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Sandra Diane Seacat (also known as Sondra and Sandra Kaufman) (born 1936 or 1937) is an American actor, director and acting coach best known for teaching method-style acting. She was the first of three daughters born to Russell Henry and Lois Marion Seacat in Yates Center, Kansas.

Career

Seacat began acting in theater in the early 1960s and was described with a fellow actor by the The Village Voice after a summer-stock production of Leonid Andreyev play The Waltz of the Dogs as "destined to bring many future stages alive."

She moved to New York and attended the Actors Studio, where she studied method acting under the studio's director, Lee Strasberg.

By the early 1970s, she led classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, City College of New York's Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts, and as a member of the Actors Studio, as well as teaching privately. Steve Railsback and Mickey Rourke, who told New York Magazine that Seacat was his mentor for six years, were among her clients during that period.

Seacat eventually worked in both New York and Los Angeles, coaching actors like Jessica Lange as Lange prepared for her role in the 1982 film Frances. It was at about that same time, according to The New York Times, that Seacat helped pioneer the practice of dream work, where actors study and play characters in their dreams. She also taught the method to her daughter, Greta Seacat, who is an acting coach. Seacat clients Melanie Griffith and Gina Gershon have credited Seacat's use of the dream method with improving their craft.

Acting teacher Alex Cole Taylor in 2010 told Backstage that he learned compassion for his students from Seacat. CNN's Todd Leopold, in a story about acting coach Elizabeth Kemp, coupled Seacat with Lee Strasberg as "legendary acting coaches."

Seacat is a faculty member of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Film Forum at the University of Arkansas.

She has commented over the years about actors she has trained, including Laura Dern, who thanked Seacat when she accepted a best actress award at the Golden Globe Awards in January 2012.

Other actors who have studied under Seacat include Chris Pine, Marlo Thomas, Lance Henriksen, Harvey Keitel, Isabella Rossellini, Rachel Ward, Treat Williams, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Peter Falk, and Lynda Carter.

Directing

Seacat directed one movie, 1990's In the Spirit. In reviewing the film, which starred Marlo Thomas and Elaine May, The New York Times called it "a nervous new-age comedy more notable for good intentions than good luck." The Boston Globe described the movie as "An Endearing Mess," The Washington Post headlined it a "Grand and Goofy Comedy," and the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Spirit Loses Its Comic Flair Halfway Through‎." Variety, however, described the actors in the leading roles a "memorable screen odd couple."

While In the Spirit was filming, the Los Angeles Times's Cinefile column covered Seacat's directorial debut, calling her an "acting guru," and Liz Smith wrote about the film in her gossip column.

In August 2007, Seacat, with Jamie Wollrab, directed her daughter, Greta Seacat, and others in Elizabeth Meriwether's play The Mistakes Madeline Made at Boulder, at Colorado's Dairy Center for the Arts, starring Shannon Woodward, Justin Chatwin and Johnny Lewis.

Personal life

Seacat lives in Santa Monica with her husband, actor Thurn Hoffman.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

1. "1940 U.S. Census form". Familysearch.org.
2. ^ "Obituary: Lois Marion Seacat". HutchNews.com. December 23, 2007.
3. Tallmer, Jerry "Theatre: 'The Waltz of the Dogs". The Village Voice. August 2, 1962.
4. ^ "Jessica Lange". Vanity Fair. October 1988.
5. "Film Forum Faculty". Winthrop Rockefeller Institute. U. of Arkansas System.
6. Allen, Jennifer: "Bad Boy: Actor Mickey Rourke is a hard case with a heart". New York Magazine. November 14, 1983.
7. "The Role of Their Dreams". The New York Times. May 6, 2009.
8. "Frances Farmer – The Making of Frances," from the book Jessica Lange – A Biography (1986) by J. T. Jeffries
9. ^ Associated Press: "Casting Gamble in Thorn Birds". The Nashua Telegraph. March 29, 1983.
10. Goldstein, Patrick: "Many-Sided Melanie Griffith". The Los Angeles Times. November 10, 1986.
11. "I Dream of Gina". Cigar Aficionado, September/October 1998.
12. "L.A. Readers' Choice: Classes and Coaches". Backstage. June 23, 2010.
13. "Actress' role of a lifetime: Being a mentor". CNN. February 13, 2012.
14. "Winthrop Rockefeller Institute hosting first Film Forum". KTHV. March 8, 2012.
15. "Laura Dern Wins Best Actress TV Series Comedy Or Musical". Golden Globes 2012. CelebrityNetworth.com.
16. "Laura Dern: A Hollywood Old-Timer at 37". The Baltimore Sun. August 23, 2004.
17. "The Self-Aware Artist". Backstage. June 15, 2009.
18. Thomas, Marlo (2010). "Obsession". Growing Up Laughing: My Story and the Story of Funny. New York: Hyperion. p. 210. ISBN 0-13-367870-9.
19. Smith, Gavin: "Don't Let That Go: That's Valuable". Film Comment. September/October 1993. Vol. 29 Issue 5, p. 53. (EBSCO Research)
20. Kolson, Ann: "Isabella Rossellini: No Comparisons". The Pittsburgh Press. December 22, 1985.
21. "Isabella Rossellini: A Rose Who Has Known Thorns". Chicago Tribune. November 28, 1985.
22. Wilkins, William: "Thorn Birds Star Enthused: Chamberlain Role Pursuit Succeeds". The Oxnard Press-Courier. March 27, 1983.
23. Preston, Marilynn: "Thorn Birds gives Ward chance to win her wings". The Chicago Tribune. March 29, 1983.
24. Robbins, Jane Marla (2002). "Relaxation". Acting Techniques for Everyday Life: Look and Feel Self-Confident in Difficult Real-Life Situations. New York: Marlowe & Company. p. 57. ISBN 1-56924-554-1.
25. "Campion, Jane: In the Cut". Australia:Urban Cinefile. November 13, 2003.
26. Lipton, James (2007). Inside Inside. New York: Dutton. ISBN 0-525-95035-4.
27. Reuters: "Baryshnikov natural for movie". The Windsor Star. December 18, 1985.
28. Kriegsman, Alan M.: "The Screening of Baryshnikov: From the Ballet Stage to a Cinematic Star Turn". The Washington Post. December 6, 1985. (paywall).
29. Dalton, Peggy (2005). "Ch. 67. Gurumayi". Breathing Out. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 240–242. ISBN 0-312-32413-8. {{cite book}}: |first2= missing |last2= (help)
30. "Carter tackles the wonders of history". USA Today. August 15, 1994.
31. "Movie review: In The Spiriti". The New York Times. April 6, 1990.
32. "In the Spirit – An Endearing Mess". The Boston Globe. June 8, 1990.
33. "Grand and Goofy Comedy". The Washington Post. May 18, 1990.
34. "Spirit Loses Its Comic Flair Halfway Through‎". Los Angeles Times. April 11, 1990.
35. "In the Spirit". Variety. December 31, 1989.
36. Cinefile: "Acting guru Sondra Seacat makes film directing debut with In the Spirit". Los Angeles Times. June 26, 1988.
37. "In the Spirit production notes". NYTimes.com.
38. "Churchill Book is Good Reading". The Sarasota Herald-Tribune. December 6, 1988.
39. "Hollywood Actors come to Boulder". Denver Post. July 29, 2007.
40. "Review: The Mistakes Madeline Made". The Boulder Daily Camera. August 9, 2007.

Further reading

• Kelly, John: "1970: June Havoc produces A Streetcar Named Desire in New Orleans". The New Orleans Times-Picayune. April 7, 2010
• Sainer, Arthur: "Obit to Inge and other bouquets: 'Natural Affection,' 'P From B,' 'In the Cage,'". The Village Voice. June 21, 1973
• Sainer, Arthur: "We Move From Darkness Into Light: Mrs. Warren's Profession, Economic Necessity, The Son". The Village Voice. April 12, 1976
• Walden, Robert: "The Method and the Myth: Is the controversial technique still relevant for today’s actor?" Backstage. April 21, 2009

External links

• As Sandra Kaufman at the Internet Broadway Database
• As Sandra Kaufman at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection
• Sandra Seacat at the Internet Broadway Database
• Sandra Seacat at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Sandra Seacat at IMDb
• Sandra Seacat at TAKEHOLLYWOOD

Template:Persondata

• Actors from Kansas
• Actors from Los Angeles, California
• Actors from New York City
• Actors Studio alumni
• American film actors
• American stage actors
• City College of New York faculty
• Drama teachers
• Living people