Mutilate or Spindle", "Game with a Dead End" and "How Close Can You Get?" (1966)
• Court Martial (1964 TV series) - episode?
• The Defenders (1961 TV series) - episode?

[edit] External links

• Sam Wanamaker at the Internet Movie Database