By the late 1970s, "M*A*S*H" wasn't just a hit television series, it was an institution. This was the pre-cable age, when viewers's entertainment choices were mostly limited to whatever was on network television, so something as seemingly innocuous as a sitcom could drive cultural conversations. "I Love Lucy," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "All in the Family" achieved such prominence, as did variety shows like "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" and "Saturday Night Live."
So if you were a celebrity eager to become or remain relevant in the public eye, booking an appearance on one of these series was a capital idea. Failing that, just hanging around the set was a way of feeling like you still had juice. While "M*A*S*H" was one of the highest-rated television shows on the air, it was basically the Studio 54 of soundstages.
Read more: The Oppenheimer Supporting Character Guide: Your Guide To All 'Those...
So if you were a celebrity eager to become or remain relevant in the public eye, booking an appearance on one of these series was a capital idea. Failing that, just hanging around the set was a way of feeling like you still had juice. While "M*A*S*H" was one of the highest-rated television shows on the air, it was basically the Studio 54 of soundstages.
Read more: The Oppenheimer Supporting Character Guide: Your Guide To All 'Those...
- 12/30/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Allan Rich, who was blacklisted in Hollywood early in his career and later found his niche as a versatile character actor in hundreds of roles, died on Aug. 22 at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, N.J. He was 94.
Rich’s notable feature film credits included playing district attorney Herman Tauber in Sidney Lumet’s “Serpico,” Judge Juttson in Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad,” and television executive Robert Kintner in Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show,” for which The New York Times reviewed his performance as having “the gruff assurance of a real executive.”
Rich was born Benjamin Norman Schultz on Feb. 8, 1926, in New York’s the Bronx. In 1943 he made his Broadway debut in “I’ll Take the High Road,” produced by Milton Berle. He became lifelong friends with Berle and went on to work with Edward G. Robinson, Claude Raines, Ralph Bellamy, Jack Palance, Kim Hunter and Henry Fonda.
Rich’s notable feature film credits included playing district attorney Herman Tauber in Sidney Lumet’s “Serpico,” Judge Juttson in Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad,” and television executive Robert Kintner in Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show,” for which The New York Times reviewed his performance as having “the gruff assurance of a real executive.”
Rich was born Benjamin Norman Schultz on Feb. 8, 1926, in New York’s the Bronx. In 1943 he made his Broadway debut in “I’ll Take the High Road,” produced by Milton Berle. He became lifelong friends with Berle and went on to work with Edward G. Robinson, Claude Raines, Ralph Bellamy, Jack Palance, Kim Hunter and Henry Fonda.
- 8/24/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
James Lipton, the longtime host of the acclaimed interview series Inside the Actors Studio, died Monday, The New York Times reports. He was 93.
Lipton’s wife, Kedakai Mercedes Lipton, confirmed his death and said the cause was bladder cancer.
Lipton created and launched Inside the Actors Studio in 1994 and hosted the Bravo series for 24 years, finally stepping down in 2018 (it now airs on Ovation with rotating guest hosts). The show garnered acclaim and popularity as Lipton, with a pile of blue notecards, guided renowned actors and entertainers through in-depth interviews...
Lipton’s wife, Kedakai Mercedes Lipton, confirmed his death and said the cause was bladder cancer.
Lipton created and launched Inside the Actors Studio in 1994 and hosted the Bravo series for 24 years, finally stepping down in 2018 (it now airs on Ovation with rotating guest hosts). The show garnered acclaim and popularity as Lipton, with a pile of blue notecards, guided renowned actors and entertainers through in-depth interviews...
- 3/2/2020
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
James Lipton, the acclaimed wordsmith, theater historian, radio star, and long-time host of “Inside the Actors Studio” has passed away at the age of 93. The news was confirmed by both TMZ and Lipton’s wife, Kedakai Turner.
He created “Inside the Actors Studio” in 1994 wherein students of the Actors Studio Drama School could listen to successful performers discuss their craft with Lipton. Paul Newman was the inaugural guest and from there Lipton interviewed nearly 300 award-winning actors. The series was one of Bravo’s longest-running series and won a Primetime Emmy. The series also garnered a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Daytime Emmys in 2016 and a Critics Choice award for best reality show host. In 2018 the series moved from Bravo onto Ovation, a move coinciding with Lipton’s retirement from the program.
The young James Lipton began his writing employment as a teenager, where he was a copyboy for “The Detroit Times.
He created “Inside the Actors Studio” in 1994 wherein students of the Actors Studio Drama School could listen to successful performers discuss their craft with Lipton. Paul Newman was the inaugural guest and from there Lipton interviewed nearly 300 award-winning actors. The series was one of Bravo’s longest-running series and won a Primetime Emmy. The series also garnered a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Daytime Emmys in 2016 and a Critics Choice award for best reality show host. In 2018 the series moved from Bravo onto Ovation, a move coinciding with Lipton’s retirement from the program.
The young James Lipton began his writing employment as a teenager, where he was a copyboy for “The Detroit Times.
- 3/2/2020
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
Jack Garfein, the longtime teacher, director, writer, producer and pivotal member of the Actors Studio died on Dec. 30 due to complications from leukemia, according to Playbill. He was 89.
Garfein’s influence and expertise touched the lives of many names from directors George Stevens and John Ford to actors Sissy Spacek and Bruce Dern.
Garfein founded the Actors Studio West in Los Angeles, created the Actors and Directors Lab (both in New York and Los Angeles), co-founded the Strasberg Institute in N.Y. and the Jack Garfein Studio in Paris. He was also a co-founder of the Hollywood Theater Row, a collection of over 22 stages now called the Live Theater District of Los Angeles.
Establishing the first Actors Studio on the West Coast wasn’t immediate — first he had to convince actor Paul Newman, Garfein recalled on a recent panel for the Film Society of Lincoln Center. “[I called and said] Paul I found a...
Garfein’s influence and expertise touched the lives of many names from directors George Stevens and John Ford to actors Sissy Spacek and Bruce Dern.
Garfein founded the Actors Studio West in Los Angeles, created the Actors and Directors Lab (both in New York and Los Angeles), co-founded the Strasberg Institute in N.Y. and the Jack Garfein Studio in Paris. He was also a co-founder of the Hollywood Theater Row, a collection of over 22 stages now called the Live Theater District of Los Angeles.
Establishing the first Actors Studio on the West Coast wasn’t immediate — first he had to convince actor Paul Newman, Garfein recalled on a recent panel for the Film Society of Lincoln Center. “[I called and said] Paul I found a...
- 1/2/2020
- by Meredith Woerner
- Variety Film + TV
By strange and fortuitous coincidence, my meeting with Jack Garfein fell upon the nexus of several intersecting moments in history. It was Friday, January 27th — International Holocaust Remembrance Day. One week earlier, Donald J. Trump was sworn to office as forty-fifth President of the United States; and in the ensuing weekend, allegations of Trump’s unpunished sexual misconduct, callous attitudes toward women and courting of radical right-wing supporters helped bring about the Women’s March on Washington, one of the largest mass protests in the nation’s history. All around, people are anxiously reading the past with tenuous hopes and fears for the future. History, so often a thing defined after the fact, is currently in violent and furious motion.
Jack Garfein is living history, and he’s not shy about telling it. Born to Ukrainian Jews in 1930, Mr. Garfein personally witnessed as a child the rise of Nazi Germany...
Jack Garfein is living history, and he’s not shy about telling it. Born to Ukrainian Jews in 1930, Mr. Garfein personally witnessed as a child the rise of Nazi Germany...
- 3/20/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The Stella Adler Studio of Acting and The Harold Clurman Lecture Series host Ta-Nehisi Coates, Toni Morrison and Sonia Sanchez in conversation at the Ambassador Theatre today, June 15, 2016, at 7Pm.
- 6/15/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Stella Adler Studio of Acting announced today that the 11th Annual Stella by Starlight Benefit Gala will be held on June 13 at The Prince George Ballroom in New York City. This year's honorees include actor Jeff Daniels Group Theater Award, the late director Nancy Malone The Stella Adler Leading Lady Award, real estate developer Sharif El-Gamal Stella Adler Corporate Award and New York City Department of Correction Deputy Commissioner of Youthful Offender and Young Adult Programming Winette Jackson Harold Clurman Spirit Award.
- 5/25/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
William Cameron Menzies. William Cameron Menzies movies on TCM: Murderous Joan Fontaine, deadly Nazi Communists Best known as an art director/production designer, William Cameron Menzies was a jack-of-all-trades. It seems like the only things Menzies didn't do was act and tap dance in front of the camera. He designed and/or wrote, directed, produced, etc., dozens of films – titles ranged from The Thief of Bagdad to Invaders from Mars – from the late 1910s all the way to the mid-1950s. Among Menzies' most notable efforts as an art director/production designer are: Ernst Lubitsch's first Hollywood movie, the Mary Pickford star vehicle Rosita (1923). Herbert Brenon's British-set father-son drama Sorrell and Son (1927). David O. Selznick's mammoth production of Gone with the Wind, which earned Menzies an Honorary Oscar. The Sam Wood movies Our Town (1940), Kings Row (1942), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). H.C. Potter's Mr. Lucky...
- 1/28/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company is transforming Studio G at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting into a German beer hall in this lively production of Mother Courage And Her Children by Bertolt Brecht and conceived by director John Gould Rubin, which will include live music as well as beer amp sausages for purchase. Using a translation by Tony Kushner, the production will open tonight, January 28th, with performances running through February 20th.
- 1/28/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Susan Hayward. Susan Hayward movies: TCM Star of the Month Fiery redhead Susan Hayward it Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in Sept. 2015. The five-time Best Actress Oscar nominee – like Ida Lupino, a would-be Bette Davis that only sporadically landed roles to match the verve of her thespian prowess – was initially a minor Warner Bros. contract player who went on to become a Paramount second lead in the early '40s, a Universal leading lady in the late '40s, and a 20th Century Fox star in the early '50s. TCM will be presenting only three Susan Hayward premieres, all from her Fox era. Unfortunately, her Paramount and Universal work – e.g., Among the Living, Sis Hopkins, And Now Tomorrow, The Saxon Charm – which remains mostly unavailable (in quality prints), will remain unavailable this month. Highlights of the evening include: Adam Had Four Sons (1941), a sentimental but surprisingly...
- 9/4/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Teresa Wright and Matt Damon in 'The Rainmaker' Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright vs. Samuel Goldwyn: Nasty Falling Out.") "I'd rather have luck than brains!" Teresa Wright was quoted as saying in the early 1950s. That's understandable, considering her post-Samuel Goldwyn choice of movie roles, some of which may have seemed promising on paper.[1] Wright was Marlon Brando's first Hollywood leading lady, but that didn't help her to bounce back following the very public spat with her former boss. After all, The Men was released before Elia Kazan's film version of A Streetcar Named Desire turned Brando into a major international star. Chances are that good film offers were scarce. After Wright's brief 1950 comeback, for the third time in less than a decade she would be gone from the big screen for more than a year.
- 3/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Representing the Stella Adler Studio of Acting is a great honor and responsibility. Stella Adler along with the other members of the Group Theater revolutionized the American Theater scene. Stella Adler, Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, Bobby Lewis, Elia Kazan, Clifford Odets, Sanford Meisner, Lee J. Cobb, these names are legends to drama students and theater history buffs. And when one looks at the legacy they left behind through successive generations of students- Marlon Brando, Elaine Stritch, Warren Beatty, Estelle Parsons, Robert Deniro, James Dean, Al Pacino, Paul Newman, the list goes on and on, one begins to get a sense of the impact the Group Theater has had, not only in America, but the world.
- 12/23/2013
- by Guest Blogger: Michael Milligan
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company in Los Angeles is set to raise the curtain on a production that will challenge audiences’ views on immigration and its small cast’s ability to bring life to characters some may perceive as stereotypes. “Long Way Go Down,” which will have its West Coast premiere May 17, centers on Nini and Violetta, two young illegal immigrants trying to make a dangerous, smuggled crossing into the United States. The play was written by Zayd Dohrn, the son of Bernardine Rae Dohrn and Bill Ayers, both former members of the left-wing radical group the Weather Underground Organization. The Weathermen, as they were known, conducted a bombing campaign against public buildings during the Vietnam War. Dohrn said his writing was influenced by the politics of his family. “I’m not sure I would say that it exactly follows in the footsteps of what my parents were doing,...
- 5/15/2013
- backstage.com
The authors wish to acknowledge with gratitude the venues in which some version of this article previously appeared: Cinema Scope 24 (Fall, 2005), Trafic 62 (Summer, 2006), and the late and twice-lamented The New-York Ghost (Dec. 26, 2006).
In the Place of No Place
Every movie contains its alternates, phantom films conjured variously by excess or dearth: textures and movements that carry on their own play apart from the main line of the narrative, an obtruding performance or scene, an unexplained ellipsis or sudden character reversal, the chunk life of an object seizing the frame in an insert whose plastic beauty transcends its context.
Though the extremes of pure narrative economy (in which each detail exists purely for transmission of plot) or utter dispersal (in which no piece connects to any other) can never exist, we can tentatively use the concepts as limit-cases to differentiate films which make room for their phantoms (or, in the worst case,...
In the Place of No Place
Every movie contains its alternates, phantom films conjured variously by excess or dearth: textures and movements that carry on their own play apart from the main line of the narrative, an obtruding performance or scene, an unexplained ellipsis or sudden character reversal, the chunk life of an object seizing the frame in an insert whose plastic beauty transcends its context.
Though the extremes of pure narrative economy (in which each detail exists purely for transmission of plot) or utter dispersal (in which no piece connects to any other) can never exist, we can tentatively use the concepts as limit-cases to differentiate films which make room for their phantoms (or, in the worst case,...
- 2/18/2013
- by B. Kite and Bill Krohn
- MUBI
Chicago – One of director Tim Burton’s great actor collaborators is the veteran performer Martin Landau. Landau voices Mr. Rsykruski, a science teacher who inspires young Victor Frankenstein in “Frankenweenie,” released on Blu-Ray on January 8th. This is part of Laudau’s magnificent 60 year career in film, television, stage and acting instruction.
It’s difficult to sum up Landau’s career because of it’s depth and breadth. The 84 year old actor was born in Brooklyn, New York, and had an early interest in cartooning for newspapers. He worked as an illustrator for the New York Daily News for five years, before the acting bug bit him. He was in an exceptional era and place for the craft, as Lee Strasberg’s Actor’s Studio was being formulated, and out of the 2000 applicants for 1955 only two were selected – Martin Landau and Steve McQueen. From there he began a stage career in Manhattan,...
It’s difficult to sum up Landau’s career because of it’s depth and breadth. The 84 year old actor was born in Brooklyn, New York, and had an early interest in cartooning for newspapers. He worked as an illustrator for the New York Daily News for five years, before the acting bug bit him. He was in an exceptional era and place for the craft, as Lee Strasberg’s Actor’s Studio was being formulated, and out of the 2000 applicants for 1955 only two were selected – Martin Landau and Steve McQueen. From there he began a stage career in Manhattan,...
- 1/15/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
He was friends with James Dean, dated Marilyn Monroe and made his movie debut with Hitchcock: Martin Landau, the voice of Mr Rzykruski in Frankenweenie, talks about his 60-year acting career
Midway through the interview, at the end of a monologue during which he has first marvelled at the way I can access the internet on my tape-machine (I can't) and then upset the coffee table by crossing his legs, Martin Landau checks and gives a rueful smile. "Anyway," he says. "You asked me a question a while ago. I'm sort of going on and on like a dial-tone here."
By this point it's clear that an audience with Landau will not run on conventional lines. Questions are not so much questions as prompts: an invitation for the actor to embark on another strolling pastoral through his 60-year career. He talks about the craft of acting, the actors he has...
Midway through the interview, at the end of a monologue during which he has first marvelled at the way I can access the internet on my tape-machine (I can't) and then upset the coffee table by crossing his legs, Martin Landau checks and gives a rueful smile. "Anyway," he says. "You asked me a question a while ago. I'm sort of going on and on like a dial-tone here."
By this point it's clear that an audience with Landau will not run on conventional lines. Questions are not so much questions as prompts: an invitation for the actor to embark on another strolling pastoral through his 60-year career. He talks about the craft of acting, the actors he has...
- 10/18/2012
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Deadline at Dawn
Directed by Harold Clurman
Written by Clifford Odets
U.S.A, 1946
Believability is a funny thing in movies. When two film fans enter a debate surrounding the merits of a picture, with one party claiming the story stretched the limits of credibility, a natural reply might be that the film requires one to raise their level of disbelief in order to be fully engaged. That debate may or may not be settled, but what everyone can agree on is that one’s lack of belief in character behaviour or plot revelations is a very personal thing. Sometimes, the real reason why how a given character behaved did not sit well is too opaque to decipher. It is an unfortunate predicament, that being to attempt an explanation as to why said film did not work beyond…it just did not work. In a first in the Friday Noir column,...
Directed by Harold Clurman
Written by Clifford Odets
U.S.A, 1946
Believability is a funny thing in movies. When two film fans enter a debate surrounding the merits of a picture, with one party claiming the story stretched the limits of credibility, a natural reply might be that the film requires one to raise their level of disbelief in order to be fully engaged. That debate may or may not be settled, but what everyone can agree on is that one’s lack of belief in character behaviour or plot revelations is a very personal thing. Sometimes, the real reason why how a given character behaved did not sit well is too opaque to decipher. It is an unfortunate predicament, that being to attempt an explanation as to why said film did not work beyond…it just did not work. In a first in the Friday Noir column,...
- 7/20/2012
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
The Stella Adler Studio of Acting honored producer Daryl Roth with the Harold Clurman Spirit Award for "courageous contribution to the culture of the city of New York and beyond” at the Stella by Starlight gala on Sunday.Roth's impressive resume boasts the six Pulitzer Prize winning plays "Three Tall Women," "Wit," "August: Osage County," "Anna in the Tropics," "How I Learned to Drive," and "Proof." When accepting her award Roth explained she hoped her plays get audiences to "reevaluate their assumptions."Roth chatted with Back Stage before the awards about opening night memories and what she hopes to achieve with each play she produces.Do you have a favorite memory from an opening night of one of your plays?Roth: They're all pretty exciting. It's hard to choose. It's like picking your favorite child. I would say my most recent exciting experience on an opening night was "The Normal Heart,...
- 5/22/2012
- by help@backstage.com (Molly Horan)
- backstage.com
The words of Stella Adler echoed throughout the Stella by Starlight Gala, an event to celebrate the Stella Adler Studio of Acting on Sunday at The Players Club in New York City."Growth as an actor and growth as a human being are synonymous," Adler famously said, and with that message in mind, the evening’s five honorees - Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, Daryl Roth, Ed Schultz, and Masa Tanaka - were singled out not only for acting ability but also for their work with social causes and community engagement."The harder you work, the luckier you get," MSNBC host Schultz told the young people in the room. Schultz received the Harold Clurman Spirit Award for all the culture he's brought to New York City. Producer Daryl Roth also received the Harold Clurman Spirit Award, calling the honor “kind of awesome.” Tanaka, CEO for the Americas and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ufj,...
- 5/21/2012
- by help@backstage.com (Molly Horan)
- backstage.com
Theater producer Daryl Roth, who produced last seasons Tony Award-winning revival of The Normal Heart and has presented an unprecedented seven Pulitzer Prize-winning plays on the stage, will receive her second award of the month today. At its Stella by Starlight Gala tonight, May 20, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting will present Roth with The Harold Clurman Spirit Award for courageous contribution to the culture of the city of New York and beyond. Her fellow honorees at the Stella by Starlight Gala include Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, Ed Schultz, and Masa Tanaka.
- 5/20/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Theater producer Daryl Roth, who produced last seasons Tony Award-winning revival of The Normal Heart and has presented an unprecedented seven Pulitzer Prize-winning plays on the stage, is set to receive two prestigious honors next month. The Family Equality Council will present Roth with the Hostetter-Habib Family Award for her continued support of the Lgbt community. The presentation will take place at the organizations Night at the Pier event on May 8. Later in the month, at its Stella by Starlight Gala on May 20, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting will present Roth with The Harold Clurman Spirit Award for courageous contribution to the culture of the city of New York and beyond. Her fellow honorees at the Stella by Starlight Gala include Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, Ed Schultz, and Masa Tanaka.
- 4/23/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
After 62 years, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting is making its Off-Broadway debut. The studio's artistic director Tom Oppenheim, Adler's grandson, took over the school 15 years ago with a mission to bring vibrant, professional-level theater to the studio. With the creation of the Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater in 2001, the studio began producing professional shows internally.One of 2010's works, Israel Horovitz's "Lebensraum," received funding from an independent donor, and now the studio is bringing the Holocaust-themed show Off-Broadway. Oppenheim spoke with "Back Stage" about what producing theater Off-Broadway means for the studio and Adler's legacy.Back Stage: Why did you decide to present a show Off-Broadway now?Tom Oppenheim: The Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater has been productive for five years, doing 3 shows a year here. Really it has to do with opportunity. We've been champing at the bit to build this theater company and present ourselves to the bigger.
- 10/27/2011
- by help@backstage.com (Suzy Evans)
- backstage.com
Here we are in the second decade of the new millennium—one or two generations removed from the seminal American acting teachers of the previous century. Those icons, mostly Group Theatre alumni, carried the teachings of Stanislavsky into the modern era: Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Bobby Lewis, Harold Clurman, and the like—a handful of dynamic personalities who shaped acting techniques and approaches to teaching that are still in use.Some of the most important acting teachers in New York today were trained by that first generation; others learned from their protégés. Back Stage spoke with seven of these acting gurus about the 21st-century challenges of actor training in an ever-changing field. They represent a sample of the many prominent teachers in the area—about 250 acting teachers, studios, and coaches in all. We decided to focus mainly on individual teachers with studios rather than on larger acting schools.
- 9/14/2011
- by help@backstage.com (Jean Schiffman)
- backstage.com
Though I missed his book signing in NYC this past Thursday (had a screening of my own film – hallelujah!) all film, and Black film (and music) lovers have to go out and get Donald Bogle’s new book on the turbulent life of Ethel Waters, entitled Heat Wave.
If you’ve somehow never read any of Bogle’s books, he’s the preeminent historian on all things Black film. I spent a geeky but fulfilling summer of my youth reading his work, which includes:
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in Films; Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America’s Black Female Superstars; Blacks in American Film and Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia; Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography; Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television; Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood.
If you’ve read ‘Bright Boulevards…’ in particular, you learned a lot...
If you’ve somehow never read any of Bogle’s books, he’s the preeminent historian on all things Black film. I spent a geeky but fulfilling summer of my youth reading his work, which includes:
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in Films; Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America’s Black Female Superstars; Blacks in American Film and Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia; Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography; Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television; Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood.
If you’ve read ‘Bright Boulevards…’ in particular, you learned a lot...
- 2/19/2011
- by Curtis the Media Man
- ShadowAndAct
The following is a list of New York–area stage and film acting schools, teachers, and coaches organized by category and alphabetically. Each of the entries contains the following information, if applicable: name of teacher or school, address, phone and fax numbers, email address and/or website, average number of students per class, whether beginning, intermediate, or advanced students are taught, whether auditing is permitted, whether classes are ongoing or by sessions, any special emphasis used in classes or coaching, whether a work/study program is offered. Descriptions of the class, school, or coaching are provided by the instructor or institution and edited by Back Stage. Schools or teachers who have been omitted may contact, in writing, Listings, c/o Back Stage, 5055 Wilshire Blvd., 6th floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036, so that we may include you in our next list. Acting Technique/Scene Study29th Street Repertory School Of THEATRETim Corcoran,...
- 9/15/2010
- backstage.com
Believe it or not, there’s much more to Ethel Barrymore than the fact that she was Drew Barrymore‘s great-aunt. In fact, Ethel Barrymore was the grand-dame of the Broadway stage in the early 20th century. She was the daughter of stage actor Maurice Barrymore, and the sister of John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore, with whom she shared the screen in the 1932 MGM melodrama Rasputin and the Empress. According to author and critic Harold Clurman, Barrymore possessed a natural, effortless "regal" demeanor. He then elaborated: "It is a spiritual rather than a social quality. Very few kings and queens have possessed it." Enhancing her regal bearing — I can’t think of a single king or queen who possesses one — was a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the 1944 drama None But the Lonely Heart. Better yet, Barrymore could be a truly effective screen presence, making great use of her wide-open,...
- 8/4/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Film Noir Classic Collection: Vol. 5, has dusted off eight films of the celebrated genre and adapted them to DVD format. Collections like these, which bring older films to newer light, are godsends regardless (to a degree) of which films are selected, because as timeless as some of these stories and performances might be, the barrier of being stuck in an old format can bury them forever. And these stories deserve to be told. If you watch a few well made noir thrillers you will no doubt see the seeds that were planted in the heads of crime-thriller filmmakers the likes of Martin Scorsese or Michael Mann. Though there are better films in the noir genre that this collection could have culminated, there are also a lot worse. Any fan of noir films or old mysteries and thrillers will be pleased at what this box set has to offer.
Desperate (1947)
Directed...
Desperate (1947)
Directed...
- 7/20/2010
- by Ryan Katona
- JustPressPlay.net
There seems to be no exhausting the raw eyeball pleasure to be had from old-fashioned handmade (or semi-handmade, or whatever) animation, and we may be well living through a pop renaissance of it.
The eruptions below the Pixar/Dreamworks budget tier have been spectacular and international, beginning perhaps with 2003's "The Triplets of Belleville," learning from Miyazaki, Oshii, Aardman and the Quays, moving on to Kim Moon-saeng's "Sky Blue," machinima, "The Corpse Bride," "A Scanner Darkly," "Persepolis," "Coraline," "Waltz with Bashir," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Mary & Max," "Sita Sings the Blues," "Fear(s) in the Dark," "The Secret of Kells," and now the Belgian nonpareil "A Town Called Panic."
The variety of toolboxes and styles at work seem limitless (the seductive but uniform look of pure 3D computer animation is getting tiresome just as other approaches proliferate), but it's the personal engagement that makes most of the films sing.
Many of...
The eruptions below the Pixar/Dreamworks budget tier have been spectacular and international, beginning perhaps with 2003's "The Triplets of Belleville," learning from Miyazaki, Oshii, Aardman and the Quays, moving on to Kim Moon-saeng's "Sky Blue," machinima, "The Corpse Bride," "A Scanner Darkly," "Persepolis," "Coraline," "Waltz with Bashir," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Mary & Max," "Sita Sings the Blues," "Fear(s) in the Dark," "The Secret of Kells," and now the Belgian nonpareil "A Town Called Panic."
The variety of toolboxes and styles at work seem limitless (the seductive but uniform look of pure 3D computer animation is getting tiresome just as other approaches proliferate), but it's the personal engagement that makes most of the films sing.
Many of...
- 7/20/2010
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
The following is a list of Los Angeles-area stage and film acting schools, teachers, and coaches organized by category and alphabetically.Each of the entries contains the following information, if applicable: name of teacher or school; address; phone and fax numbers; email address and/or website; average number of students per class; whether beginning, intermediate, or advanced students are taught; whether auditing is permitted; whether a work/study program is offered. Descriptions of the class, school, or coaching are provided by the instructor of institution and edited by Back Stage.Schools of teacher who have been omitted may contact, in writing, Listing, c/o Back Stage, 5055 Wilshire Blvd., 6th floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036, so that we may include you in our next list. Acting Technique/Scene StudyAARON McPherson STUDIOWest Hollywood, CA aaron@aaronmcphersonstudio.comwww.aaronmcphersonstudio.com310-918-5335Class size varies, 12 max. for auditioning class, 40 max. for scene study; day...
- 6/18/2010
- backstage.com
Director Sydney Pollack 1934-2008.
Director Sydney Pollack passed two years ago today. I had the good fortune to meet and interview Sydney Pollack twice, both of which are included here: first in 1999 for his well-made but ill-fated romantic drama "Random Hearts," and again in 2006 for what would be his final film, "Sketches of Frank Gehry," a masterful documentary look at the eponymous architect's life, work and process. It was also in many respects a personal investigation for Pollack himself, which he spoke quite candidly about during our conversation.
This has been a tough year for those of us who were weaned on the films of the so-called "Easy Riders and Raging Bulls" who made the iconic films of the late 1960s and 1970s, with the loss of such figures as Pollack, Roy Scheider, and others of the era. Pollack was certainly among the lions of that pack, but was perhaps...
Director Sydney Pollack passed two years ago today. I had the good fortune to meet and interview Sydney Pollack twice, both of which are included here: first in 1999 for his well-made but ill-fated romantic drama "Random Hearts," and again in 2006 for what would be his final film, "Sketches of Frank Gehry," a masterful documentary look at the eponymous architect's life, work and process. It was also in many respects a personal investigation for Pollack himself, which he spoke quite candidly about during our conversation.
This has been a tough year for those of us who were weaned on the films of the so-called "Easy Riders and Raging Bulls" who made the iconic films of the late 1960s and 1970s, with the loss of such figures as Pollack, Roy Scheider, and others of the era. Pollack was certainly among the lions of that pack, but was perhaps...
- 5/26/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
In its debut last year at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Los Angeles, Rajiv Joseph's play "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" caught the attention of the local critics and theatergoers for its tremendous depth and heart. It is a play Back Stage called "a monumental work that muses on cruelty and nature, language and creativity, religion and remorse." The Pulitzer Prize committee likewise valued it, naming it a finalist for the 2010 drama prize. Uniquely unsuited to a one-sentence description, the play is less about plot, more about ideas—explicated by a tiger, American soldiers, an Iraqi interpreter, the deceased sons of Saddam Hussein, and a variety of Iraqi women, undervalued and treasured. But the play would have remained words on a sheaf of papers had not Moisés Kaufman—a playwright and founder of Tectonic Theater Project in addition to being a world-class director—taken up its direction. After thoughtfully casting the piece,...
- 4/28/2010
- backstage.com
The following is a list of Los Angeles-area stage and film acting schools, teachers, and acoaches organized by category and alphabetically.Each of the entries contains the following information, if applicable: name of teacher or school; address; phone and fax numbers; email address and/or website; average number of students per class; whether beginning, intermediate, or advanced students are taught; whether auditing is permitted; whether classes are ongoing or by sessions; any special emphasis used in classes or coaching; whether a work/study program is offered. Descriptions of the class, schoool, or coaching are provided by the instructor or institutions and edited by Back Stage.Schools or teachers who have been omitted may contact, in writing, Listings, c/o Back Stage, 5055 Wilshire Blvd., 6th floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036, so that we may include you in our next list.Acting Technique/Scene StudyAARON McPherson STUDIOWest Hollywood, CA aaron@aaronmcphersonstudio.comwww.aaronmcphersonstudio.
- 3/25/2010
- backstage.com
Acting students, if they're lucky, find classes that are satisfying, challenging, and fully worth the time and money. But once in a while, they wind up in a class that rises above and beyond mere satisfaction. Something about the rapport between instructor and students—and among students themselves—clicks perfectly. Everyone ends up making sweet, surprising artistic leaps forward.When you find a class like that, it's only natural to want to keep the magic going. Actors sometimes decide to take the play they've been exploring in their scene study class, secure a theater, and put the whole thing up for an audience. Usually those plans fall apart pretty quickly. A week after the last class meeting, everyone has moved on to the next endeavor. But Back Stage found actors who didn't lose the momentum—who managed to collaborate with fellow students to create fully realized productions. These performers generously...
- 3/25/2010
- backstage.com
The following is a list of New York–area stage and film acting schools, teachers, and coaches organized by category and alphabetically. Each of the entries contains the following information, if applicable: name of teacher or school, address, phone and fax numbers, email address and/or website, average number of students per class, whether beginning, intermediate, or advanced students are taught, whether auditing is permitted, whether classes are ongoing or by sessions, any special emphasis used in classes or coaching, whether a work/study program is offered. Descriptions of the class, school, or coaching are provided by the instructor or institution and edited by Back Stage. Schools or teachers who have been omitted may contact, in writing, Listings, c/o Back Stage, 5055 Wilshire Blvd., 6th floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036, so that we may include you in our next list.Acting Technique/Scene Study29th Street Repertory School of TheatreTim Corcoran,...
- 1/28/2010
- backstage.com
We've all encountered those overly cerebral, mechanical actors—the ones so busy measuring beats and sorting objectives and obstacles that they don't really hear their scene partners' lines. Whatever the role, these actors do it by the book.But the "book" is more than just proverbial. It's constantly being written and rewritten, with publishers releasing a steady stream of new tomes on the craft and business of acting each year.We spoke with actors, coaches, and teachers to find out which titles are essential. They all agreed that although you can't master the art of acting by only following an instruction manual—like those misguided robotic actors—it's nonetheless beneficial to own at least a library shelf or two of books devoted to your profession.Rocking the ClassicsUnsurprisingly, among the titles most often mentioned by Back Stage's respondents were such venerable texts as "Sanford Meisner on Acting" (1987), Stella Adler...
- 1/28/2010
- backstage.com
On Monday night, masters of acting arrived at the home of Antonio "La" Reid to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Among them, the honorees Debra Wasser, Bennett Zier, Suzanne Shank (presented with The Harold Clurman Corporate Award), Whoopi Goldberg (presented with The Marlon Brando Award), and Elaine Stritch (presented with The Stella Adler Award).Wasser, a board member of the studio, praised Stella Adler's humanitarian philosophy. Actress Ruby Dee finds this compassion in the evening's honorees, particularly Whoopi Goldberg. Presenting the Marlon Brando Award for "a life committed to social activism and excellence in film art," Dee said of Goldberg, "She's a concerned artist, she's an activist and that's part of what this studio is about."While Goldberg and Dee aren't close, Dee said that she sees Goldberg as a caring human being with an incomparable sensitivity about her. In this vein, Goldberg said of her award,...
- 10/21/2009
- backstage.com
The Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Co. will be presenting "Songs & Statues," a new play by Peter Nickowitz and directed by Tom Oppenheim, grandson of Stella Adler. The production is about an assimilated Jewish family in 1958, suburban Connecticut whose lives are turned upside down when the father is passed over for a promotion because of their Judaism.
- 6/29/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
(Mark Rydell directing John Wayne in The Cowboys, above.)
By Jon Zelazny
(Note: This interview is also appearing at Eight Million Stories.)
June 11th marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of screen legend John Wayne. Most of the directors who made his classic films are of course long gone as well, so I was very pleased to sit down with Mark Rydell, director of The Cowboys (1972), the epic cattle drive saga most Western fans regard as Wayne’s last great starring role.
Rydell began directing theater in New York City in the early sixties, and went on to television and movies, including hits like The Rose (1979) and On Golden Pond (1981). We met at The Actors Studio in West Hollywood, where he and co-director Martin Landau continue to moderate acting classes.
Jon: When did you first join The Actors Studio?
Mark Rydell: The fifties. I went through the Neighborhood...
By Jon Zelazny
(Note: This interview is also appearing at Eight Million Stories.)
June 11th marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of screen legend John Wayne. Most of the directors who made his classic films are of course long gone as well, so I was very pleased to sit down with Mark Rydell, director of The Cowboys (1972), the epic cattle drive saga most Western fans regard as Wayne’s last great starring role.
Rydell began directing theater in New York City in the early sixties, and went on to television and movies, including hits like The Rose (1979) and On Golden Pond (1981). We met at The Actors Studio in West Hollywood, where he and co-director Martin Landau continue to moderate acting classes.
Jon: When did you first join The Actors Studio?
Mark Rydell: The fifties. I went through the Neighborhood...
- 6/17/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
The Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Co. will be presenting "Songs & Statues," a new play by Peter Nickowitz and directed by Tom Oppenheim, grandson of Stella Adler. The production is about an assimilated Jewish family in 1958, suburban Connecticut whose lives are turned upside down when the father is passed over for a promotion because of their Judaism.
- 6/9/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Following is Back Stage's comprehensive list of New York acting schools and career counselors. 29th Street Repertory School Of THEATRE56 Seventh Ave.Studio 5HNew York, NY 10011(212) 712-8712, Fax: (212) 242-900810 per class. Beginners and intermediate. Auditing is permitted Ongoing.Classes focus on learning to make truthful acting choices using contemporary material and personal life experience, preparing students to become working actors.Acting School Category: Acting Technique; Monologue/Audition/Coaching; On-Camera (Film/TV/Commercial).A Class Act NYJessica Rofe, Artistic Director80 Park Ave., Ste. 5-ENew York, NY 10016jessica@aclassactny.comwww.aclassactny.com(212) 479-848012-14 per class. All levels. Ongoing.Focuses primarily on musical theatre, drama, and on-camera weekend workshops for kids and teens. Educators are professional industry folk including Broadway veterans as well as casting directors and talent agents. Private coaching also available. Classes held at Ripley Grier Studios, 131 W. 72nd St., NYC.Acting School Category: Children/Teens.Gregory ABELS120 Washington Pl.
- 4/9/2009
- backstage.com
Acting COACHINGThe following individuals or companies specialize in one-on-one acting coaching. Private coaching is also available from the majority of those listed in the "Acting Schools and Classes" category. Coaches in other specialties, such as musical theatre, voiceover, or young performers, are listed in those categories.Jules Aaron(323) 660-7342Aaron, the former head of of graduate programs at CalArts and U.C. Riverside, is an award-winning director and acting teacher. He has won directing awards from the L.A. Drama Critics Circle and Back Stage. He coaches actors for specific auditions, develops appropriate monologues, and conducts cold reading sessions. By audition only.Phyllis APPLEGATEOne-On-One(323) 655-5167Emmy-nominated character actor Applegate studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute on scholarship. She offers ongoing individual performance coaching combining Strasberg's methods with her own. Applegate coaches actors on audition techniques, cold readings, character creation, scene study, and text interpretation.The Audition COACHWest Hollwood, www.myspace.
- 3/25/2009
- backstage.com
The Actors Company Theatre/Tact (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Simon Jones, C0-Artistic Directors), the critically-acclaimed company dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit, has announced the complete cast for Incident at Vichy, Arthur Miller's searing examination of the Holocaust. Originally produced in 1964 as a commission for the new Lincoln Center Theatre Company (directed by Harold Clurman, starring Joseph Wiseman, David Wayne and Hal Holbrook), it was last seen in New York over 25 years ago in a 1981 production by The Jewish Repertory Theatre. Performances of Incident at Vichy begin at The Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street - between 9th & 10th Avenues) on Sunday March 8th, 2009. Opening night is Monday, March 16th at 7:30 pm. Performances will continue through Sunday, April 11th. Joining the previously announced Tact company members: Jamie Bennett, Richard Ferrone, Todd Gearhart, Jack Koenig, Ron McClary, James Prendergast and Gregory Salata are guest artists: Mark Alhadeff,...
- 1/23/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Actor-writer Anna Deavere Smith is a multiple Obie and Drama Desk Award winner who may be best known for her multi-character, one-person shows, such as Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities, and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992. For the latter, she earned a Broadway transfer, a Theatre World Award, and two Tony nominations (best actress and best play). She also has had a recurring role on The West Wing and is featured in the current Anne Hathaway film Rachel Getting Married. That is but a fraction of Smith's work, however. In addition to her plays, she has written two books (Letters to a Young Artist, and Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics). She also teaches at New York University and is concerned about arts and education. On Monday, Oct. 27, she will take part in a discussion, "Art and Educational Justice," as part of the closing night of the Harold Clurman Festival,...
- 10/27/2008
- by Andrew Salomon
- backstage.com
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