Lee Strasberg

Lee Strasberg
Birth Name: Israel Strassberg
Born: Nov 17, 1901
Budzanow, Austria
Career: 1946-1982
Countries: USA
Genre/Type: Drama
Crime
Theater
Biography by Hal Erickson
European-born Lee Strasberg moved to the U.S. with his parents when he was seven. Born into an artistic family, Strasberg began his acting training at age nine; he studied at the Actors Laboratory Theater under such heavyweights as Richard Boleslawsky and Maria Ouspenskaya. A professional actor from 1925 onward, Strasberg was a member for many years of the Theater Guild. Together with fellow "Guild"-ers Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, Strasberg broke away to form the Group Theater in 1931, where he would direct such stars-to-be as John Garfield and Luther Adler. In 1949, Strasberg established the Actors Studio in New York, where he became the foremost proponent of "the Method," an introspective, sensory-recall acting technique founded in part on the teachings of Stanislavsky (the most famous disciple of the Method was, of course, Marlon Brando). Though extremely influential in the film, TV, and theatrical world of the 1960s, Strasberg was not always the favorite of his contemporaries. One of his severest critics was acting teacher Stella Adler, who on the occasion of Strasberg's death, asked her class for a respectful moment of silence, then lambasted Strasberg as the man who nearly "destroyed" the acting profession. In 1969, Strasberg set up a new school, the Lee Strasberg Institute of the Theater, with headquarters in both New York and Los Angeles. Five years later, director Francis Ford Coppola coaxed Strasberg into making his film debut as gangster Hyman Roth in The Godfather II. It was the first of five movie appearances for Strasberg, the last (and best) of which was in Going in Style (1979). Lee Strasberg was the father of actress Susan Strasberg.

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Filmography

Movie/Film Released Rating Role Buy
Harold Clurman: A Life of Theatre 1988 Archival Appearance
Acting: Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio 1981 Participant [Starring]
Skokie 1981 Actor [Starring]
...And Justice for All 1979 Actor [Starring]
Boardwalk 1979 Actor [Starring]
Going in Style 1979 Actor [Starring]
The Last Tenant 1978 Actor [Starring]
The Godfather Saga 1977 Actor [Starring]
The Cassandra Crossing 1976 Actor [Starring]
The Godfather Part II 1974 Actor [Starring]
Somewhere in the Night 1946 Screenwriter

Videos of Lee Strasberg

Back to the topTop Questions about Lee Strasberg

hello, what are your monologues? (writing down) okay so yadda yadda start when your ready take all the time you need why do you want to come to this school? (explains school philosophy) blah blah Do you know any of the alumni? A few more...
for 2 years something like $20,000 it is on the website
I'm sorry, but the Schools died when Lee Strasberg died. Now, especially in L.A., the Lee Strasburg Institutes are a joke that banks on the venerable teacher's name. The teachers are horrible and if you audit a class you'll see that most of...

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Awards

Year Movie/Film Role
1974 Hollywood Foreign Press Association The Godfather Part II New Star of the Year - Male (Nom)
1974 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Godfather Part II Best Supporting Actor (Nom)
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