Lee Strasberg

Lee Strasberg, born Israel Lee Strassberg (in Budzan?w, Austria-Hungary, now Budanov, Ukraine) on November 17, 1901 to Ida and Baruch Meyer, was an actor and acting teacher.

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In 1931, he became one of the co-founders of the Group Theatre, a company which numbered such legends as Elia Kazan, John Garfield, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, Franchot Tone, and Robert Lewis. In 1936, he 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, Jack Nicholson, and Steve McQueen. In 1966, he took the Actors Studio west and founded a Los Angeles branch. In 1969, he began the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in the same city.

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While rarely stepping in front of the camera himself (he appeared in only seven different films, or eight counting The Godfather Trilogy compilation), his most famous role was surely that of Hyman Roth in '. 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. His legacy remains strong today, as he was one of the patriarchs of "method acting."

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He was married to his second wife, the actress and drama coach Paula Strasberg from 1934 until her death from cancer in 1966, and they were the parents of the now-deceased actress Susan Strasberg, and John Strasberg. Lee Strasberg eventually remarried, this time to his third wife, the former Anna Mizrahi, a Sephardic Jew who was born in Venezuela, and the mother of his 2 youngest children. She remained his wife until his death on February 17, 1982 in New York from a heart attack at the age of 80. She had strained relationships with her adult stepchildren, Susan and John Strasberg.

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See http://www.johnstrasbergstudios.org John Strasberg for more info.

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1901: 1901 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar)....

Group Theatre: The Group Theatre was a left-wing theater collective, formed in New York in 1931 by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg. It was intended to be a kind of breeding ground for actors, directors, and playwrights. The Group were pioneers of the method acting technique. The name "Group" c...

Elia Kazan: Elia Kazan (September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director and producer....

Lee Strasberg related Images and Photos (experimental)

Lee Strasberg	Lee J. Cobb	Lee Evans	Lee Grant
Lee Evans	Lee Majors	Lee Remick	Lee Marvin
Lee Remick	Amos Lee: Amos Lee	Amos Lee: Amos Lee	Ben Lee: Ripe