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An actress, the British citizen played Eliza Doolittle in the classic film Pygmalion (1938). She also made an impression on the stage, where she was one of George Bernard Shaw's favorite actresses. In fact, he cast her himself for the 1936 stagings of Pygmalion and Saint Joan. When she was rehearsing Saint Joan Shaw, 81, would come to watch. "Once, it was 3:00 in the morning when we finished rehearsing," she remembered. "Shaw came up on the stage and said quietly, 'If you'd like to go through that again, I'd like to listen.' We were pale gray, and he was pink and fresh and blooming." She only appeared in 16 films, saying she only wanted to make movies which were "rather special and have stature". It paid off: she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1958's Separate Tables. Dame Wendy died May 16 at home in London. She was 90. From This is True for 11 May 2003 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: George Bernard Shaw List Price: $2.00 Amazon Price: $2.00 Editorial Review: A rousing success on the London and New York stages, a popular film and a great musical hit (My Fair Lady), this brilliantly written play, with its irresistible theme of the emerging butterfly, is one of the most acclaimed comedies in the English language.George Bernard Shaw's brilliant comedy about class and a flower girl.  By: George Bernard Shaw List Price: $9.00 Amazon Price: $9.00 Editorial Review: Shaw radically reworks Ovid's tale with a feminist twist: while Henry Higgins successfully teaches Eliza Doolittle to speak and act like a duchess, she adamantly refuses to be his creation. First produced in 1914, it remains one of Shaw's most popular plays. The Definitive Text under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence With an Introduction by Nicholas Grene  By: George Bernard Shaw List Price: $5.50 Amazon Price: $5.50 Editorial Review: Enduring Literature Illuminated by Practical Scholarship An idealistic professor transforms an unsophisticated Cockney girl into a refined young lady in this classic drama set in turn-of-the-century London. This Enriched Classic Edition includes: • A concise introduction that gives readers important background information • A chronology of the author's life and work • A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context • An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations • Detailed explanatory notes • Critical analysis including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work • Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction • A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential. Series edited by Cynthia Brantley Johnson  By: George Bernard Shaw List Price: $12.00 Amazon Price: $9.60 Editorial Review: Joan of Arc, born in 1412, was burned at the stake in 1431, canonized by the Catholic Church in 1920, and, like most saints, whitewashed by history. Canonization tends to strip a saint of supposedly un-Christian attributes such as rebelliousness, pride, and intolerance. And Joan, despite having been a stubborn, haughty, naive, even foolish girl, has for much of history been remembered only as a pious martyr. However, George Bernard Shaw's play, Saint Joan, completed in 1925, began the modern rehabilitation of the icon as a fully human, fallible character--not to mention a poster girl for teenage rebellion and feminism. Shaw's Joan, like the real Maid of Orleans, leads the fight to drive the English out of her native France, insists on direct communication with her God instead of submitting to the mediation of Catholic priests, and refuses to dress, speak, or act according to traditional notions of how women were expected to behave. Until the closing scene of Shaw's play, however, neither Joan nor her foes are cast in neatly heroic terms. Both are earnestly pursuing their partial visions of the truth. In the play's famous epilogue, Shaw suggests that even 400 years later, most of us are so limited by our own perspectives that we are unable to tell the difference between a saint and a heretic. "O God that madest this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to receive Thy saints?" Joan asks, preparing for her death. "How long, O Lord, how long?" --Michael Joseph GrossWith Saint Joan, Shaw reached the height of his fame as a dramatist. Fascinated by the story of Joan of Arc (canonized in 1920), but unhappy with "the whitewash which disfigures her beyond recognition," he presents a realistic Joan: proud, intolerant, naïve, foolhardy, always brave-a rebel who challenged the conventions and values of her day.  By: George Bernard Shaw List Price: $4.99 Amazon Price: $4.99 Editorial Review: Pygmalion is a comedy which features a unique relationship between a spunky flower girl and her speech professor. In this George Bernard Shaw classic, flower girl Eliza Doolittle teaches her speech professor Henry Higgins that being a lady is more than just speaking like one. This is a truly important work for those who are fans of the writings of George Bernard Shaw and should not be passed up by individuals who are fans of comedic and witty plays. |
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