Profile of Sam Wanamaker on Famous Like Me

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

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 in the U.K. in the early 1950s, Wanamaker declined to return to the U.S..

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 (1986), and Baby Boom (1987).

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.

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.

Actor - filmography

• Bloodlines: Murder in the Family (1993) (TV) .... Gerald Woodman
• Killer Rules (1993) (TV) .... Gambon
• "Wild Justice" (1993) (mini) TV Series .... Kingston Parker
• City of Joy (1992) (uncredited) (La Cité de la joie France)
• Pure Luck (1991) .... Highsmith
• Guilty by Suspicion (1991) .... Felix Graff
• Always Remember I Love You (1990) (TV) .... Grandfather Mendham
• Running Against Time (1990) (TV) .... Doctor Koopman
• The Shell Seekers (1989) (TV) .... Richard
• Baby Boom (1988) TV Series .... Fritz Curtis
• Tajna manastirske rakije (1988) .... Ambassador Morley
• Judgment in Berlin (1988) .... Bernard Hellring
• Sadie and Son (1987) (TV) .... Marty Goldstein (Detective Sadie & Son (USA: video title))
• Baby Boom (1987) .... Fritz Curtis
• Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) .... David Warfield
• The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987) (TV) .... District Attorney
• Raw Deal (1986) .... Luigi Patrovita
• Berrenger's (1985) TV Series .... Simon Berrenger (1985)
• Embassy (1985) (TV) .... Ambassador Arthur Ingram
• The Aviator (1985) .... Bruno Hansen
• Deceptions (1985) (TV) .... Jim Nolan
• Heartsounds (1984) (TV) .... Moe Silverman
• Irreconcilable Differences (1984) .... David Kessler
• The Ghost Writer (1984) (TV) .... E.I. Lonoff
• I Was a Mail Order Bride (1982) (TV) .... Frank Tosconi
• Our Family Business (1981) (TV) .... Ralph
• Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981) (mini) TV Series .... Bernard Baruch
• The Competition (1980) .... Andrew Erskine
• Private Benjamin (1980) .... Teddy Benjamin
• Charlie Muffin (1979) (TV) .... Ruttgers
• Contro 4 bandiere (1979) .... Ray MacDonald
• Death on the Nile (1978) (aka Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile (UK)) .. Sterndale Rockford
• Holocaust (1978) (mini) TV Series .... Moses Weiss
• Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977) .... Bailey
• Voyage of the Damned (1976) .... Carl Rosen
• The Sell-Out (1976) .... Harry Sickles
• The Billion Dollar Bubble (1976) .... Stanley Goldblum
• The Spiral Staircase (1975) .... Lt. Fields
• The Law (1974) (TV) .... Jules Benson
• Mousey (1974) (TV) .... Inspector
• Arturo UI (1972) (TV) (Stage 2: The Resistable Rise of Arturo UI (UK: series title))
• Danger Route (1968) .... Lucinda
• The Day the Fish Came Out (1967) .... Elias
• Warning Shot (1967) .... Frank Sanderman
• The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965) .... Peters
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours, 11 minutes (1965) .... George Gruber
• Man in the Middle (1964) .... Maj. Leon Kaufman (psychiatrist)
• Taras Bulba (1962) .... Filipenko
• The Criminal (1960) .... Mike Carter
• The Battle of the Sexes (1959) (voice) .... Narrator
• The Secret (1954) .... Nick Delaney
• Mr. Denning Drives North (1952) .... Chick Eddowes
• Give Us This Day (1949) .... Geremio
• My Girl Tisa (1948) .... Mark Denek

Director - filmography

• Columbo: Grand Deceptions (1989) (TV)
• The Killing of Randy aka Dark Side of Love (1980) (TV)
• Hart to Hart (1979) TV Series
• Mrs. Columbo (1979) aka Kate Columbo TV Series
• David Cassidy - Man Undercover (1978) TV Series
• Return of the Saint (1978) aka The Son of the Saint TV Series (one episode)
• 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 (1968) TV Series (episode "The High Riders")
• Premiere(1968) TV Series (episode "Lassiter")
• The Champions (1968) TV Series
• Cimarron Strip (1967) TV Series
• Custer aka The Legend of Custer(1967/I) TV Series
• Dundee and the Culhane (1967) TV Series
• Hawk (1966) TV Series
• Court Martial (1964) TV Series
• The Defenders (1961) TV Series

Miscellaneous Crew - filmography

• Aida (1981/II) (TV) (opera director)

Notable TV Guest Appearances

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

External link

• Sam Wanamaker at the Internet Movie Database

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