Photos of Falstaff: 1939, 1964, 1965, 1980

Yesterday I discovered a wonderful website hosted by the Cleveland State University Library, a collection of Shakespeare photographs from 1870-1982. While it is a bit difficult to search if you are looking for a specific actor (actors featured in the collection include Peggy Ashcroft, Richard Burton, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith) or pictures from a certain year, it is a wonderful collection of nearly 500 photographs, many of them stunning. Here’s a sampling of the treasures to be found there, some of the website’s pictures of Falstaff:

Portrayed by baritone Anselm Colzani in the 1964 opera The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, NY. (Cleveland Press page.)

Portrayed by Tony Van Bridge in the 1965 King Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. (Cleveland Press page.)

Portrayed by Maurice Evans in a 1939 production of King Henry IV, Part 1 in New York, NY. (Cleveland Press page.)

Portrayed by Anthony Quale in a 1980 BBC television production of King Henry IV, Part 1. (Cleveland Press page.)