Geraldine Sherman

Last updated

Geraldine Sherman
Born
Geraldine Judith Schoenmann

Staines, Middlesex, England
Other namesDena Hammerstein
Occupations
  • Actress
  • writer
  • theatre producer
Years active1964 – present
Spouse James Hammerstein (197x? – 1999)
Children1

Geraldine Sherman (born Geraldine Judith Schoenmann)[ citation needed ] known as Dena Hammerstein, is a British actress and writer, and theatre producer. She was the third wife of James Hammerstein, and after his death became president/CEO of James Hammerstein Productions Ltd. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Early life

Sherman was born in Staines, Middlesex. Her parents were refugees from Czechoslovakia. [5] Her father Kurt Wilhelm Schoenmann was born in Teplitz in Bohemia [Note 1] in 1915. He married Edith Peller, later coming to Britain to escape Nazi persecution, but was interned in March 1940 because his nationality was Austrian. He was then transported to Australia on the infamous 1940 Dunera voyage, and held in Loveday and Tatura internment camps until 1942. [6] [7] [8]

Dena came from a bedsit in Ladbroke Grove, long before Notting Hill became fashionable.

Her parents were Jewish refugees. When Dena – Geraldine Sherman – was born, her father was in an internment camp in Australia and her nervous mother sent her out of London to the safety of a Jewish orphanage in Shenfield, Essex.

The kindly matron was her mother figure, so, when she was sent back to live with her parents at the age of 11, she was miserable.

"All I wanted was to go back to the orphanage," she says. "I was embarrassed by my parents, by their broken English and their permanent refugee complex. I hadn't been brought up to think that every time the doorbell rang, it was the Gestapo."

One happy memory from the orphanage to which she clung during the difficult years with her parents was of an outing to the theatre. "We were taken to see a frothy pink and white fantasy show," she remembers.

"Afterwards, I was taken to the stage door and I didn't have my arm through the sleeve of my jacket, so it was hanging loose. When the star came out, she said: 'Would the little girl with only one arm please step forward?' I immediately put on a limp as well and, from that moment, I was on the road to make-believe."

At the age of 17, she ran away to join a theatre group.

—  I was on the road to make-believe – Cassandra Jardine, The Telegraph, 16 June 2004

Notes:

  1. ↑ The Kingdom of Bohemia was in the Austro-Hungarian Empire until both were dissolved in 1918 at the end of World War I, when Bohemia became part of Czechoslovakia

Actress

Film
YearTitleRoleNotes
1964 A Hard Day's Night Girl Outside Secondhand ShopUncredited
1967 Poor Cow Trixie
1968 Interlude Natalie
1968 Deadfall Delgado's Receptionist
1968 The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom Dr. Krunhauser
1968 Song of Summer Girl next doorTV series documentary
1969 Take a Girl Like You Anna Le Page
1970 There's a Girl in My Soup Caroline
1971 Get Carter Girl in Café
1971 Cry of the Penguins Penny
1995 Thin Ice Dena
1997 Bent Prostitute(final film role)
Television
DateTitleRoleNotes
1964 Foreign Affairs peasant girl Granada Television [9]
1 July 1964Catch Hand: Stop Counting at OneMarian BBC tv [10]
25 August 1964 Love Story : Arranged for StringsMiss Fish ATV
18 September 1964The Big Noise, or Episodes in the Uneasy Life of a Top Pop Disc JockeyJackie BBC tv [11]
3 November 1965 Up the Junction Rube BBC tv [12] [13]
9 March 1966 Softly, Softly : The KeyEileen Murphy BBC tv [14]
4 June 1966 Juke Box Jury Self – panellist BBC tv [15]
6 July 1966 – 26 October 1966 King of the River Susanna King BBC tv [16] [17]

15 episodes:  [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]

30 January 1967 Till Death Us Do Part : A Woman's Place is in the Home BBC tv [33]
4 March 1967 Juke Box Jury Self – panellist BBC tv [34]
22 April 1967 – 13 May 1967 The Forsyte Saga Victorine Bicket BBC tv
4 episodes:
  • Part 16: A Family Wedding [35]
  • Part 17: The White Monkey [36]
  • Part 18: Afternoon of a Dryad [37] [38]
  • Part 19: No Retreat [39]
13 December 1967 The Wednesday Play : Death of a Private Mary BBC tv [40]
10 April 1968 Thirty-Minute Theatre : The Sinnerthe Girl BBC tv [41]
13 April 1968 Public Eye : Cross That Palm When We Come to ItFay ABC Television
30 October 1968 The Wednesday Play : A Bit of Crucifixion, Father Sheila BBC tv [42]
18 January 1969 ITV Sunday Night Theatre : Bangelstein's BoysDick's Girl LWT [43]
9 November 1969 Strange Report : Report 2475: Revenge - When a Man HatesSecretaryArena Productions
19 November 1969 The Wednesday Play : There is also Tomorrow Rosemary BBC tv [44]
15 December 1969The Root of All Evil?: Bloxham's Concerto for Critic and CarpenterPippa Yorkshire Television [45]
19 April 1970 Play of the Month : E. M. Forster's Howards EndJacky BBC tv [46]
4 January 1971 Doomwatch : The IslandersAlice BBC tv [47]
21 October 1971 Play for Today : Edna, the Inebriate Woman Trudi BBC tv [48]
30 June 1976 – 7 July 1976Killers: The Stinie Morrison CaseNellie Deitch Thames Television

2 episodes:  [49] [50]

3 January 1982Little Miss PerkinsMrs. Issacs LWT [51]
21 November 1982 The Professionals : You'll Be All RightChrissie Stone LWT [52]
11 October 1992 Screen One : Running LateMrs Zee BBC tv [53]
10 December 1996 Soldier Soldier : Hell and High WaterMrs. Beryl Grey Central Independent Television [54]
Stage
DateTitleRoleTheatreNotes
31 October 1972 – 24 February 1973 Butley Miss Heasman Morosco Theatre, New York [55] [56]

Writer

When It's Over, by Geraldine Sherman and Eduardo Machado:

Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut: playreading 1985–1986, workshop 1986–1987 [57]
Finborough Theatre, London, 23 October – 16 November 1991 [58] [59]

Thin Ice, 1995 film [60]

Theatre producer

Theatre Producer
(Dena Hammerstein)
DatesTitleAuthorDirectorTheatreNotes
1 August 1996 – 27 July 2008 I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts Joel Bishoff Westside Theatre (Upstairs), New York
6 January 2004 – 22 February 2004 Allegro Rodgers & Hammerstein Eric Schaeffer Signature Theatre, Arlington, Virginia [61] [62]
16 June 2004 – 28 August 2004 Dirty Blonde Claudia Shear James Lapine Duke of York's Theatre, London [63] [64]
1 October 2005 – 13 November 2005Slut Ben H. Winters & Stephen Sislen Gordon Greenberg American Theater of Actors / Century Promenade, New York [65] [66] [67]
13 May 2006 – 22 July 2006 Sunday in the Park with George Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine Sam Buntrock Wyndhams Theatre, London [68]
15 October 2006 – 17 December 2006 My Name Is Rachel Corrie Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner Alan Rickman Minetta Lane Theatre, New York [69]
11 December 2007 – 29 March 2008 Dealer's Choice Patrick Marber Samuel West Trafalgar Studios, London [70]
2 October 2008 – 21 December 2008 The Seagull Anton Chekhov, new version by Christopher Hampton, music by Stephen Warbeck Ian Rickson Walter Kerr Theatre, New York [71]
26 February 2009 – 12 September 2010 Our Town Thornton Wilder David Cromer Barrow Street Theatre, New York [72] [73]
1 October 2009 – 3 January 2010 Superior Donuts Tracy Letts Tina Landau Music Box Theatre, New York [74]
27 April 2010 – 9 May 2010 Enron Lucy Prebble (words), Adam Cork (music) Rupert Goold Broadhurst Theatre, New York [75]
31 May 2011 – 27 August 2011 Butley Simon Gray Lindsay Posner Duchess Theatre, London [76]
15 January 2015 – 5 April 2015 Honeymoon in Vegas Jason Robert Brown Gary Griffin Nederlander Theatre, New York [77]

Philanthropist

Dena Hammerstein worked as a volunteer in New York City hospitals for over 15 years, and in 2003 received the United Hospital Funds New Leadership Group's Humanitarian Award. [4] She is Founder of Only Make Believe, a non-profit organisation that creates and performs interactive theatre for children in hospitals and care facilities, inspired by her early work as an actress in the UK touring special-needs schools. [78] [79]

Her greatest pride is reserved for the charity, "Only Make Believe", which she founded with the idea of letting the theatre help institutionalised children as it had once helped her. At first, she had thought of taking sick children to the theatre, but it was such a problem getting them there that they were too exhausted to enjoy the shows.

Instead, she has brought the theatre to the children. The actors arrive with a large dressing-up trunk to rehearse a play in hospital using a script by Dena and children as performers.

—  I was on the road to make-believe – Cassandra Jardine, The Telegraph, 16 June 2004

Personal life

In 1970, a choreographer friend invited her to holiday in New York where she met Jamie Hammerstein. [2]

Married theatre director James Hammerstein who directed her in Butley, and has one son Simon Hammerstein (born 1977). [3]

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    <i>Show Boat</i> 1927 musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II

    Show Boat is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock workers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, over 40 years from 1887 to 1927. Its themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. The musical contributed such classic songs as "Ol' Man River", "Make Believe", and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man".

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Clyde</span> English actor and musician

    Michael Jeremy Thomas Clyde is an English actor and musician. During the 1960s, he was one-half of the folk duo Chad & Jeremy, who had little success in the UK, but were an object of interest to American audiences. He has enjoyed a long television acting career and continues to appear regularly, usually playing upper-middle class or aristocratic characters.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Leighton</span> British actress (1922–1976)

    Margaret Leighton, CBE was an English actress, active on stage and television, and in film. Her film appearances included in Anthony Asquith's The Winslow Boy, Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn, Powell and Pressburger's The Elusive Pimpernel, George More O'Ferrall's The Holly and the Ivy, Martin Ritt's The Sound and the Fury, John Guillermin's Waltz of the Toreadors, Franklin J. Schaffner's The Best Man, Tony Richardson's The Loved One, John Ford's 7 Women, and Joseph Losey's The Go-Between and Galileo. For The Go-Between, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Porter</span> British actor (1928–1995)

    Eric Richard Porter was an English actor of stage, film and television.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Rupert Graves</span> English actor

    Rupert Simeon Graves is an English film, television, and theatre actor. He is known for his roles in A Room with a View, Maurice, The Madness of King George and The Forsyte Saga. From 2010 to 2017 he starred as DI Lestrade in the BBC television series Sherlock.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">John Merivale</span> Canadian-born British stage and film actor

    John Herman Merivale was a Canadian-born British theatre actor, and occasional supporting player in British films.

    Cheryl Kennedy is an English actress and singer.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian Ovenden</span> British actor

    Julian Mark Ovenden is an English actor and singer. He has starred on Broadway and West End stages, in television series in both the United Kingdom and United States, in films, and performed internationally as a concert and recording artist.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Mona Washbourne</span> English stage, film and television actress

    Mona Lee Washbourne was an English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film Stevie (1978), late in her career, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Tyzack</span> British actress (1931–2011)

    Margaret Maud Tyzack was an English actress. Her television roles included The Forsyte Saga (1967) and I, Claudius (1976). She won the 1970 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the BBC serial The First Churchills, and the 1990 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage, opposite Maggie Smith. She also won two Olivier Awards—in 1981 as Actress of the Year in a Revival and in 2009 as Best Actress in a Play. Her film appearances included 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Prick Up Your Ears (1987) and Match Point (2005).

    <i>Butley</i> (play) 1971 play by English playwright Simon Gray

    Butley is a play by Simon Gray set in the office of an English lecturer at a university in London, England. The title character, a T. S. Eliot scholar, is an alcoholic who loses his wife and his close friend and colleague – and possibly male lover – on the same day. The action of the dark comedy takes place over several hours on the same day during which he bullies students, friends and colleagues while falling apart at the seams. The play won the 1971 Evening Standard Award for Best Play.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Dana Ivey</span> American actress

    Dana Robins Ivey is an American actress. She is a five-time Tony Award nominee for her work on Broadway, and won the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her work in both Sex and Longing and The Last Night of Ballyhoo. She originated the title role in Driving Miss Daisy and was nominated for a Drama Desk award for Best Actress in a Play. Her film appearances include The Color Purple (1985), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), The Addams Family (1991), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Addams Family Values (1993), Two Weeks Notice (2002), Rush Hour 3 (2007), and The Help (2011).

    Susan Watson is an American actress and singer best known for her roles in musical theatre.

    James Blanchard Hammerstein was an American theatre director and producer.

    <i>Wise Child</i> Play by Simon Gray

    Wise Child is a 1967 play by English playwright Simon Gray.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Jessel</span>

    Patricia Helen Mary Jessel was an English actress of stage, film and television.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Muriel Smith (singer)</span> American opera singer

    Muriel Burrell Smith was an American singer. In the 1940s and 1950s, she was a star of musical theater and opera, and was also the off-film ghost singer in several hit movies. She is perhaps best known in the UK for her 1953 #3 hit single, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me", which was first covered in 1965 by Mel Carter and later in 1994 by Gloria Estefan.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Fanny Rowe</span>

    Frances Rowe was an English stage, film and television actress.

    Suzanne Neve is an English actress who appeared regularly on British television during the 1960s, including the lead role of Isabel Archer in the BBC's 1968 adaptation of Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady, for which she won Outstanding Television Personality in the Pye Colour Television Awards.

    <i>Rodgers + Hammersteins Cinderella</i> (Beane musical) Musical by Rodgers, Hammerstein and Beane (2013 adaptation)

    Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella is a musical in two acts with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Douglas Carter Beane based partly on Hammerstein's 1957 book. The story is derived from the fairy tale Cinderella, particularly the French version Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre, by Charles Perrault. The story concerns a young woman forced into a life of servitude by her cruel stepmother. She dreams of a better life, and with the help of her Fairy Godmother, Cinderella is transformed into an elegant young lady and is able to attend the ball to meet her Prince. In this version, however, she opens the Prince's eyes to the injustice in his kingdom.

    References

    1. ↑ "Obituary: James Hammerstein". Independent.co.uk. 11 January 1999. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    2. 1 2 Jardine, Cassandra. "I was on the road to make-believe" . Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    3. 1 2 "The Hammerstein Family". Observer.com. 18 December 2006. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    4. 1 2 Board of Only Make Believe
    5. ↑ "CAST - WW2 BCRC and CRTF - Registered Individuals". Webspace.webring.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    6. ↑ "RecordSearch - National Archives of Australia". recordsearch.naa.gov.au. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    7. ↑ "RecordSearch - National Archives of Australia". recordsearch.naa.gov.au. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    8. ↑ "RecordSearch - National Archives of Australia". recordsearch.naa.gov.au. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    9. ↑ BFI – Foreign Affairs
    10. ↑ BBC – Catch Hand: Stop Counting at One
    11. ↑ BBC – The Big Noise
    12. ↑ BBC – Up the Junction
    13. ↑ BBC – Up the Junction
    14. ↑ BBC – Softly, Softly: The Key
    15. ↑ BBC – Juke Box Jury 4 June 1966
    16. ↑ "CTVA UK "King of the River" (BBC) (1966-67) starring Bernard Lee". ctva.biz. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    17. ↑ Publicity photo for King of the River
    18. ↑ BBC – King of the River: Foreign Invasion 6 July 1966
    19. ↑ BBC – King of the River: Sunset for a Sailorman 12 July 1966
    20. ↑ BBC – King of the River: Shipwreck 19 July 1966
    21. ↑ BBC – King of the River: What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor? 27 July 1966
    22. ↑ BBC – King of the River: It's an Ill Wind 3 August 1966
    23. ↑ BBC – King of the River: By Guess and by God 10 August 1966
    24. ↑ BBC – King of the River: Down River to Glory 17 August 1966
    25. ↑ BBC – King of the River: Once Aboard the Lugger 24 August 1966
    26. ↑ BBC – King of the River: Sling Your Hook 31 August 1966
    27. ↑ BBC – King of the River: A Beautiful Pea-green Boat 7 September 1966
    28. ↑ BBC – King of the River: Keeping The Old Spirit Alive 14 September 1966
    29. ↑ BBC – King of the River: Flash Point 28 September 1966
    30. ↑ BBC – King of the River: The Great Albert Mystery 5 October 1966
    31. ↑ BBC – King of the River: Susanna Goes Fishing 19 October 1966
    32. ↑ BBC – King of the River: The End of the Voyage 26 October 1966
    33. ↑ BBC – Till Death Us Do Part: A Woman's Place is in the Home
    34. ↑ BBC – Juke Box Jury 4 March 1967
    35. ↑ BBC – The Forsyte Saga: Part 16: A Family Wedding 22 April 1967
    36. ↑ BBC – The Forsyte Saga: Part 17: The White Monkey 29 Apr 1967
    37. ↑ BBC – The Forsyte Saga: Part 18: Afternoon of a Dryad 6 May 1967
    38. ↑ BBC – The Forsyte Saga: Part 18: Afternoon of a Dryad 6 May 1967
    39. ↑ BBC – The Forsyte Saga: Part 19: No Retreat 13 May 1967
    40. ↑ BBC – The Wednesday Play: Death of a Private
    41. ↑ BBC – Thirty-Minute Theatre: The Sinner
    42. ↑ BBC – The Wednesday Play: A Bit of Crucifixion, Father
    43. ↑ BFI – Bangelstein's Boys
    44. ↑ BBC – The Wednesday Play: There is also Tomorrow
    45. ↑ BFI – Bloxham's Concerto for Critic and Carpenter
    46. ↑ BBC – Play of the Month: E. M. Forster's Howards End
    47. ↑ BBC – Doomwatch: The Islanders
    48. ↑ BBC – Play for Today: Edna, the Inebriate Woman
    49. ↑ BFI – The Stinie Morrison Case: Part 1
    50. ↑ BFI – The Stinie Morrison Case: Part 2
    51. ↑ BFI – Little Miss Perkins
    52. ↑ BFI – You'll Be All Right
    53. ↑ BBC – Screen One: Running Late
    54. ↑ BFI – Hell and High Water
    55. ↑ "Butley – Broadway Play". Ibdb.com. The Broadway League. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    56. ↑ Hischak, Thomas S.; Bordman, Gerald Martin (2001). American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1969-2000. OUP USA. p. 50. ISBN   978-0-19-512347-0.
    57. ↑ "Show Archive: 1985 - 1990 - Long Wharf Theatre". Longwharf.org. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    58. ↑ "Finborough Theatre". Finboroughtheatre.co.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    59. ↑ "Register with Genes Reunited - Genes Reunited". Genesreunited.co.nz. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    60. ↑ "Coming in from the cold". Independent.co.uk. 28 April 1995. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    61. ↑ "An Intriguing Second Life For Allegro". Rnh.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    62. ↑ Harris, Paul (11 May 2005). "'Lost' musicals find way to Hayes kudos". Variety.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    63. ↑ "Dirty Blonde review at Duke of Yorks London - Review - Theatre - The Stage". Variety.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    64. ↑ Wolf, Matt (21 March 2004). "'Blonde' ambition". Variety.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    65. ↑ "'Slut,' a new musical written by Ben H. Winters and Stephen Sislen, at the American Theatre of Actors on the 13 Sep - 13 Nov 2005". Newyorktheatreguide.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    66. ↑ Rooney, David (3 October 2005). "Review: 'Slut'". Variety.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    67. ↑ "Slut - 2005 Off-Broadway - Creative Team". Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    68. ↑ Billington, Michael (25 May 2006). "Sunday in the Park With George". The Guardian . Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    69. ↑ Robertson, Campbell (22 June 2006). "My Name Is Rachel Corrie - Review - Theater". The New York Times . Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    70. ↑ "Marber's Dealer's Choice to Return to the West End - Playbill". Playbill.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    71. ↑ ​The Seagull​ (2008 production) at the Internet Broadway Database
    72. ↑ Isherwood, Charles (26 February 2009). "21st-Century Grover's Corners, With the Audience as Neighbors". The New York Times . Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    73. ↑ "Our Town". Barrowstreettheatre.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    74. ↑ "Superior Donuts – Broadway Play". Ibdb.com. The Broadway League. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    75. ↑ "Enron – Broadway Play". Ibdb.com. The Broadway League. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    76. ↑ "Butley review at Duchess Theatre London - Review - Theatre - The Stage". Thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    77. ↑ "Honeymoon in Vegas – Broadway Musical". Ibdb.com. The Broadway League. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
    78. ↑ About Only Make Believe
    79. ↑ "D.C. gets Only Make Believe: Charity expands in 13th year". Articles.orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

    Pictures

    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.