Macbeth is a live television

Live television

Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...

 adaptation of the William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 play

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

. This Hallmark Hall of Fame

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...

production was directed by George Schaefer

George Schaefer (director)

George Louis Schaefer was a director of television and Broadway theatre from the 1950s to the 1990s.-Life and career:...

, and starred Maurice Evans

Maurice Evans (actor)

Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr...

 and Judith Anderson

Judith Anderson

Dame Judith Anderson, AC, DBE was an Australian-born American-based actress of stage, film and television. She won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award and was also nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award.-Early life:...

. Although it was telecast in color, it has been preserved on kinescope

Kinescope

Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...

 in black-and-white only.

In 1960, Evans and Anderson starred in a filmed made-for-television production of the play

Macbeth (1960 film)

Macbeth is a 1960 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play. This, the second Hallmark Hall of Fame series teleplay of Macbeth was, like the 1954 live version, also directed by George Schaefer, and also starred Maurice Evans and Judith Anderson...

, also directed by Schaefer for the Hallmark Hall of Fame, but with an entirely different supporting cast. This production was filmed in color on location in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, and was released theatrically in Europe.