The Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts was established
at a delightful April 1994 reception in the Folger Shakespeare Library on
Capitol Hill, a gathering which featured remarks by Robert
MacNeil, Tony
Randall, David Evans, John Safer, and Susan
Stamberg, who read a letter that Sir John had written for the occasion.
The Guild returned to the Folger in 1996 to bestow its inaugural Gielgud
Award on Sir Ian McKellen.
In addition to the festivities at the Library,
the Guild arranged a gathering at the Kennedy Center's AFI
Theater, where Guild president John Andrews chatted with Sir Ian about
highlights of his career in film and television. Among other things, they
focused on Sir Ian's brilliant film version of "Richard III," and a few
weeks later that cinematic adaptation was featured in Entertainment
Weekly.
The Guild remained at the Folger for
a 1997 salute to Sir Derek Jacobi.
This occasion commemorated the Library's
65th anniversary, and it included such additional attractions as a special
White House reception and a National Press Club luncheon that was broadcast
over NPR. Editor John Mahon devoted a cover story to the celebration in
The Shakespeaare Newsletter.
In 1998 the Guild honored Zoe Caldwell
in another Folger gala. Sir Derek presented Miss Caldwell's trophy to her,
and both artists took part in a delightful Elizabethan Theatre evening during
which NPR's Susan Stamberg interviewed "Mr. and Mrs. Broadway" (Miss Caldwell
and her husband, producer Robert Whitehead). In addition, Miss Caldwell
addressed an enthusiasatic luncheon gathering at the National Press Club
while she and Mr. Whitehead were in Washington.
In 1999 the Guild held its first Gielgud
event in New York, honoring Dame Judi Dench
at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre. In 2000
the Guild crossed the Atlantic for a toast to Kenneth
Branagh in London’s historic Middle Temple Hall. A few months after
that event, Sir John died at the age of 96, and Mr. Andrews accepted an
invitation from John Mahon, editor of The Shakespeare Newsletter,
to commemorate Gielgud and his legacy.
Four years later, following a 2002 Lincoln Center ceremony in honor of Kevin
Kline, the Guild repaired to the U.K. once again, joining the Royal
Shakespeare Company and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for a Gielgud
Centenary Gala in 2004 at the
West End theatre that had been renamed for Sir
John a decade earlier.
Other resonant Gielgud festivities have placed the spotlight on
Lynn Redgrave (in 2003
at the National Arts Club in New York), Christopher
Plummer (in 2006
at the NAC), Michael Kahn (in 2007
at the British Embassy in Washington), Patrick
Stewart (in 2008
at the NAC in New York), and F.
Murray Abraham (in 2010 at the NAC).
On Sunday, October 19, 2014, the Guild repaired once more to Sir John's
native city to present a posthumous award to
Sir Donald Sinden as part of a UK
Theatre Awards Guildhall ceremony at which Sir Donald's son, producer
Marc Sinden, accepted the trophy
from its designer, actor and visual artist Clive Francis.
Our 2015 trophy went to Dame
Eileen Atkins, and presenting it was the Guild's 2008 honoree, Sir
Patrick Stewart. He shared congratulatory messages to Dame Eileen from
three previous Gielgud laureates, as well as from RSC artistic director
Gregory Doran. Among the many things that made the occasion special was
the fact that it occurred only three days after the 94th birthday of a visionary
leader who established Actors
From The London Stage, an influential educational
program with which Sir Patrick has been associated from the outset.
AFTLS is now celebrating its 40th anniversary, and the Guild saluted this
milestone with a special tribute,
not only to a highly influential initiative and its founder, Professor Homer
"Murph" Swander (center, at a 1998 London reception with John Andrews
and Sir Derek Jacobi), but to everyone who has been involved with the outreach
it represents, among them such dedicated administrators as Alan and Cynthia
Dessen, Peter Holland, Scott Jackson, and actress Eunice
Roberts (pictured here in a Matt Humphrey photograph with Sir Patrick
Stewart and the Guild's John Andrews).
Fittingly, our 2015 festivities occurred one day after the opening preview
of a critically acclaimed Garrick Theatre production of The Winter's
Tale that was graced by our 1999 Gielgud recipient, Dame Judi Dench.
What's more, it starred and was produced and directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh,
another Gielgud laureate whom Dame Judi helped the Guild honor in January
2000. For a recent reminder of that occasion, see Afternoon
Tea, an MPT feature hosted by Heather Sanderson.
For additional details, including material about recent award presentations,
click here.