Uncle Vanya (1963 film) Uncle Vanya (1963 film) Uncle Vanya is a 1963 British film adaptation of the work "Uncle Vanya" by Anton Chekhov. The film was directed by Stuart Burge. It was a filmed version of the Chichester Festival production, directed by (and starring) Laurence Olivier as Astrov, and also starring Michael Redgrave (Vanya), Rosemary Harris (Elena), and Joan Plowright (Sonya). Harold Hobson of the "Sunday Times" described the production as "the admitted master achievement in British twentieth-century theatre", while "The New Yorker" called it "probably the best 'Vanya' in English we shall ever see". Later films of noted stage productions by Olivier
Ann Dunnigan but Dunnigan contested that van Itallie's translation was nearly identical to hers, and sued him. In the settlement that followed, van Itallie accepted responsibility for the legal costs, and agreed to cease promotion of his version. Years later, van Itallie applied himself to new renderings of "The Cherry Orchard", "The Seagull", "Three Sisters", and "Uncle Vanya". In the introduction to Applause Books' 1995 compilation of these, van Itallie asserts that he "worked on "The Sea Gull", and later the other three plays, with a specially-made literal English translation and a selection of French translations." Dunnigan's final stage performance was in