Sarah Siddons Award

Sarah Siddons Award

In 1950, Joseph Mankiewicz saw Reynolds portrait of Sarah Siddons and decided that it would provide the setting for the opening scene of All About Eve. The scene opened in the ballroom of the then-fictitious Sarah Siddons Society. The occasion is the presentation of the Sarah Siddons award statuette, modeled on Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse as the "highest honour our theater knows: the Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement.". In the climactic party scene, the painting is prominently displayed between Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe. The portrait also presides over the final scene when Anne Baxter moves past it.

At the time of the release of All About Eve, The Sarah Siddons Award was a purely fictitious award. However, there now exists the American Sarah Siddons Award for dramatic achievement in theatre: a genuine and prestigious award, named in honor of Siddons. The award is given annually in Chicago by the "Sarah Siddons Society."

In 1957, Bette Davis posed as Sarah Siddons in a re-creation of the painting staged as part of the Pageant of the Masters.

Lauren Bacall (1972 & 1984), Helen Hayes (1953 & 1969) Angela Lansbury (1975 & 1981), Lynn Redgrave (1977 & 1995) and Sada Thompson (1973 & 1988) have each won the award twice

• It is somewhat ironic that the name of the organization and the statuette were copied from the film, as Mankiewicz was clearly denigrating all such awards.

See also [ Sarah Siddons ]

External links

http://www.sarahsiddonssociety.org/

More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Sarah_Siddons_Award ]

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