| Daphne Laureola | |
|---|---|
 Cover of first edition | |
| Written by | James Bridie |
| Date premiered | 23 March 1949 [1] |
| Place premiered | Wyndham's Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Setting | England |
Daphne Laureola is a comic play by James Bridie about a young Polish refugee's infatuation with a middle-aged English woman. 'Egalitarianism is at the heart of this vision, but idealism may be just a liability.' [2]
The play was first produced by the Old Vic at Wyndham's Theatre in London in 1949, starring Edith Evans and Peter Finch, under the management of Laurence Olivier. The production was a major success, helping launch Finch's career in London. [3] [4] [5] In August 1950, it was performed at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow. [6]
A 1950 Broadway production, also starring Evans, was less successful. [7]
It was adapted for television in the UK in 1958, In West Germany in 1962, in Australia in 1965 and in the UK again in 1978, starring Olivier. [8] [9] [10]
Sir John Mills was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portrayed guileless, wounded war heroes. In 1971, he received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ryan's Daughter.
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He worked in films throughout most of his career, and played more than sixty cinema roles. From an artistic but not theatrical background, Richardson had no thought of a stage career until a production of Hamlet in Brighton inspired him to become an actor. He learned his craft in the 1920s with a touring company and later the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. In 1931 he joined the Old Vic, playing mostly Shakespearean roles. He led the company the following season, succeeding Gielgud, who had taught him much about stage technique. After he left the company, a series of leading roles took him to stardom in the West End and on Broadway.
Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch was an English-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as crazed television anchorman Howard Beale in the 1976 film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a Best Actor award from the Golden Globes.
Dame Edith Mary Evans, was an English actress. She was best known for her work on the stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and towards the end of her career. Between 1964 and 1968, she was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Denis Clifford Quilley, OBE was an English actor and singer. From a family with no theatrical connections, Quilley was determined from an early age to become an actor. He was taken on by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in his teens, and after a break for compulsory military service he began a West End career in 1950, succeeding Richard Burton in The Lady's Not For Burning. In the 1950s he appeared in revue, musicals, operetta and on television as well as in classic and modern drama in the theatre.
Stewart Granger was a British film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.
Robert Guy Newton was an English actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the more popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys. Known for his hard-living lifestyle, he was cited as a role model by the actor Oliver Reed and the Who's drummer Keith Moon.
Wilfrid Hyde-White was a British character actor of stage, film and television. He achieved international recognition for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical My Fair Lady (1964).
The Chalk Garden is a play by Enid Bagnold that premiered in the US in 1955 and was produced in Britain the following year. It tells the story of the imperious Mrs St Maugham and her granddaughter Laurel, a disturbed child under the care of Miss Madrigal, a governess, whose past life is a mystery that is solved during the action of the play. The work has been revived numerous times internationally, and was adapted for the cinema in 1964.
James Bridie was the pseudonym of a Scottish playwright, screenwriter and physician whose real name was Osborne Henry Mavor. He took his pen-name from his paternal grandfather's first name and his grandmother's maiden name.
Leslie Armande Norman was an English post-war film director, producer and editor who also worked extensively on 1960s television series later in his career.
Peter Glenville was an English film and stage actor and director.
The Menier Chocolate Factory is a 180-seat off-West End theatre, which comprises a restaurant, bar and rehearsal rooms.
Anthony Nicholls was an English actor.
Robbery Under Arms is a 1957 British crime film directed by Jack Lee and starring Peter Finch, Ronald Lewis, David McCallum, Laurence Naismith and Jill Ireland. It is based on the 1888 Australian novel Robbery Under Arms by Thomas Alexander Browne who wrote under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood.
Events from the year 1888 in Scotland.
Box for One is a live television play which has been presented three times, twice on British broadcaster BBC and once on Australian broadcaster ABC. It is a drama about a "spiv", and the entire 30-minute drama takes place in a London telephone box. It was written by Peter Brook.
Ronald "Trader" Faulkner was an Australian actor, raconteur and flamenco dancer, best known for his work in the UK on the stage and television.
"Daphne Laureola" is a 1965 Australian television play based on Daphne Laureola by James Bridie. It screened as part of Wednesday Theatre.
Peter Williams (1915–2003) was an American-born British film, theatre and television actor. He is best known for his role as private detective Don Carter in the long-running British crime series Shadow Squad in the late 1950s. He was married to Helen "Toto" Irving, and had two children.