Paul Baker

Dr. Paul Baker, former nationally renowned Baylor theater professor, passed away on Oct. 25. He was 98. Born in Hereford, Baker attended Trinity University when it was in Waxahachie and earned his master's degree in drama at Yale University. Baker came to Baylor in 1934 and met and married math teacher and artist Kitty Cardwell. He was named chair of the theatre arts department in 1940, where he remained until 1963. 
During Baker's tenure, the theater department at Baylor was elevated to international prominence. It was during this period that the University built its first theater building, established the Dallas Theater Center and gained national acclaim for experimental productions, including revolutionary stagings of "Hamlet" and "Othello," which featured performances by Charles Laughton and Burgess Meredith and were reviewed by the New York Times and Paris newspapers. Baker and most of the theater department resigned from Baylor in 1963 after a well-publicized clash with the university over a production of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night," but he returned to campus in 2001 and was honored as part of Baylor Theatre's 100th anniversary celebration. Baker was awarded the Texas Medal of Arts in 2007 for his contributions to arts education.