Othello (character) where Olivier could see him to settle his nerves. This performance was recorded complete on LP, and filmed by popular demand in 1965 (according to a biography of Olivier, tickets for the stage production were notoriously hard to get). The film version still holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for acting ever given to a Shakespeare film — Olivier, Finlay, Maggie Smith (as Desdemona) and Joyce Redman (as Emilia, Iago's wife) were all nominated for Academy Awards. Actors have alternated the roles of Iago and Othello in productions to stir audience interest since the nineteenth century. Two of
Othello (1951 film) for the American market, a 93-minutes cut released on 12 September 1955 in New York City. This had a number of minor editing changes and several major soundtrack changes, including Welles' replacement of his spoken-word titles with written credits (requested by the film's distributor, United Artists) and the addition of a narration by Welles. Suzanne Cloutier's entire performance was dubbed by Gudrun Ure, who had previously played Desdemona opposite Welles in a 1951 theatre production of "Othello" that was staged to raise funds to complete the film. Paul Squitieri, in a 1993 PhD study of the film in its various