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Theatre, Film, and Television Biographies
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James D. Bissell to Marlon Brando
William B. Branch Biography (1927-)
Full name, William Blackwell Branch; born September 11, 1927, in New Haven, CT; son of James Matthew (a minister) and Iola (Douglas) Branch; divorced; children: Rochelle Ellen. Addresses: Office--William Branch Associates, 53 Cortlandt Ave., New Rochelle, NY 10801.
- Nationality
- American
- Gender
- Male
- Birth Details
- September 11, 1927
- New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Famous Works
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Credits; TELEVISION WORK; SERIES
- Producer, The City (documentary series; also see below), Educational Broadcasting Corp., 1962-64.
- Producer, Still a Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class (also see below), NET, 1968.
- Producer, NBC News, NBC, 1972-73.
- Executive producer, Black Perspectives on the News, PBS, 1978-79.
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Credits; RADIO WORK
- Director, The Jackie Robinson Show, NBC, 1959-60.
- Director, The Alma John Show (also see below), syndicated, 1963-65.
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Writings;PLAYS
- A Medal for Willie, Club Baron, New York City, 1951.
- In Splendid Error, Greenwich Mews Playhouse, New York City, 1955, revivedat Pilgrim Theatre, New York City, 1978.
- Light in the Southern Sky (also see below), Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, 1958.
- To Follow the Phoenix, Civic Opera House, Chicago, IL, 1960.
- A Wreath for Udomo (based on the novel by Peter Abrahams), Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London, 1961.
- Baccalaureate, City Hall Theatre, Hamilton, Bermuda, 1975.
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Writings;FILMS
- Fifty Steps Toward Freedom, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1959.
- Benefit Performance, Universal, 1969.
- Judgment!, Belafonte Enterprises, 1969.
- Together for Days (also known as Black Cream; based on a story by LindsaySmith), Olas Corp., 1971.
- Also author of The Man on Meeting Street, 1960.
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Writings;TELEVISION SCRIPTS
- This Way, ABC, 1955.
- What Is Conscience?, CBS, 1955.
- Light in the Southern Sky, NBC, 1958.
- The City (documentary series), Educational Broadcasting Corp., 1962- 64.
- Still a Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class, NET, 1968.
- The Case of Non-Working Workers, NBC, 1972.
- The 20 Billion-Dollar Rip-Off, NBC, 1972.
- No Room to Run, No Place to Hide, NBC, 1972.
- The Black Church in New York, NBC, 1973.
- Afro-American Perspectives (series), PBS, 1973-74.
- A Letter from Booker T., PBS, 1987.
- Other television writing includes the series Let's Find Out, for NationalCouncil of Churches, 1956; and Legacy of a Prophet, for Educational Broadcasting Corp., 1959.
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Writings;BOOKS
- (Editor and contributor) Black Thunder: An Anthology of Contemporary African American Drama, Mentor, 1992.
- (Editor and contributor) Crosswinds: An Anthology of Black Dramatists inthe Diaspora, Indiana University Press, 1993.
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Writings;OTHER
- The Alma John Show (radio scripts), syndicated, 1963-65.
- Author of filmstrips, screenplay outlines, and radio scripts. Work represented in anthologies, including Black Theatre: A 20th Century Collection of the Work of Its Best Playwrights, edited by L.
- Patterson, Dodd-Mead, 1971; Black Drama Anthology, edited by W. King andR. Milner, Columbia University Press, 1972; Black Theatre USA: 45 Plays by Black Americans, 1847-1974, edited by J. Hatch, Free Press, 1974; Standing RoomOnly, edited by Daigon and Bernier, Prentice- Hall, 1977; Meeting Challenges, edited by J. Nelson, American Book, 1980; and Black Heroes, Seven Plays, edited by Errol Hill, Applause Theatre Books, 1989. Co-author of the Jackie Robinson column, New York Post (also syndicated), 1958-60. Contributor to periodicals.
Further Reference
BOOKS
- Abramson, Doris E., Negro Playwrights in the American Theatre, 1925- 1969, Columbia University Press, 1969.
- Aptheker, Herbert, Toward Negro Freedom, New Century, 1956.
- Berry, Mary Frances, and John W. Blassingame, Long Memory, Oxford University Press, 1982.
- Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 76: Afro-American Writers, 1940-1955, Gale, 1988.
- Emanuel, James, and Theodore Gross, editors, Dark Symphony, Free Press,1968.
- Mitchell, Loften, Black Drama: The Story of the American Negro in the Theatre, Hawthorne, 1967.
- Molette, Carlton W. and Barbara, Black Theatre: Premise and Presentation, Wyndham Hall Press, 1986, revised edition, 1992.
PERIODICALS
- Afro-American, September 25, 1954.
- Boston Globe, April 30, 1968.
- Boston Herald Traveler, April 30, 1968.
- Chicago Daily News, May 2, 1968.
- Columbia, fall, 1992, p. 60.
- Cornell Alumni News, March, 1991, p. 30.
- Crisis, April, 1965.
- Freedomways, summer, 1963.
- Ithaca Journal, April 20, 1992.
- Masses and Mainstream, December, 1951, p. 59; November, 1954, p. 59.
- MultiCultural Review, July, 1992, p. 58.
- National Guardian, November 3, 1954, p. 10.
- Negro Digest, January, 1968.
- Newark Evening News, April 30, 1968.
- New World Review, December, 1951, p. 63.
- New York Amsterdam News, October 6, 1951; December 26, 1992, p. 21.
- New York Herald Tribune, July 5, 1954; August 7, 1954; October 26, 1954;October 27, 1954.
- New York Times, October 27, 1954; November 7, 1954; October 16, 1957; April 26, 1969; April 30, 1969; December 20, 1978.
- Philadelphia Inquirer, May 1, 1968.
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 29, 1968.
- Variety, May 1, 1968.
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