The Miracle Worker, like 12 Angry Men, is a successful film and Broadway play that began, originally, as a live television production. The Miracle Worker, written by William Gibson, was unveiled as a 1957 Playhouse 90 presentation, starring Teresa Wright as teacher Annie Sullivan and Patricia McCormack as the deaf and blind Helen Keller. The drama was reworked by Gibson for Broadway, in a version starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke – who, in 1962, reprised their roles for this intense, intimate film version. The film is directed by Arthur Penn, who also directed the Broadway and TV versions.