Nationality: British
Born: 1 May 1911
Jimmy Wax was an agent for actors, writers and directors in the British theatre and film industries. Born in in London in 1911, He studied law at the University of Lille and New College, Oxford. He was appointed honorary treasurer of the London Stage Society, and translated a number of plays from French. During the Second World War he worked for the Intelligence Corps and rose to the rank of Major.
Wax established the ACTAC (Theatrical and Cinematic) agency in 1946, and supported the careers of Christopher Fry, John Osbourne and Harold Pinter, amongst others.
Susan Engel introduced Harold Pinter Jimmy Wax, whom she knew through her friend, the playwright John Hall. Pinter was staying with Engel in the summer of 1957 while on tour in a French farce. Hall visited with Wax at the same time, and Wax had heard about The Room. He requested that Engel and Pinter read from the play to him. The next week, Wax offered to represent Pinter, which he did until his death in 1983. (Billington, pp. 72-3).
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Type: Interview
External Link: https://sounds.bl.uk/Arts-literature-and-performance/Theatre-Archive-Project/024M-C1142X000208-0100V0
Recording of interview with Susan Engels, who recalls the meeting between Harold Pinter and Jimmy Wax, subsequent to which Wax became Pinter's agent. A transcript is also available from this link.
V&A Theatre and Performance Collections, Reference GB 71 THM/405
Library archive
Michael Billington, Harold Pinter, revised edition (London: Faber and Faber, 2007).
Biography