The Miracle Worker (1962) | |
| Director(s) | Arthur Penn |
| Producer(s) | Fred Coe |
| Top Genres | Biographical, Drama, Film Adaptation |
| Top Topics | Based on Play, Book-Based, Teachers |
Featured Cast:
The Miracle Worker Overview:
The Miracle Worker (1962) was a Biographical - Drama Film directed by Arthur Penn and produced by Fred Coe.
The film was based on the autobiography The Story of My Life written by Helen Keller at the & 1959 Play Playhouse Theatre, NY 1903 (play performed Oct 19, 1959 - Jul 1, 1961).
Academy Awards 1962 --- Ceremony Number 35 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Actress | Anne Bancroft | Won |
| Best Supporting Actress | Patty Duke | Won |
| Best Costume Design | Ruth Morley | Nominated |
| Best Director | Arthur Penn | Nominated |
| Best Writing | William Gibson | Nominated |
The Miracle Worker BlogHub Articles:
The Miracle Worker (1962)
By Beatrice on Jul 25, 2017 From Flickers in TimeThe Miracle Worker Directed by Arthur Penn Written by William Gibson based on his play and the book by Helen Keller 1962/USA Playfilm Productions Repeat viewing/Netflix Spectacular acting meets a powerful, inspirational story. This is based on the true story of Helen Keller (Patty Duke), who, at ... Read full article
The Miracle Worker
By Amanda Garrett on May 14, 2016 From Old Hollywood FilmsToday, I'm reviewing The Miracle Worker (1962), starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. This article is part of The Disability in Film Blogathon hosted by Pop Culture Reverie. Helen Keller lived most of her life with profound disabilities, but that did not stop her from becoming an internation... Read full article
Anne Bancroft, Winner for The Miracle Worker
By Virginie Pronovost on Feb 6, 2016 From The Wonderful World of CinemaThe 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon is finally back! This is one of my favourite blogathons, so I was very excited to participate again. As always, it is hosted by the fantastic Aurora from Once Upon a Screen, Kellee from Outspoken and Freckled and Paula from Paula’s Cinema Club. Today, we start th... Read full article
Silence in Sound: The Power of “Johnny Belinda” and “The Miracle Worker”
By Lara on Oct 21, 2011 From BacklotsWhen the silent era finally gave way to talkies in 1927, an art form was lost–the art of meaningful expression without words. When we look at the films of the great silent stars, for example those of Clara Bow, Norma Talmadge, or Lillian Gish, we see a wholly separate kind of film, one where a... Read full article
The Miracle Worker (1962)
By Raquel Stecher on Nov 30, -0001 From Out of the Past - A Classic Film BlogAnne Bancroft and Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker (1962) It seemed like an impossible task. How does one teach a young girl who is blind, deaf, and mute how to communicate with the world? It would take a teacher of great strength who would persist against all odds. It would take a miracle worker.... Read full article
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Quotes from The Miracle Worker
Kate Keller: For how long?
Annie Sullivan: Until she learns to listen to and depend on me.
Captain Arthur Keller: Miss Sullivan...
Annie Sullivan: Captain Keller, it meets both of your conditions. It's the one way I can get back in touch with Helen, and I don't see how I can be rude to you again if you're not around to interfere with me.
Captain Arthur Keller: And what's your plan if I say no? Pack the other half for home and abandon your charge to... to...
Annie Sullivan: The asylum? I grew up in such an asylum, the State Alms House. Rats? Why, my brother Jimmy and I used to play with the rats because we didn't have any toys. Maybe you'd like to know what Helen will find there, not on visiting days. One ward was full of the old women. Crippled, blind, most of them dying, but even if what they had was catching, there was nowhere else to move them. That's where they put us. Then there were younger ones across the hall, prostitutes mostly, with TB and epileptic fits. And some of the kind that keep after other girls, especially the young ones. And some were just insane. Some had the DTs. Then there were girls in another ward to have babies they didn't want. They started at thirteen, fourteen. They left afterwards, but the babies stayed. We played with them, too. There were a lot of them, with sores all over from diseases you're not supposed to talk about.
Annie Sullivan: [after a breakthrough with Helen] Now all I have to teach you is one word - everything.
James Keller: Finding out if she's ticklish? She is. What is it, a game?
Annie Sullivan: An alphabet.
James Keller: Alphabet?
Annie Sullivan: [finger-spelling to Helen] For the deaf.
Annie Sullivan: [after Helen finger-spells back to her] Oh, how bright she is!
James Keller: You think she knows what she's doing? She's a monkey. She imitates everything.
Annie Sullivan: Yes, she's a bright little monkey, all right!
James Keller: She wants her doll back.
Annie Sullivan: After she spells it.
James Keller: Spells? She doesn't know the thing has a name, even.
Annie Sullivan: Of course not. Who expects her to now? I just want her fingers to learn the letters.
James Keller: She doesn't seem to like that alphabet very much, Miss Sullivan. Did you invent it yourself?
Annie Sullivan: Spanish monks under a vow of silence, which I wish you'd take!
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Facts about The Miracle Worker
United Artists originally offered a $2-million budget if writer William Gibson and director Arthur Penn would cast either Elizabeth Taylor or Audrey Hepburn in the role of Annie Sullivan. When they insisted that the part be recreated by Tony Award winner Anne Bancroft, UA cut the budget by $1.5 million.
Although Patty Duke had been playing Helen Keller in the play for more than year, she almost didn't get the part in the film adaptation. The studio felt that being a teenager, she looked too old to play a seven-year-old. However, they decided to use Duke after deciding to use Anne Bancroft, who played Duke's original Annie Sullivan in the play.
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