Sidney Lanier, the iconoclastic rector of St. Clement's Episcopal Church, New York. Lanier was a significant figure in the New York theater scene in the 1950s and 1960s, started a Ministry to the Theatre Arts, and became co-founder of the experimental American Place Theatre in 1962. Lanier resigned from his ministry in May 1965. Original Broadway production The play premiered on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on December 28, 1961, and ran for 316 performances. It starred Patrick O'Neal as Rev. Shannon, two-time Oscar winner Bette Davis as Maxine, and Margaret Leighton as Hannah. Davis left the production after four months and was replaced by Shelley Winters. Maxine, Davis's role, is a lusty life-force of a woman, with some good comic lines, who is offstage for a significant part of the play, while Hannah is on. The play featured Louis Guss, Bruce Glover, James Farentino, and Alan Webb as the dying grandfather to whom Hannah is devoted. The production was directed by Frank Corsaro. (In her memoir, Dark Victory, Davis wrote that she banned Corsaro from rehearsals shortly before opening). The play was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. Leighton, as Hannah, won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Film versions John Huston directed the 1964 film and co-wrote the screenplay with Anthony Veiller. It stars Richard Burton as Rev. Shannon, Ava Gardner as Maxine and Deborah Kerr as Hannah. The cast includes Sue Lyon, Cyril Delevanti, Grayson Hall (who received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Miss Fellowes) and Barbara Joyce (who later became an acclaimed artist). The film won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design (B&W), and was nominated for Art Direction and for Cinematography (by Gabriel Figueroa), as well as for Hall's performance. The film eliminates the Nazi tourists and the character of Jake Latta, and Shannon is fired through a comical telephone call. A Croatian film adaptation, directed by Janusz Kica, was released in 2000. 1975 -1976 revival (LA and Broadway) [Joseph Hardy (director)|Joseph Hardy]] directed a revival which ran December 19 1975 to January 31 1976 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. The cast was headlined by Richard Chamberlain (Reverend Shannon), Eleanor Parker (Maxine Faulk), Dorothy McGuire (Hannah Jelkes), Raymond Massey (Jonathan "Nonno" Coffin), and [[Allyn Ann McLerie] (Miss Judith Fellowes): featured cast members were Susan Lanier (Charlotte Goodall), Jennifer Savidge (Hilda),