Wendell acted in or directed over forty Broadway productions. Among his most notable roles were Grandpa Crane in "Comes the
Revelation," Alfred Metcalf in "The Solid Gold Cadillac," Phillips the Actor in the Group Theatre Production of "Waiting for Lefty," and Billy Herndon in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" for
which he won a Best Supporting Actor award. He was a member of the Actors Studio, an associate member of the Group Theatre, the founder of the New York Actors Repertory Theatre and San Francisco's StageGroup Theatre.
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Among the many actors and directors he worked with closely were Ethel Barrymore, Orson Welles, Elia Kazan, Lee Strasberg
and Harold Clurman. As a teacher, Wendell influenced actors all over the country, as well as inspiring a few of his students to form the Actors Theatre of San Francisco. Wendell died of complications from emphysema on
October 6, 1991. He was 83 years old. We are proud to have known this great man of the theatre. Our productions and the Actors Theatre of San Francisco are dedicated to his memory. |
