Publisher Description
This recording contains readings from seven of Shakespeare’s histories, four of his comedies and two of his tragedies. It is an original-telecast recording of an NBC-TV documentary and includes scenes from Richard II, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry V, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and others.
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About William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English poet and dramatist of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean period, is the most widely known author in all of English literature and often considered the greatest. He was an active member of a theater company for at least twenty years, during which time he wrote many great plays. Plays were not prized as literature at the time and Shakespeare was not widely read until the middle of the eighteenth century, when a great upsurge of interest in his works began that continues today.
About the Narrators
Sir
Michael Scudamore Redgrave (1908–1985) was a renowned English stage and film
actor, director, manager, and author. He began his acting career in Liverpool
and London, and over four decades became renowned as an actor, winning several
awards for best actor in both Britain and the United States. His first major
film role was in Alfred Hitchcock’s The
Lady Vanishes in 1938. For his services to drama, he was appointed Commander
of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1952 and was knighted in 1959. He
was also appointed Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog, Denmark, in 1955. Besides
being one of the post-WWI English acting pantheon, he was the sire of an acting
dynasty. As an author, he wrote four books, including his autobiography, In My Mind’s I, as well as two plays and
two stage adaptations.
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-1983) was one of the greatest
actors of the twentieth century English theater, ascending to the height of his
profession in the mid-1930s when he became a star in London's West End. He
became the first actor of his generation to be knighted in 1947. Along with
Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, he is considered one the greatest English
actors of the generation.