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FDU PRESS
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| Scholarly Review |
 | Walter Hampden: Dean of the American Theatre
ISBN# 9780838641668
Reviewed by: James Fisher, UNC - Greensboro
Broadside, 37:1 |
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Geddeth Smith's engaging biography of Walter Hampden, the first and long overdue, goes some distance in restoring the actor's legacy. Many of Hampden's contemporaries, including John Barrymore, gained immortality as film stars, a route Hampden did not choose. His screen performances were rare and the most memorable came late in his career in supporting roles, including a cameo as the old actor presenting Eve Harrington with her Sarah Siddons Award in All About Eve (1950) and as Humphrey Bogart's cantankerous father in Sabrina (1954). These are the only tangible evidence of his acting skill (aside from some excellent character photographs reproduced in the book), but Smith rightly focuses on Hampden's stage career.
Smith reconstructs Hampden's performances in breathtaking detail. He succeeds simultaneously in illuminating Hampden's achievements while creating a vivid portrait of the evolving American stage of an extraordinary era (1900-1950).
Without question, Hampden's memory is well served by this meticulously researched and highly readable biography, a necessary volume for any theatre collection or scholar of the American stage.
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