King Lear
1974: Edwin Sherin
After many years, this remarkable version of King Lear is finally available to the general public, thanks to the Broadway Theatre Archive. The universality of the Lear story makes irrelevant the fact that James Earl Jones (Lear) is black: what is entirely relevant is that his magnificent voice, bearing, and diction bring a gravity to the part that is hard to equal in any other production. See it if you can. Its production values are what one might expect from something filmed a generation ago from a live performance, but its performances make it one of the very best.
Also in the production are Rene Auberjonois (whom some may remember as Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Raul Julia in the richly complex role of Edmund, and Paul Sorvino as Gloucester.
Albany: Robert Stattel
Attendant: John Salat
Attendant: Jose Machado
Attendant: Kevin Maung
Attendant: Simpson Markson
Burgundy: Lou Quinones
Captain: Frankie Faison
Cordelia: Lee Chamberlin
Cornwall: Robert Lanchester
Curan: John R. Tobinski
Doctor: William Hart
Edgar: Rene Auberjonois
Edmund: Raul Julia
First servant to Cornwall: James Harper
Fool: Tom Aldredge
France: Jean-Pierre Stewart
Gentleman: George Dzundza
Gentleman: James West III
Gloucester: Paul Sorvino
Goneril: Rosalind Cash
Herald: George Addison
Kent: Douglass Watson
King Lear: James Earl Jones
Messenger: Gregory Mosher
Messenger: Redvers Jeanmarie
Old man: Charles Pegues
Oswald: Frederick Coffin
Regan: Ellen Holly
Servant to Cornwall: Anthony Chisholm
Servant to Cornwall: Franklyn Seales