Biography
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, also 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, aged 74.
He was survived by three daughters, Abby, Jessica & British-based American 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
