THE MIRACLE WORKER
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
William Gibson originally wrote The Miracle Worker, the character study of young Helen Keller and her influential teacher, Annie Sullivan, for a live Playhouse 90 TV production in 1957. Teresa Wright starred as Annie, and Patricia McCormack, with Arthur Penn directing. Five years later, this movie version was released – directed, once again, by Penn, with a screenplay by Gibson. But this time, the stars were Anne Bancroft as Annie and Patty Duke, both of whom are stunningly good. One year later, Duke would play “identical twin cousins” on the sitcom The Patty Duke Show. Five years later, Bancroft would play Mrs. Robinson in Mike Nichols’ classic film The Graduate.