Strasberg, Lee (redirected from Lee Strasberg)

Strasberg, Lee (străs`bərg, sträs`–), 1901–82, American theatrical director, teacher, and actor, b. Budzanów, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Budaniv, Ukraine) as Israel Strassberg. Strasberg immigrated to New York City in 1909. He was a cofounder in 1931 of the Group Theatre. There until 1937, he initiated training in "the Method," a process of acting based on Stanislavsky's teachings. Among the world's foremost teachers of acting, Strasberg was closely associated with The Actors Studio in New York and became its director in 1950. He acted in movies in his later life, notably The Godfather Part II (1974).

Bibliography

See his autobiography (1987); biography by C. H. Adams (1980); R. H. Hethmon, ed., Strasberg at the Actors' Studio (1965).

---

Strasberg, Lee

 orig. Israel Strassberg

(born Nov. 17, 1901, Budzanów, Pol., Austria-Hungary—died Feb. 17, 1982, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. theatre director and teacher. At age seven he immigrated to New York City with his family. After acting lessons with teachers who had studied under Konstantin Stanislavsky, he became an actor and stage manager with the Theatre Guild. In 1931 he cofounded the Group Theatre, where he directed brilliant experimental plays such as Men in White (1933). After working in Hollywood (1941–48), he returned to New York City to become artistic director of the Actors Studio, where he expanded Stanislavsky's teachings to further develop method acting, in which actors use their own emotional memory for the purpose of dramatic motivation. He trained actors such as Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Dustin Hoffman, Geraldine Page, and Julie Harris.

---

Strasberg, Lee (b. Israel Strassberg) (1901–82) theater director; born in Budzanov, Austria-Hungary (now Budanov, Ukraine). Brought to America as a child, he had a brief acting career, then was one of the founders of the Group Theatre in 1931, directing a number of plays there. But his greatest influence was through the Actors Studio where he became director in 1950. A proponent of "method" acting, he influenced several generations of actors, from Marlon Brando to Dustin Hoffman.