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Lee Strasberg (November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American director, actor, producer, and acting teacher. He was born Israel Lee Strassberg in Budzanów, former Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Budaniv, Ukraine), to Ida and Baruch Meyer Strassberg.
Career
In 1931, Lee Strasberg became one of the co-founders of the Group Theatre, a company which included such legends as Elia Kazan, John Garfield, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, Franchot Tone, and Robert Lewis. In 1936, Strasberg became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1949, he began a lengthy career at the Actors Studio in New York City. Within two years, he was artistic director and the now-renowned institution's reputation flourished. Actors under his tutelage there included Geraldine Page, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Kim Stanley, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Fonda, James Dean, Dustin Hoffman, Eli Wallach, Eva Marie Saint, Robert DeNiro, Jill Clayburgh, Ellen Burstyn and Steve McQueen.
In 1966, he established the "Actors Studio West" in Los Angeles. In 1969, he began the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute there as well.
While rarely stepping in front of the camera himself (he appeared in just seven films), his most famous role was surely that of Hyman Roth in The Godfather: Part II. Playing an elderly Jewish organized crime figure retired to Miami and overlord of criminal enterprise in Cuba, he encounters the wrath of Michael Corleone, played by Strasberg's former student Al Pacino. For this performance, Strasberg received an Academy Award nomination.
Strasberg is considered by many to be the patriarch of American "method" acting. He provided inspiration for generations of actors during his lifetime and a lasting legacy for generations to come.
Personal life
He was married to his second wife, the actress and drama coach Paula Strasberg from 1934 until her death from cancer in 1966. They were the parents of actress Susan Strasberg and acting teacher John Strasberg. Lee Strasberg's third wife was the former Anna Mizrahi, a Sephardic Jew who was born in Venezuela and the mother of his two youngest children, David and Adam.
Lee Strasberg died of a heart attack in New York City at the age of 80; his eldest children and only grandchild were disinherited in the will. Strasberg is interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York.
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was a student of Strasberg's, and he helped her throughout her life.
His daughter Susan wrote a best-selling books Marilyn and Me: sisters, rivals, friends (published after Lee's death, and probably in light of disinheriting his children), which recounted her relationship with her "surrogate sister". Monroe was 29 when she became Strasberg's favorite student. Over eight years the screen goddess was a sisterly friend and household rival of aspiring actress Susan Strasberg, just 17 when they met. Susan for a time shared her bedroom with the envied intruder, object of the paternal adulation of her father. In the book, Susan swings between admiration and disillusionment with Monroe ( Susan describes Monroe as someone who sketched, wrote poetry and sympathized with underdogs when she wasn't floundering in depressed insomnia or drug-induced paranoia ). A convert to Judaism after her marriage to Arthur Miller, she peppered her conversation with Yiddishisms.
In her final will, Monroe left Strasberg total control of 75% of her estate, including the licensing of her image as gratitude for his mentorship and kindness before and after she became a star. In her will, Monroe expressed her desire that Strasberg, or, if he predeceased her, her executor, "distribute (these) among my friends, colleagues and those to whom I am devoted."
Strasberg willed the rights to his widow (2nd wife) Anna, who never met Monroe but who today administers the estate. It still earns millions of dollars in licensing fees whenever an advertiser or manufacturer uses Monroe's image.
Anna declared that she would never sell Monroe's personal items after successfully suing Odyssey Auctions in 1994 to prevent the sale of items that Strasberg withheld from Monroe's former business manager Inez Melson. However, in October 1999 Christie's auctioned the bulk of Monroe's personal effects - the auction netted $12.3 million. Julien's staged a second auction of Monroe's personal effects in 2005.
Trivia
- Made his last public appearance at the "Night of 100 Stars" on February 13, 1982. In a benefit for the Actors Fund at Radio City Music Hall, together with proteges Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, he danced in the chorus line with the Rockettes. He died only four days later.
Work on Broadway
Note: All works are plays and the original productions unless otherwise noted.
- Four Walls (1927) - Actor
- The Vegetable (1929) - Director
- Red Rust (1929) - Actor
- Green Grow the Lilacs (1931) - Actor
- The House of Connelly (1931) - Co-Director
- 1931 (1931) - Director
- Success Story (1932) - Director
- Men in White (1933) - Director
- Gentlewoman (1934) - Director
- Gold Eagle Guy (1934) - Director
- Paradise Lost (1935) - Produced by Group Theatre
- Case of Clyde Griffiths (1936) - Director, Produced by Group Theatre
- Johnny Johnson (1936) - Director, Produced by Group Theatre
- Many Mansions (1937) - Director
- Golden Boy (1937) - Produced by Group Theatre
- Roosty (1938) - Director
- Casey Jones (1938) - Produced by Group Theatre
- All the Living (1938) - Director
- Dance Night (1938) - Director
- Rocket to the Moon (1938) - Produced by Group Theatre
- The Gentle People (1939) - Produced by Group Theatre
- Awake and Sing! (1939), revival - Produced by Group Theatre
- Summer Night (1939) - Director
- Night Music (1940) - Produced by Group Theatre
- The Fifth Column (1940) - Director
- Clash by Night (1941) - Director
- A Kiss for Cinderella (1942), revival - Director
- R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1942), revival - Director
- Apology (1943) - Producer and Director
- South Pacific (1943, apparently no relation to the Broadway musical South Pacific) - Director
- Skipper Next to God (1948) - Director
- The Big Knife (1949) - Director
- The Closing Door (1949) - Director
- The Country Girl (1950) - Co-Producer
- Peer Gynt (1951), (revival) - Director
- Strange Interlude (1963), (revival) - Produced by The Actors Studio - Tony Award Co-nomination for Best Producer of a Play
- Marathon '33 (1963) - Production supervisor
- The Three Sisters (1964), (revival) - Director, Produced by The Actors Studio
External links
- Official website
- The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute
- Lee Strasberg at the Internet Broadway Database
- John Strasberg Studios
- Photo & Gravesite
- Essays about Acting
- Acting Classes in New York