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American actor Sam Wanamaker’s 19-year dream to rebuild William Shakespeare’s famed Globe Theater along the River Thames neared realization in a ground-breaking ceremony Saturday, the Bard’s 424th birthday. Wanamaker--an ardent Shakespeare buff--had to fight local officials for permission to build on the site, conquer a plethora of financial and legal hurdles and obtain an eviction order against Gypsy squatters before construction could begin. Completion of the 1,500-seat Globe--the centerpiece of a $34-million International Shakespeare Center also featuring a museum and Elizabethan shops--is expected to take four years. Wanamaker vowed it would be opened on the 428th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth.