King Lear (1953 film) - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from King Lear (1953 TV drama)) 1953 live television adaptation by Peter Brook

King Lear

Genre	Tragedy
Based on	King Lear
Written by	William Shakespeare (play) Peter Brook (adaptation)
Directed by	Andrew McCullough
Starring	Orson Welles
Theme music composer	Virgil Thomson
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Running time	73 minutes
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	18 October 1953 (1953-10-18)

King Lear is a 1953 live television adaptation of the Shakespeare play staged by Peter Brook and starring Orson Welles. Preserved on kinescope, it aired October 18, 1953, as part of the CBS television series Omnibus, hosted by Alistair Cooke. The cast includes Micheál Mac Liammóir and Alan Badel.

Production

A heavily abridged version of the play, this production condensed the play by eliminating the characters of Edgar and Edmund. To compensate for their absence, the role of Oswald is expanded to take Edmund's part in the play's climax, and "Poor Tom" is included not as a disguised Edgar but as an actual madman.

Welles returned to America to star in this presentation. He was guarded by IRS agents, prohibited to leave his hotel room when not at the studio, prevented from making any purchases, and the entire sum (less expenses) he earned went to his tax bill. Welles returned to England after the broadcast.

Cast

Orson Welles … King Lear
Natasha Parry … Cordelia
Arnold Moss … Duke of Albany
Bramwell Fletcher … Earl of Kent
David J. Stewart … Oswald
Margaret Phillips … Regan
Beatrice Straight … Goneril
Alan Badel … Fool
Micheál Mac Liammóir … Poor Tom
Frederick Worlock … Earl of Gloucester
Scott Forbes … Duke of Cornwall
Wesley Addy … King of France
Fred Sadoff … Duke of Burgundy

Home media

2010 E1 Entertainment, Region 1 DVD, February 9, 2010 ISBN 978-1-4172-3287-1

Sources

Ax, Sean (15 February 2010). "TV on DVD 2/16/10 – King Lear, Barnaby Jones and Lincoln Heights". seanax.com. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
"King Lear (1953)". British Universities Film and Video Council. n.d. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
Crosby, John (22 October 1953). "Orson Welles as King Lear on TV is Impressive". New York Herald Tribune. Retrieved 7 January 2018 – via wellesnet.com.
Howard, Tony (2005). "When Peter Met Orson: The 1953 CBS King Lear". In Boose, Lynda E.; Burt, Richard (eds.). Shakespeare, The Movie: Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV and Video. Routledge. pp. 124–137. ISBN 9781134707539.
"King Lear Films". PBS, Great Performances. 19 March 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
"ORSON WELLES is "enourmosly impressive" in the Peter Brook production of Shakespeare's KING LEAR now out on DVD". wellesnet.com. 11 February 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2018.

External links

Omnibus: King Lear at YouTube
King Lear at IMDb

William Shakespeare's King Lear

Characters

Sources

Adaptations

Plays	The History of King Lear (1681) The Yiddish King Lear (1892) Safed Khoon (1907) Lear (1971) King Lear (1978)
Novels	La Terre (1887) A Thousand Acres (1991) Fool (2009)
Operas	Re Lear (Libretto only) (1896) Lear (1978) Vision of Lear (1998) Kuningas Lear (2000)
Films	King Lear (1910) King Lear (1916) Gunasundari Katha (1949) King Lear (1971 USSR) King Lear (1971 UK) Ran (1985) King Lear (1987) A Thousand Acres (1997) Gypsy Lore (1997) King Lear (1999) My Kingdom (2001) Lear Rex (TBA)
Television	King Lear (1953) BBC Television Shakespeare (1982) King Lear (1983) King of Texas (2002) Second Generation (2003) King Lear (2008) King Lear (2018)
Story within a story	The Dresser (1980 play) The Dresser (1983 film) The Dresser (2015 film)
Other	Tiriel (1789, poem) The Prince of the Pagodas (1957, ballet) The Tragedy of King Lear (screenplay)

This article related to an American TV movie is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: