Immigrant of the Day: Lee Strasberg (former Austro-Hungarian Empire)

Lee Strasberg (1901–1982) was an Academy Award nominated film director, actor, producer, and acting teacher. He was born Israel Strassberg in Budzanów, former Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Budaniv, Ukraine).  Strasberg is considered by many to be the patriarch of American “method” acting.

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 U.S. citizen. 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 Burt Young, Geraldine Page, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Kim Stanley, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Fonda, James Dean, Dustin Hoffman, Eli Wallach, Eva Marie Saint, Robert De Niro, Jill Clayburgh, Ellen Burstyn, Gene Wilder, Steve McQueen, and Dennis Hopper.

In 1966, Strasberg established the “Actors Studio West” in Los Angeles. In 1969, he began the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles. Rarely stepping in front of the camera himself, Strasberg received most attention for the role of Hyman Roth in The Godfather: Part II. Strasberg received an Academy Award nomination for this performance, losing to Robert DeNiro, another one of his former students.

KJ