1. Sam Wanamaker began his career on Broadway, but spent most of his professional life in the United Kingdom, where he emigrated after becoming fearful of being blacklisted in Hollywood due to his communist views in the 1950s.
30 Facts About Sam Wanamaker
1. 2.
Sam Wanamaker was awarded an honorary CBE for his work.
3.
Sam Wanamaker was born in Chicago, the son of tailor Maurice Wattenmacker and Molly.
4.
Sam Wanamaker's parents were both Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire.
5.
Sam Wanamaker was the younger of two brothers, the elder being William, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
6.
Sam Wanamaker trained at the Goodman School of Drama, then at the Art Institute of Chicago and at Drake University.
7.
Sam Wanamaker began working with summer stock theatre companies in Chicago and northern Wisconsin, where he helped build the stage of the Peninsula Players Theatre in 1937.
8.
Sam Wanamaker began his acting career in traveling shows and later worked on Broadway.
9.
In 1943, Sam Wanamaker was part of the cast of the play Counterattack at the National Theatre in Washington, DC During the play, he became enamored of the ideals of communism.
10.
Sam Wanamaker attended Drake University before serving in the US Army from 1943 to 1946, during World War II.
11.
In 1951, Sam Wanamaker made a speech welcoming the return of two of the Hollywood Ten.
12.
In 1952, at the height of the McCarthy "Red Scare" period, Sam Wanamaker, who was then acting in the UK, learned that despite his distinguished service in the Army during World War II, his years as a communist could lead to his being blacklisted in Hollywood.
13.
Sam Wanamaker consequently decided to remain in England, where he reestablished his career as a stage and film actor, along with becoming a director and producer.
14.
Sam Wanamaker later appeared in other plays, including The Big Knife, The Shrike, The Rainmaker, and A Hatful of Rain.
15.
Sam Wanamaker brought a number of notable productions to the theatre, such as A View from the Bridge, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Rose Tattoo and Bus Stop.
16.
Sam Wanamaker eventually returned to Hollywood films including Private Benjamin, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, and Baby Boom.
17.
Sam Wanamaker was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in the 1978 ABC television miniseries Holocaust.
18.
In 1968, he produced and directed the pilot episode of the Western TV series Lancer; a fictionalized version of this is depicted in the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and 2021 novelization with Sam Wanamaker portrayed by Nicholas Hammond in the film.
19.
Sam Wanamaker directed stage productions, including the world premiere production of Michael Tippett's opera The Ice Break.
20.
Sam Wanamaker was featured as the widowed and ruthless department store owner Simon Berrenger on the short-lived television drama Berrenger's in 1985.
21.
In 1970 Sam Wanamaker's career took a dramatic turn after he was annoyed that while a number of replicas of the Globe theatre existed in the United States, the site of the original in London was marked by only a plaque on a nearby brewery.
22.
Sam Wanamaker then made it his goal to restore an exact replica of the Globe to feature plays and a museum.
23.
Sam Wanamaker secured financial support from philanthropists and fellow lovers of Shakespeare, such as Samuel H Scripps, to see that it would be created.
24.
Sam Wanamaker then founded the Shakespeare Globe Trust, which raised well over ten million dollars.
25.
The Shakespeare project helped Mr Sam Wanamaker keep his sanity and dignity intact.
26.
Sam Wanamaker found this neglect inexplicable, and in 1970 launched the Shakespeare Globe Trust, later obtaining the building site and necessary permissions despite a hostile local council.
27.
Sam Wanamaker was honoured with the Benjamin Franklin Medal by the Royal Society of Arts in recognition of his contribution to theatre.
28.
Actress Zoe Sam Wanamaker is his daughter, and film historian Marc Sam Wanamaker is his nephew.
29.
Sam Wanamaker died of lung cancer in London on December 18,1993, aged 74, before the grand opening of the Globe by Queen Elizabeth II on June 12,1997.
30.
Sam Wanamaker was survived by three daughters, Abby, Zoe, and Jessica.