Biography
Sam Wanamaker, also credited as Samuel Wanamaker, was an American actor and director. Born in Chicago, Illinois, on 14 June 1919, he trained at the Goodman School of Drama and Drake University before beginning his career on Broadway. He moved to the United Kingdom in the 1950s and worked extensively in British theatre and film until his death in London on 18 December 1993.
His film roles include David Warfield in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), Rockford in Death on the Nile (1978), Luigi Patrovita in Raw Deal (1986), Teddy Benjamin in Private Benjamin (1980), Fritz Curtis in Baby Boom (1987), Peters in The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965), George Gruber in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), and Felix Graff in Guilty by Suspicion (1991). He also directed episodes of Columbo and the film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977).
Wanamaker is noted for his work in restoring Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, for which he received an honorary CBE. He was the father of actress Zoë Wanamaker.
