A 1961 BBC production of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, starring a pre-James Bond, Sean Connery has been unearthed deep within the BBC archives almost 50 years after its premiere. The title role was played by Claire Bloom, a top British actress of at that time. Sadly, it wasn’t unusual during the 60’s, to not keep programs after initial broadcast. Standard practice was pretty much to either erase the program or record over it. Thankfully, not all programs were erased and many have begun surfacing recently in homes of program producers or actors who saved the tapes.

The cool thing, according to the BBC and reported here in the Telegraph, is that the production will be released later this year on DVD. Not sure if there are plans for a broadcast on BBC, but anyone interested in a possible public television broadcast?

According to the BBC, they have millions of hours of recordings and millions of photos at various BBC outlets across the UK so who knows what’s out there. Let’s hope that rumored lost 13th episode of Fawlty Towers shows up someday.

In: Actors/Actresses

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