Anniversary of The Miracle Worker
On May 23, 1962, Arthur Penn's "The Miracle Worker" premiered in New York.
The plot of the picture "The Miracle Worker" is based on the real story of a girl named Helen Keller, who was born a perfectly healthy child, developed quickly and successfully up to a year and a half, but then, due to complications after suffering an infectious disease, she lost her sight, hearing and the ability to speak. And so the 20-year-old teacher Ann Sullivan was able to raise a writer, lecturer and political activist from such a child. The first person to call Anne Sullivan "worked a miracle" was the great American writer Mark Twain, who was friends with Helen Keller. He owns the phrase "Helen is a miracle, and Miss Sullivan - this miracle worker."
Before becoming the basis of a film adaptation, this real story found its embodiment first as an episode in the CBS television series Playhouse 90, which was shown in 1957. The episode was based on a play by William Gibson based on Helen Keller's autobiography published in 1902. Two years later, Arthur Penn staged the play, which premiered on October 19, 1959 at the Broadway Playhouse Theatre. The performance was a huge success, as evidenced by the fact that 719 performances took place in 20 months. The main roles in the play were played by Patty Duke and Ann Bancroft.
Due to the success of the play, the producers of the film company United Artists had the idea to make a film based on the play by William Gibson and entrust the production to Arthur Penn. Arthur Penn invited Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft to star in the film. But this decision was met with hostility by the producers. Initially, producers intended to invite the more eminent at that time Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn or Ingrid Bergman to the role of Ann Sullivan. Arthur Penn was given a choice: to receive $5 million for the project if Elizabeth Taylor stars, or $500,000 with Anne Bancroft in the title role.
The producers also objected to Patty Duke as Helen Keller. In their opinion, Patty Duke at 15 years old was not suitable for the role of a 7-year-old girl. But Arthur Penn insisted that the duet of Bancroft and Duke had already passed the test of the scene and very successfully. In the end, everyone insisted: Bancroft and Duke got the roles, and the budget was $500,000.
During the filming of The Miracle Worker, both Bancroft and Duke became so immersed in their roles that they repeatedly put their health at risk. They fought absolutely for real, sparing neither themselves nor their partner. Bancroft contracted pneumonia during filming, but took to bed only after filming was completed.
How right Arthur Penn was in his insistence and how wrong were the producers of United Artists became clear after Bancroft and Duke were awarded several of the most prestigious film awards. Anne Bancroft in June 1962 received the award for Best Actress at the International Film Festival in San Sebastian, Spain. In early 1963, "The Miracle Worker" and two of its lead actresses were nominated for a Golden Globe Award, but the matter was limited to nominations only. However, Patty Duke was awarded this award as the Most Promising Newcomer - Female. A little later, Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke were awarded the Academy Awards for Best Lead Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. Patty Duke became the youngest actress to win the Oscar for Best Actress, a record that stood for 11 years until Tatum O'Neill received the same award for her performance in Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper Moon". Curiously, 17 years later, Patty Duke played Ann Sullivan in the television movie based on the play "The Miracle Worker".
Arthur Penn was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, but lost the award to David Lean, director of "Lawrence of Arabia". The same situation was repeated in the dispute for the British BAFTA award. But Anne Bancroft received the Best Foreign Actress Award from the British Film Academy.
Nominee Anne Bancroft was absent from the Academy Awards. And this absence had very remarkable reasons. The point is the following. In addition to Anne Bancroft, 4 other actresses were nominated in the Best Leading Actress category: Bette Davis ("What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"), Katharine Hepburn ("Long Day's Gone Into Night"), Geraldine Page ("Sweet Bird of Youth") and Lee Remick ("Days of Wine and Roses"). In "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" there were two main female roles. The second was played by Joan Crawford. But she did not receive a nomination, which was terribly wounded. Joan Crawford's annoyance was exacerbated by the fact that her "frenemy friend" Bette Davis had a chance to receive a third Oscar, while she had only one ("Mildred Pierce", (1946)), which she could not get it in the setting solemn ceremony due to illness. Therefore, she wrote a letter to three nominees with a request not to come to the ceremony and delegate to her the right to go up on stage for the coveted statuette. This request was fulfilled by Anne Bancroft.
In the Soviet Union, Arthur Penn's film "The Miracle Worker" was not shown. Despite the fact that several decades have passed since the release of Arthur Penn's film "The Miracle Worker", its audience ratings remain at a very high level. 71% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users rated the film from 8 to 10. And 21% of users rated the film with the highest score - "ten". Taking into account this indicator and the above, the rating of Arthur Penn's film "The Miracle Worker" according to FilmGourmand version was 8,366, thanks to which it took 389th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
