David Prashker's Book Of Days: The World as Stage

All names in this Index are by birth-certificate, which may not be the name by which you know them.

At the top left-hand corner of every screen there is a flat rectangular box with an icon of a magnifying-glass: your search bar. You may well find it easier to find the person you are seeking there.

We tend to remember the names of the writers of the great plays, and even, occasionally, the great movies, though these latter are more likely to be the work of the directors; but plays and movies require actors, and my pieces about Stanislavski and Strasberg make very clear what is an actor, and what is a person in a costume reciting lines. And of course there are overlaps - Woody Allen the obvious example of one who writes his own scripts, directs them into finished product, and regularly takes a lead role as well...

The World As Stage

broken down into sub-sections as

a) The Theorists

b) The Theatre-Builders

c) The Writers

d) The Directors

e) The Performers

   which is itself broken down into

   * The Methodists

   * The Other Denominations

   * The Dancers

  * The Clowns

* the Unplaceables

plus sub-sub-sections at the end on

* the strange tale of the fencing of Salernitano’s stolen goods

* the saga of Rosenkrantz and Guildernstern

As always I shall be referencing many websites, but be aware that Doollee.com, the encyclopaedic website of the late Julian Oddy, which describes itself as “the online guide to modern playwrights and theatre plays which have been written, adapted or translated, into English since the production of Look Back in Anger in 1956. doollee.com contains information on 56,653 Playwrights and 193,348 of their Plays” – a statement that is not entirely accurate, because there are also the agents, the publishers, the theatres, even sometimes the obituaries and the reviews...and still more

a) The Theorists

Konstantin Sergeyevich Alekseyev (Stanislavski was his stage-name) (born Jan 17 1863; died August 7 1938): preceding Lee Strasberg on Jan 17; referenced on Jan 22, May 22, Aug 8, Nov 17; bio here, the Method here; how to be methodical here; books here; and see my essay in “Beyond The Fourth Wall” (a statement that applies, in the end, to almost everybody on this page)

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (born Feb 10 1898; died August 14 1956): "St Joan of the Stockyards" can be found on May 30; mentioned on May 16 and July 3; bio here; theories here, plays here, poems here [responses to bullying]. I have included him here, rather than among the Directors or Writers, because in the end his plays are mostly high quality, despute the fact they they fail almost completely to conform to his theories about theatre, but ultimately those theories are where he has impacted massively on serious theatre ever since - the reason for the title of my theatre-essays, above

Israel Strassberg (Lee Strasberg) (born Nov 17 1901; died February 17 1982): picked up Stanislavski’s method on Jan 17; used it on Aug 8; mentioned May 22; his website here

b) The Theatre-Builders (though it takes a good deal more than just wood or brick or stone to build a theatre)

Edward (“Ned”) Alleyn (born September 1 1566; died November 25 1626): a cameo role on Dec 18. For why he shouldn’t really be called “Ned” here; bio here; see P’s London for the Fortune Theatre (his plaque on Fortune Street here). One of the great clowns, but what has endured and truly impacted are the four schools and the foundation that has funded all of them, named “The College of God’s Gift” (though sadly Alleyn's God did not include girls in the world of education. The first was his, Dulwich College, in 1619, just for the boys (its website here). But then, apparently, God changed his mind, as well as the spelling of the Alleyn name: the second, James Allen's Girls' School, was set up by his descendant down the road just over a hundred years later (its website here), and both not just funded as start-ups, but largely subsidised, with the continued support of the respelled Alleyn/Allen family, over multiple generations. Which makes two schools, not four. Yes, I know. But so successful has the Alleyns Group been, they have recently opened two more schools, one in Regent's Park, the other in Hampstead; the Group's website here. Of the famous lines known to have been his, I shall disregard "a plague on both your houses" as utterly inappropriate here, and go for the one attributed by Stoppard in "Shakespeare in Love": "Pay attention, and you will see how genius creates a legend". I wonder if the teachers ever put that on their whiteboards?

Dionysius (“Dion”) Lardner Boucicault (born December 26 1820; died September 18 1890): playwright, actor and theatre manager; the première of his “Octaroon” on Dec 5; his bio here

James Burbage (born 1531; died February 2 1597): theatre-building on April 13; watching one of them burn down on June 29; bio here and here; the first theatre here; the other theatres here (son Richard is among the actors, below)

Peter Reginald Frederick Hall (born November 22 1930; died September 11 2017): diarising Mountbatten on Aug 27; reduced to simile on Sept 11; expanded to metaphor on Dec 3 – RSC here, obituary here

Abdias do Nascimento: founded the Teatro Nacional do Negro in Rio de Janeiro in 1944; and I presume this is the same man who was "elected to the Brazilian Congress in 1983 on a platform of promoting Afro-Brazilian rights"; bio here [pre-Columban Americas]

Abraham (“Bram”) Stoker (born November 8 1847; died April 20 1912): famous for writing “Dracula” on Feb 1 and March 11; but actually far more interesting for having been the personal assistant of actor Henry Irving, and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre on The Strand, which Irving actor-managed: more on that here

c) The Writers

Aeschylus: “the father of tragedy” (circa 525-circa 456 BCE) on April 30, July 18 and Sept 23; his name is written as Αἰσχύλος in the Greek so it should really be pronounced Aischýlos: various of the plays here and here; the complete plays here

Publius Terentius Afer (born in Libya circa 190 BCE; died circa 160 BCE), usually remembered as Terence Afer: writing poems and plays on the Africa page; bio here

Aristophanes (born 445 BCE; deathdate unkknown): four greats have endured, Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles the serious dramatists, Aristophanes the comic: blogged on Dec 18; bio and plays here

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais: born Jan 24 1732; died May 18 1799): Interesting man, a spy, an arms dealer, an inventor, a key funder of the American Revolution (click here for that), who was nonetheless imprisoned as an opponent of the French Revolution (click here for that); also a musician... and the author of the three ”Figaro” plays and “The Barber of Seville”. I choose my websites very carefully, so where better to go for his bio than this one; “Figaro” in translation here, and the Mozart version here; “Le Berbier” (uncut version) here

Samuel Barclay Beckett (born April 13 1906; died Dec 22 1989): central to the essay on Feb 16; thinking like Lucky on Feb 28; performed by Billie Whitelaw on June 6; eponymised on July 3; quoted by Peter Hall on Sept 11 and Dec 3; listed on Sept 23; can’t remember who Krapp was on Oct 28; “try, fail, try again, fail better” here; his website here; his Doollee-page here

Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (born Feb 9 1923; died March 20 1964): works and bio here; some of his less-than-sober lines here; his Doollee-page here

Robert Oxton Bolt (born Aug 15 1924; died February 21 1995): well-seasoned on July 6; bio and scripts here; his Doollee-page here

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (born Jan 29 1860; died July 15 1904): “Three Sisters” premièred on Jan 31; bio here; works here

William Congreve (born Jan 24 1670; died January 19 1729): bio here; books here; multiple portraits here

Pierre Corneille (born June 6 1606; died October 1 1684): mentioned on Sept 23; bio here; poetry here and here; plays here and here

David Edgar: the heir of Brecht on May 10, and also mentioned re John Lewis on May 16; bio here (and a piece waiting to be added on July 13); his Doollee-page here

Euripides (born Sept 23 480; died circa 406 BCE): bio here; ninety-two plays are ascribed to him, but only nineteen have survived: here, and here

Georges Feydeau (born December 8 1862; died June 5 1921): a complete farce on Dec 5; bio here; though that reference to “L'Hôtel du Libre échange ” should have included Maurice Desvallières, who co-wrote it (though actually painter George Desvallières is much more interesting (click here for him)

John Gay (born June 30 1685; died December 4 1732): bio here; “Beggar's Opera” on March 15 and here; Scriblerus Club here; poems and portraits here; Westminster Abbey here; his version of "The Compleat Angler" here

Jean Genet (born Dec 19 1910; died April 14 1986): bio here; the works here

Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (born Oct 29 1882; died January 31 1944): bio and plays here

Oliver Goldsmith (born Nov 10 1728; died April 4 1774): bio and poems here; honoured by Thackeray on Feb 8; docked on March 15; “She Stoops To Conquer” here

Christopher Harris (known by his pen-name as Christopher Fry) (born Dec 18 1907; died June 30 2005): bio here; Royal Society of Literature here; reviewed here; his Doollee-page here; (his Desert Island Discs appearance here – well, why not!)

Václav Havel (born Oct 5 1936; died December 182011): sworn in on Dec 29; but on this list for his plays, for which click here; bio-obituary here; Doollee-page here; overview of all his achievements here; why he should also be on the political ideologues page here and here [and he is also on the responses to bullying list]

Lillian Florence Hellman (born but unfinished on June 20 1905; died June 30 1984): bio here, with links to her major works; her MacDowell medal here; her Pulitzer Prize here

Thomas Holcroft (born December 10 1745; died March 23 1809): yet another of Joseph Johnson's circle of radical thinkers on April 27; bio here

Henrik Johan Ibsen (born March 20 1828; died May 23 1906): at war with Strindberg on Jan 22; première of “Emperor and Galilean” on Dec 5; mentioned on Aug 4 and premièred on Dec 5; in Oslo here; the Norwegian Ibsen Company here

Alfred Jarry (born Sept 8 1873; died November 1 1907): bio here; “Ubu Roi” here; exhibited here; didn’t Frank Sinatra and The Beatles do exactly the same, here

Eugen (Eugène) Ionescu (born Nov 26 1909; died March 28 1994): not his Rhinoceros on Sept 13, but you can find his version here; bio and theories here; the view from the homeland here

Benjamin (Ben) Jonson (born June 11 1572; died August 18 1637): in the hall of fame on Sept 23; fought in the Netherlands on Nov 5; mentioned on June 29; bio here; the complete works online here and here; the only person buried in an upright position in Westminster Abbey here; National Portrait Gallery here; his regular pub crawls down the Cloth Fair with Will Shakespere can be found in P's London

Arthur Lee Kopit (born May 10 1937; died April 2 2021): his Pulitzer Prizewinning play “Indians” on July 20 and Dec 6! For him, try here; for the play here

Thomas Kyd (born Nov 6 1558; died 1594): bio here and here; “The Spanish Tragedy” here

Meyer Levin (born October 7 1905; died July 9 1981): authored the first Broadway version of the Anne Frank diaries on June 12; but there is a very sad tale about this, of rejected scripts, law-suits, all sorts, for which click here; and the reason why Levin got involved in the first place, and quite so emotionally involved forever after, here

Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (born June 5 1898; died August 19 1936): the concept of “Duende” here (Leonard Cohen setting him to music here has more to say on the subject); his house-museum just outside Granada here; the Young Vic website here; fuller bio with works and pictures here

Christopher (“Kit”) Marlowe: (born February 6 1564; stabbed to death on May 30 1593): translated Ovid on Jan 8 and wrote “Hero and Leander” on May 3 (though only on the MM page); why is he here and not on the GER page, vile anti-Semite that he was? for which see March 15; was he a spy or an informer on Nov 5; mentioned Jan 5 and Sept 23

Leander - no known surname, the boyfriend of Hero, which you would think would have been Heroine as she was a girl. Mentioned on May 3 because it was he who Byron was imitating when he swam the Hellespont, somewhat unheroically it must be said. The tale here; Kit Marlowe’s version here, Leigh Hunt’s here

David Mercer (born June 27 1928; died August 8 1980): the golden age of TV playwrights on Dec 3 - bio here; Dooley-page here; I didn’t realise he was Jewish here and here

Arthur Asher Miller: (born Oct 17 1915; died February 10 2005): the source of "The Crucible" on Feb 29 and July 19; mentioned on July 18 and Sept 23; alluded to on Jan 1. Mrs Miller (Norma Jean Mortenson) can be found among the actors, below; bio and other plays here

Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, three of the “witches” of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, are all hanging from their gallows on Feb 29; but you will also find Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Sarah Wildes and Rebecca Nurse on July 19, Arthur Miller’s retelling of their story on Oct 17, and the full tale of the calumny here

Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay: (born Dec 11 1810; died May 2 1857): played love-poems with George Sand on July 1; bio here; he is remembered today more for his poetry than his plays, but he is also regarded as the founder of modern French drama, whence his listing here; you can find some of those poems here, and other writings here

Clifford Odets (born July 18 1906; died August 14 1963): mentioned on Jan 1; archives and bio here; the self-hating McCarthy complier here

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill: born Oct 16 1888; died November 27 1953): mentioned on Jan 1 and July 18; his 1936 Nobel prize here; Tao House here

John Kingsley (Joe) Orton (born Jan 1 1933; died August 9 1967): his website here; and there appear to be more plays about him than the ones he wrote himself: click here

John James Osborne (born Dec 12 1929; died December 24 1994): bio and archive here; his Blue Plaque in Hammersmith here; portraits here; five of the best plays here; and given that “Look Back In Anger” was the starting point for the Doollee-pages: click here

Harold Pinter (born Oct 10 1930; died December 24 2008): mentioned on Sept 23 and Dec 3; 2005 Nobel Prize here; Doollee-page here; his own website here (given that he’s exited stage-left to where there are no pauses but only silences, does it have a caretaker?)

Luigi Pirandello (born June 28 1867; died December 10 1936): his Nobel Prize speech here; his website here

Alan Frederick Plater (born April 15 1935; died June 25 2010): the golden age of TV playwrights on Dec 3; bio here; obituary here; Doollee-page here

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Molière) (born Jan 15 1622; died February 17 1673): mentioned on Jan 8 and 18, also Sept 23; the view from Versailles here; major works here

Christopher George Dennis Potter (born May 17 1935; died of the effects of the most appalling psoriasis, augmented by cancer, on June 7 1994): the absolute peak of the golden age of TV playwrights on Dec 3; everything you need here and here

John Boynton (J.B) Priestley (born Sept 13 1894; died August 14 1984): “An Inspector Calls” adjacent to the author of “Son of Man” ... maybe I should move JB to the lighter writers – his website here

Jean-Baptiste Racine (born Dec 22 1639; died April 21 1699): mentioned on Sept 23; bio here; works here

Terence Mervyn Rattigan (born June 10 1911; died November 30 1977): deep in "The Deep Blue Sea" on Dec 3; his website here

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (born June 21 1905 [unpublished]; gave up both essence and existence on April 15 1980); “Les Mouches” on May 30; mentioned on Jan 9, Feb 21 - [he is also, as you would expect, on the philosophers page]

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (born Nov 10 1759; died May 9 1805): bio here; works here and here; the philosopher here; the poet here

Victor Sejour: the New Orleans-born African American playwright's first play, "Diegarias", performed at the Theatre Français in Paris in 1844 on the Africa page

Anthony Joshua Shaffer (born May 15 1926; died November 6 2001), screenplay writer, and Peter Levin Shaffer (born May 15 1926; died June 6 2016), playwright, born within seconds of each other, and completely identical. Anthony’s “Wicker Man” is mentioned on Nov 5 – Anthony’s Dooley-page here, Peter’s here

Gulielmus Shakspere (William Shakespeare) (born April 23 1564; died April 23 1616) (and those dates are probably wrong, because too much of a coincidence): the Complete Works here; despised for coming from the wrong class on Jan 5; R&J on Jan 30; Deutschified by Voß on Feb 8; bite-sized by Charles and Mary Lamb on Feb 10 and Dec 3; recovered by David Garrick on Feb 19; Roderigo Lopes on Feb 28 and June 29 (the night The Globe burned down); with Richard Tarlton on March 15; “The Tempest” on March 29; with Cervantes on April 23 and Ben Jonson on June 11; doing Midsummer Night on June 23; his patron the Earl of Leicester on July 19; getting Macbeth completely wrong on Aug 15, and Richard III mis-shapen on Aug 22 and Nov 5; R&G from Hamlet on Sept 2; Elizabeth Montagu on Oct 2; Emperor Claudius as Hamlet on Oct 13, and Hamlet alone on Nov 20; merely mentioned on Jan 3, Jan 5, Jan 8, Jan 9, April 30, May 11, May 16, June 24, July 6 and Sept 23

Emilia Bassano: wrongly thought to have been Shakespeare’s lover on Jan 30

Francis Bacon: Jan 5, June 29, Nov 5 and Dec 29 - see “Roderigo Lopes” and my piece at Gray’s Inn in Prashker’s London; needs to go with the Earl of Oxford!

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford: co-authoring Shakespeare’s plays with Francis Bacon on Jan 5, June 29 and Dec 29

Lucy Negro: the Dark Lady of the Sonnets on June 29

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury (1563-1612): satirised by Shakespeare as Richard III on June 24 and Nov 5 - bio here [world as stage and Aenglisch list]

George Bernard Shaw (born July 26 1856; died November 2 1950): at home in Fitzroy Square on May 18 (Blue Plaque here, though it’s the house at Ayot St Lawrence that’s worth the visit - here); “St Joan” and “Man and Superman” on May 30; born July 26; performed in “Hamlet” on Sept 2; not doing much on Sept 10; Nobel Prize here; the complete works here

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (born Oct 30 1751; died July 7 1816): a red rather than a blue plaque at his London home, here; the writings here

Sophocles of Kolonus (born circa 497 BCE; died circa 406 BCE): among the great dramatists on Sept 23; bio here; “Antigone” in Richard Jebb’s translation here; all the plays here

Tom Stoppard (Tomás Straüssler) born July 3, “Rosencrantz and Guildernstern” on Sept 2; mentioned on Dec 3. Having followed his career now for fifty years, I have to insist that Tomás Straüssler is a far better playwright than Tom Stoppard; by which I mean that Stoppard can be brilliantly witty and clever, but “Rosenkrantz and Guildernstern” and “Shakespeare In Love” are his mentor’s comedies, not his tragedies, the Andrew Aguecheeks not the Shylocks; whereas “Professional Foul” takes us to the heart and soul of the man Stoppard might have been had he not been spirited away from Prague as a young man and therefore missed the Spring so badly that he felt compelled to write about it. I wonder how many other writers-in-exile that description applies to? His Doollee-page here

Johan August Strindberg (born Jan 22 1849; died May 14 1912): the complete works here and the incomplete works here; he painted and took photos too, click here (though the ones at the site leave you wondering why the Tate bothered to exhibit them; several of the ones here are rather better)

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (born Oct 16 1854; died November 30 1900): arrested April 5, though some sources insist it was April 6: click here for the full tale; rest of the bio here; works here

Lord Alfred Douglas: “aiding and abetting a pederast” on April 5; apparently “Bosie” was his mother’s nickname, west country pronunciation of “boysie”, for “little boy”, long before Oscar used it, he was a poet (click here) and journalist

Thornton Niven Wilder: Feb 16 (linked to his birthday on April 17): he won the Pullitzer Prize once for a novel, but twice for his plays (click here), so he’s listed here: bio and works here (died December 7 1975)

Thomas Lanier (“Tennessee”) Williams (born March 26 1911; died February 25 1983): “Streetcar” premièred on Dec 3; expurgated on Dec 6; mentioned on Jan 1 and July 18; Kennedy Centre here; living in Key West here; the Harvard collection here; complete works here

d) The Directors

Armondo Linus Acosta: directing Robert Powell as Romeo and Francesca Annis as Juliet (and Vanessa Redrave as Ma Capulet) in the 1990 Belgian film "Romeo.Juliet", on Jan 30

Richard Samuel Attenborough: born Aug 29

Harley Granville-Barker (born Nov 25 1877; died August 31 1946): bio and works here; the Senate House collection here

Ernst Ingmar Bergman (born July 14 1918; died July 30 2007): his wesbite here; the complete films here

Peter Brook: (born March 21 1925; died July 2 2022): directing the Marat-Sade on July 13; obituary here; the “Empty Space” here

Claude Chabrol (born June 24 1930; died September 12 2010): riding the Nouvelle Vague on Dec 3; works and bio here

Francis Ford Coppola: born April 7 (1939); bio and films here; his winery here

Noël Peirce Coward (born Dec 16 1899; died March 26 1973): his website here

Sergei Mikhailovich Eizenshtein (Eisenstein): born Jan 23 1898; died February 11 1948): Russian archives here; mentioned on Dec 3

Emilio Estevez: murdering the assassination of Bobby Kennedy on June 24

Federico Domenico Marcello Fellini (born Jan 20 1920; died October 31 1993): the close-up from the BFI here

Jean-Luc Godard (born Dec 3 1930; died September 13 2022): bio and works here

Allen Stuart Konigsberg (Woody Allen): hired as a token Jew on March 6; hired as a klutz on July 3; completely bananas on his birthdate, Dec 1

Stanley Kubrick (born July 26 1928; died March 7 1999): his website here

Friedrich Christian Anton (“Fritz”) Lang (born Dec 5 1890; died August 2 1976): the Cinema Archives here

David Lean (born March 25 1908; died April 16 1991): filming “Lawrence of Arabia” on June 24; mentioned on July 6 and Aug 15; his website here (and yes, it’s empty, save only that picture and comment); portraits here; films here

George Walton Lucas: used adult ideas to make movies for children on March 26

Sidney Arthur Lumet (born June 25 1924; died April 9 2011): all the films here; bio here

Louis Marie Malle (born Oct 30 1932; died November 23 1995): all the films here; bio here

Cecil Blount DeMille (born August 12 1881; died January 21 1959): making Hollywood epics on July 10; his website here

Michael Francis Moore: the heir of the protest singers on Oct 3 - his website here, though I think it’s just his tweet-box by another name

David Samuel (Sam) Peckinpah (born 21 February 21 1925; died December 28 1984): shooting Billy the Kid on Nov 23; bio here

Michael Igor Peschkowsky (Mike Nichols) (born Nov 8 1931; died November 19 2014): bio and works here

Rajmund Roman Thierry Polański (born Aug 18 1933): gets a mention as Sharon Tate’s husband on Aug 9, and definitely merits inclusion in this list, especially for “The Pianist”, for which see my essay “Remembering The Future” in “Travels In Unfamiliar Lands”; bio and works here

Sharon Marie Tate (married name Polański; and yes, that Polański, Rajmund Roman the film director): murdered by followers of the cult of Charles Manson on Aug 9 1969 – and Manson is definitely in deep red: the full and horrific tale here

Henry Kenneth Alfred (Ken) Russell: born July 3

Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer (Eric Rohmer) (born April 4 1920; died January 11 2010): bio and films here; riding the Nouvelle Vague on Dec 3

Martin Charles Scorsese: filming Kazantzakis on Feb 18

Ousmane Sembene: produced "Mandabi", the first film in the Senegelese Wolof language, in 1968 [the Africa page]

Steven Allan Spielberg: giving his hero a thousand faces on March 26; turning a two-faced criminal into a saint on June 24 and Aug 23

Eric Oswald (Hans Carl Maria Von) Stroheim (the bits in brackets were added when he moved to America) (born Sept 22 1885; died May 12 1957): bio and films here

Margarethe von Trotta: filming “Arendt in Jerusalem” on Jan 11; bio here; the films here

François Roland Truffaut (born February 6 1932; died Oct 21 1984): Nouvelle Vague on Dec 3; Film Noir on Dec 5; bio and films here

George Orson Welles (born May 6 1915; died October 10 1985): fought the war of the worlds by radio on Oct 30; his website here

Alfred (Fred) Zinneman (born April 29 1907; died March 14 1997): “A Man For All Seasons on July 6; films and brief bio here

e) The Performers

* The Methodists

Kenneth Charles Branagh: playing Shackleton on Jan 5; born Dec 10; not formally trained à la Strasberg, but clearly this is what he does: click here

Marlon Brando (Brandau when his family were still Germans): stage debut on Oct 19, student of Lee Strasberg on Nov 17, and the outcome on Dec 3; mentioned on Jan 17

Daniel Day-Lewis: has a mention in “A Journey in Time” because of his wife; but on this blog Jan 17 and Nov 17

Dustin Lee Hoffman: methodical on Jan 17; even more so on Aug 8

John Vincent Hurt: playing Quentin Crisp and Joseph Merrick on Jan 22

Denis Charles Pratt, or Quentin Crisp when he changed his name (born December 25 1908; died November 21 1999): portrayed by John Hurt on Jan 22

Glenda May Jackson (born May 9 1936; died June 15 2023): debuting on July 13

Camille Javal (Brigitte Bardot): born Sept 28 1934: bio and films here

Heath Andrew Ledger amongst the “Method” actors on Nov 17

Robert Anthony De Niro: decidedly methodical on Jan 17 and Nov 17

Laurence Kerr Olivier: born May 22, mentioned on Aug 8; not strictly a Method actor, but you only have to watch any three different performances to know that’s where he learned it

Peter O'Toole: playing Lawrence of Arabia on June 24 and July 6; and like Branagh and Olivier and several others, not technically a Method actor, not having been formally trained in it, though clearly he either borrowed its techniques, or simply reached the same conclusions independently

Edward (“Eddie”) John David Redmayne: unrecognisable as himself on Aug 8 or Dec 3

Vanessa Redgrave: born to play Isidora Duncan on Jan 30 (see also May 27); Julia to Jane Fonda’s Lillian Hellman on June 20; actors hall of fame on August 8 and Oct 22

and one who I shall label as Beckettian, but so unique there is no need for a sub-section: Billie Honor Whitelaw: born June 6, highlighted on Aug 8

* The Other Denominations

Ira Aldridge, alumnus of the African Grove Theater, began his acting career in London in 1824 [Africa]

Joan Van Ark can be found on June 16

Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (born April 9 1933; died September 6 2021): surfing the Nouvelle Vague on Dec 3; bio and films here

Henriette Rosine Bernard (Sarah Bernhardt) (born Oct 22 1844; died March 26 1923): bio here; the Mucha paintings here (who? Alphone Mucha; his bio is at the same link); the Jewish view here

Krishna Bhanji (Ben Kingsley): born Dec 31, in the actors hall of fame on Aug 8 (definitely not a method actor according to this website)

Humphrey DeForest Bogart: born Dec 25

Joaquín Rafael Bottom (Joaquin Phoenix, but sometimes Leaf Phoenix): one of the Lee Strasberg acolytes on Nov 17

George Bryan was on the 1586/7 Denmark tour on Sept 2, which included performing at Elsinore (here); bio here

Richard Burbage (born July 7 1568; died March 13 1619): gets mentions on June 25 and Aug 8, and a satirical allusion on Aug 22: his bio here; at Dulwich picture gallery here

George Timothy Clooney: playing the part of George Timothy Clooney on Aug 8

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch: playing Guildernstern on Sept 2 (apparently he has also played Rosencrantz on another occasion – click here)

Matt Damon: winning the rugby world cup on June 24

Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (born November 8 1935; died August 18 2024): No one makes movies like the French, on Dec 3; bio and films here

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu co-starring with Delon and co on Dec 3; bio and films here

Marie Magdalene (Marlene) Dietrich: born Dec 27

Jane Fonda: playing Lillian Hellman on June 20: her website here, but first take a look at her listings on the Merely Mentioneds and Pseudonyms pages

Morgan Freeman: thoroughly invicted on June 24

David Garrick (de la Garrique originally, but it was his grandparents who made the change when they came to England): the man who recovered Shakespeare from oblivion; born Feb 19 1717; died January 20 1779; part of the Fanny Burney crowd on June 13; amongst the actors on Aug 8; in Pepys’ diary with his wife Eva on Oct 2

Arthur John Gielgud: the perfect radio voice on Aug 8

Greta Lovisa Gustaffson (Greta Garbo): born Sept 18

Demi Gene Guynes (Demi Moore): lounge-singing on June 24

Diane Hall (Diane Keaton): no relation to Buster on Oct 4, but she is on the Pseudonyms page with Woody Allen

Philip Antony Hopkins: acting the role of Philip Antony what’s-his-name on Aug 8

Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert: “cold” and “austere” on Dec 3; bio and films here

Derek George Jacobi: born Oct 22

Ivo Livi (Yves Montand): born Oct 13

William H. Macy: made up to be made-up on June 24

Hattie McDaniel (born June 10 1893 in Wichita; died October 26 1952): arrived with the wind on Feb 29

Norma Jean Mortenson/Baker/Miller (Marilyn Monroe): found dead on Aug 5; photographed on Dec 6; husband Arthur Miller is among the Writers, above

Sidney Poitier: playing Vergil on Feb 28; Oscared on April 13

Thomas Pope (the First Folio spells him as Poope, but we shall wipe that away as an unfortunate error and not pontificate about it any further): he was on the Denmark tour on Sept 2, which included performing at Elsinore, and is known to have died in 1603; bio here but much better here

Michael Scudamore Redgrave (born March 20 1908; died March 21 1985): Vanessa's dad; honoured by Clifton College on June 20 - more here

Freddy Rodriguez: playing the busboy on June 24

Paul Scofield: A Man For A Silent Execution on July 6

Jean Dorothy Seberg (born November 13 1938; died August 30 1979): totally breathless on Dec 3; stinking to high heaven here; bio and films here

Thomas William Selleck: not even a walk-on, and barely a cameo, on Dec 3

Grace Stansfield (Gracie Fields) (born in Rochdale January 9 1898; died in Capri September 27 1979): corny in Capri on August 24

Sharon Yvonne Stone role-modelling the role of beautician on June 24

Aidan John Turner: not even a cameo, not even an understudy, but still taking a bow on Dec 3

* The Dancers

Phyllis Dixey (born February 10 1914; died June 2 1964): produced the first dedicated strip show in London on March 13 - try here, though this may be better

Angela Isadora (Dora) Duncan (born May 27 1877; died September 14 1927): married to Sergei Yesenin though that isn’t mentioned on either of their blog-appearances (more on that here); her importance in the dance-world here; archives here; her dance foundation here

Margaret Evelyn Hookman (Margaret de Arias; Margot Fonteyn) (born May 18 1919; died February 21 1991): bio here

Belle Jangles: definitely not related to Mr Bojangles, nor to the horse that later bore her name (click here), on March 13, though all three had their ways of dancing: try here

Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (born March 17 1938; died January 6 1993): dancing with Margot Fonteyn on May 18

Luther (Bill ) "Bojangles" Robinson (born May 25 1878; died November 25 1949): with Shirley Temple here; the Bob Dylan tribute here

* The Clowns

Robert Armin: another of the Shakespearian Fools on March 15 [the world as stage]

Ronald William George (“Ronnie”) Barker: on July 22 with Monty Python

Charlie (Charles Spencer) Chaplin: (born April 16 1889; died Dec 25 1977): compared with with Orwell on June 25, Grimaldi on Dec 18, Kafka on July 3

John Marwood Cleese: born Oct 27; compared with Grimaldi on Dec 18

Joseph Grimaldi (born Dec 18 1778; died May 31 1837): London Shoes here; his Blue Plaque in Clerkenwell here; his memoirs here

Joseph Francis (“Buster”) Keaton (born Oct 4 1895; died February 1 1966): comparisoned on April 11; his website here

William Kempe (Will Kemp) (born circa 1560; died circa 1603): playing the fool on March 15; performing in Elsinore on Sept 2; and speaking of Hamlet, speaking more than what was set down for him here

Ned Alleyn should also be here, but I have him in a different sub-section already; Robert Armin, above, and Richard Tarlton, below, make up the quartet

“Groucho” (Julius Henry ) Marx (born Oct 2 1890; died August 19 1977): the family website here

Yacov Moshe Maza (Jackie Mason) (born June 9 1928; died July 24 2021): obituary here

Oleg Konstantinovich Popov - not to be confused with the heavyweight wrestler [who can be found here if you really must] - born July 31 1930; died November 2 2016; clowning as he always did, on Dec 18 - bio here (and see the Karan d’Ash, below, who taught him)

Mikhail Nikolayevich Rumyantsev (Karandash his pseudonym): (born December 10 1901; died March 31 1983): click here - Dec 18

not to be confused with the Caran d'Ache, the French political cartoonist Emmanuel Poiré, who can be found here; karandash (Карандаш) is the Russian word for "pencil"

Leonard Alfred Schneider (Lenny Bruce) (born October 13 1925; died Aug 3 1966): first arrest on Oct 4; also mentioned on Aug 4

Richard Tarlton (born 1530; died September 5 1588), broadcasting the newes out of purgatorie on March 15; he isn’t actually on the page for Dec 18, but should be - see my note to him on March 15; bio here

Karl (anglicised to Charles) Adrien Wettach, “The Grock” (born January 10 1880; died July 14 1959): turns out to have been Jewish, as well as Swiss: among the clowns on Dec 18 - bio here; slightly fuller bio with pictures here

* the Unplaceables

Erik Weisz, or probably Ehrich Weiss in Romanian, and Chaim ben Maier at his Bar Mitzvah, but he is locked inescapably in your memory as Harry Houdini (born March 24 1874; died October 31 1926): bio and feats here - failed to escape from this blog on Aug 23

Jean-François Gravelet (Charles Blondin): taking a pedestrian wander across the Niagara Falls on June 30 – well, it drew huge paying crowds, and was a form of performing, so he needs to be on this page!

Richard Cavendish wrote a piece about Blondin for “History Today” on June 30

Nikolas (Nik) Wallenda: doing a poor imitation of Blondin on June 30

and one more, irresistible to include him on this page:

Aaron H Allen (born October 6 1800; died April 7 1849): worth a cartoon on Dec 5; read all about it in comfort while staring at a screen here (and there’s a really interesting piece about Lucian Freud lower on the same link)

The Jan 30 crowd, or "the strange tale of the fencing of Salernitano’s stolen goods", in chronological order:

Tommaso dei Guardati (1410-1475),who published his collections of short stories under the pseudonym Masuccio Salernitano; one of them was a love story entitled “Mariotto and Ganozza”

Luigi da Porto (born August 10 1485; died May 10 1529): adapted Salernitano’s “Mariotto and Ganozza” as “Giulietta e Romeo”; more here

Matteo Bandello (1485-1561): wrote yet another version of “Romeo and Juliet”, likewise based on the Salernitano; here

François de Belleforest (1530–January 1 1583): translated Bandello from Italian into French while inventing the historic tragedy; more here

Pierre Boaistuau, or Pierre Launay, or Sieur de Launay (1517-1566): likewise translated Bandello’s "Giuletta e Romeo" into French

Arthur Brooke: wrote "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet"; click here for background data

Richard Tottel: (date of birth unknown; died 1594): published Arthur Brooke’s "The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet"; click here for the background, here for the text; otherwise best known for “Tottel’s Miscellany”, for which click here

Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story" can be found here

* the saga of Frederik Rosenkrantz and Knud Gyldenstierne, all the way from Shakespeare to Stoppard; on Sept 2 unless otherwise stated

Rigborg Brockenhuus: mothering a child with Rosenkrantz; her story here and here

Geoffrey Fenton: supplying Burglar Bill with fenced goods on Jan 30; his bio here

William Schwenck Gilbert (born November 18 1836; died May 29 1911): and a funny coincidence that Brahe and the other Gilbert are also on a page about the Rudolphine Tables (July 24), and the involvement therein of Rosencrantz and Guildernstern: I wonder if the composer knew, and this was why he wanted to do the piece on Sept 2? More on the Gilbert version here, and with partner Arthur Sullivan on June 29

Arthur Seymour Sullivan (born May 13 1842; died November 22 1900): mentioned en passant on June 29 and Sept 2

Hamlet: much more interesting to tell the tale that Burglar Bill stole: it’s here

or to wonder if perhaps, it was Hamlet that Stoppard was thinking of, when he has Proferssor Anderson procrastinating about whether or not to play a professional foul on ... watch it here

Tom Stoppard's role in all this can be found higher up on this page; and several actors named above who were on that visit to Elsinore which is probably the starting-point for Shakespeare's interest in both R&G and Hamlet