There's a good article on the tradition of playing Shylock here:
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For a long time Shylock was played without any sympathy for his situation. Then Edmund Kean (1789-1833) started to play him with compassion and that is now the accepted way.
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The first picture is Orson Welles, the last Edmund Kean

One famous actor always played him in a red wig instead of a black one. Are there any ginger Jews? There's no shortage of blonde ones - William Shatner, Goldie Hawn, Paul Newman etc. Judas was traditionally portrayed with red hair.

Actually I looked this up. About half of one percent of Jewish schoolchildren have red hair, more in some populations. Esau, the hairy brother, had red hair too.
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You can hear Orson Welles perform the speech here:
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And here Al Pacino:(much less sympathetic than Welles, angry more than hurt)
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