Up the Down Staircase (film)
Encyclopedia
Up the Down Staircase is a 1967
drama film
about the first, trying assignment for a young, idealistic teacher played by Sandy Dennis
. Tad Mosel
wrote the screenplay
adaptation of the novel of the same name
by Bel Kaufman
.
This was her first and only film with producer Alan J. Pakula and director Robert Mulligan.
It was filmed in the Benjamin Franklin High School (now renamed the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics) in East Harlem at Haaren High School now housing a building on the John Jay College of Criminal Justice
. Neighborhood scenes were shot in East Harlem.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062425/locations John Henry Haaren
1967 in film
The year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:* December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television....
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
about the first, trying assignment for a young, idealistic teacher played by Sandy Dennis
Sandy Dennis
Sandra Dale “Sandy” Dennis was an American theater and film actress. In 1966, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.-Early life:...
. Tad Mosel
Tad Mosel
Tad Mosel was an American playwright and one of the leading dramatists of hour-long teleplay genre for live television during the 1950s. He received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play All the Way Home....
wrote the screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
adaptation of the novel of the same name
Up the Down Staircase
Up the Down Staircase is a humorous novel written by Bel Kaufman, and published in 1965.-Plot summary:The plot revolves around Sylvia Barrett, an idealistic English teacher at an inner-city high school who hopes to nurture her students' interest in classic literature and writing...
by Bel Kaufman
Bel Kaufman
Bella "Bel" Kaufman is an American teacher and author, best known for writing the 1965 bestselling novel Up the Down Staircase.-Early life:...
.
Cast
- Sandy DennisSandy DennisSandra Dale “Sandy” Dennis was an American theater and film actress. In 1966, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.-Early life:...
as Sylvia Barrett - Patrick Bedford as Paul Barringer
- Eileen HeckartEileen HeckartEileen Heckart was an American actress of stage, screen, and television.-Early life:Heckart was born Anna Eileen Heckart in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Esther and Leo Herbert. She was legally adopted by her grandfather, J.W. Heckart. Her family was of Irish and German descent...
as Henrietta Pastorfield - Ruth WhiteRuth White (actress)Ruth Patricia White was an American Emmy Award-winning and movie actress.-Early career:A lifelong resident of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, White graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Literature from Rutgers University in 1935. While pursuing her acting career in nearby New York City, she taught acting...
as Beatrice Schachter - Jean Stapleton as Sadie Finch
- Sorrell BookeSorrell BookeSorrell Booke was an American actor who performed on stage, screen, and television. He is best known for his role as the heavyset, corrupt politician "Boss" Hogg in the television show The Dukes of Hazzard....
as Dr Bester - Roy Poole as Mr McHabe
- Florence StanleyFlorence StanleyFlorence Stanley was an American actress of stage, film, and television.-Early life and career:Florence Stanley was born as Florence Schwartz in Chicago, the daughter of Hanna and Jack Schwartz. She began a long career on stage, film and TV starting in the 1940s...
as Ella Friedenberg - Vinnette Carroll as The Mother
- Janice Mars as Miss Gordon
- Loretta Leversee as Social Studies Teacher
Production
Sandy Dennis took the role of Sylvia Barrett after winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick. It was directed by Alan Schneider...
This was her first and only film with producer Alan J. Pakula and director Robert Mulligan.
It was filmed in the Benjamin Franklin High School (now renamed the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics) in East Harlem at Haaren High School now housing a building on the John Jay College of Criminal Justice
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice is a senior college of the City University of New York in Midtown Manhattan, New York City and is the only liberal arts college with a criminal justice and forensic focus in the United States. The college offers programs in Forensic Science and Forensic...
. Neighborhood scenes were shot in East Harlem.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062425/locations John Henry Haaren
John Henry Haaren
John Henry Haaren was an American educator and historian....