Bernard Bragg was a deaf actor, producer, director, playwright, artist, and author who is notable for being a co-founder of the National Theatre of the Deaf and for his contributions to Deaf performing culture.
11 Facts About Bernard Bragg
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Bernard Bragg was born on September 27,1928, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jennie and Wolf Bragg.
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Bernard Bragg grew up learning sign language, which was taught to him by his two deaf parents.
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From a young age, Bernard Bragg demonstrated an interest in theatre, which developed as a result of the influence of his father, who was an amateur actor and play manager.
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Whilst attending Gallaudet, Bernard Bragg studied theater under a deaf professor named Frederick Hughes, and starred as the lead role in a number of school plays, for which he won numerous honors.
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Shortly after graduating from Gallaudet College in 1952, Bernard Bragg was offered a teaching position at the California School for the Deaf, Berkeley, which he accepted.
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Four years after becoming a teacher, in 1956, Bernard Bragg met the world-famous mime Marcel Marceau after seeing one of his shows in San Francisco.
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Bernard Bragg accepted the offer, and travelled to Paris at the end of the 1956 school year.
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In 1967, Bernard Bragg met with Hays and several other performers and individuals involved in the theatre, and together they founded the National Theatre of the Deaf in Connecticut, prompting Bragg to quit his job as a teacher at the California School for the Deaf, a position which he held for 15 years.
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In 2013, Bernard Bragg played himself in No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie.
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Bernard Bragg had an interest in creating art and writing poetry.