Wanamaker, Sam

Wanamaker, Sam (1919–93) actor, director; born in Seattle, Wash. He first appeared on the stage in Chicago and then on Broadway, where he appeared in a number of hits during the 1940s. In the 1950s he moved to England, where he made his permanent home, and turned from acting to directing. His credits include the play, Children from their Games (1962); the film, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965); and episodes of the television series Columbo during the 1970s. He will probably be longest remembered, however, as the force behind the rebuilding of Shakespeare's Globe Theater on the south bank of London's Thames River. At the time of his death, the Globe was half-reconstructed, but he had supervised its first stage production.