1943-46: Served in the Army during and after WWII.
1993: He was awarded an honorary CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to the Globe Theater.
1994: He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award: Society of London Theatre's Special Award for Lifetime Achievement (1993 season).
1997: Founder of the International Shakespeare Globe Centre, The Globe Theater, Bankside, Southwark, London.
After learning that he had been blacklisted during the McCarthy "Red Scare" period after filming Mr. Denning Drives North (1952) in the U.K., he stayed and settled in England.
Although Wanamaker was instrumental in the rebuilding of the Globe Theatre in London, England, he did not get to see the theatre's grand opening in 1997, having died of prostate cancer four years earlier.
Had three daughters: Abby, Jessica and actress Zoë Wanamaker.
In the 1970s he and actress Jan Sterling entered into a relationship, and although they never married, they stayed together until his death in 1993.