Morris Carnovsky
Encyclopedia
Morris Carnovsky was an American stage and film actor born in St. Louis, Missouri
. He worked briefly in the Yiddish theatre
before attending Washington University in St. Louis
. Opting for a mainstream acting career, he appeared in dozens of Broadway shows
.
acting company and appeared in the title role of Uncle Vanya
(by Anton Chekhov
). This was followed by roles in Saint Joan
(by George Bernard Shaw
), The Brothers Karamazov
, The Doctor's Dilemma (also by Shaw) and the role of Kublai Khan in Eugene O'Neill
's Marco Millions.
In 1931, he helped found the Group Theatre, which specialized in dramas with socially relevant and politically tinged messages. Many of the Group's members where inspired by the Moscow Art theater and several members, including Carnovsky, also joined the American Communist Party
. Among the notable Group Theater directors were Harold Clurman
, Lee Strasberg
, Elia Kazan
, and Cheryl Crawford
. It included such actors as Franchot Tone
, John Garfield
, Ruth Nelson, Art Smith, Luther Adler
, Sanford Meisner
, Paula Strasberg
and Carnovsky's wife, Phoebe Brand
. Carnovsky summered at Pine Brook Country Club
in Nichols, Connecticut
, with the Group Theatre.
Carnovsky appeared in almost every major Group Theater production, often playing parts that had been written specifically for him by his good friend, the actor and playwright Clifford Odets
. Among Carnovsky's major triumphs at the Group Theater were the Odet's plays Awake and Sing, Golden Boy
, Paradise Lost
and Rocket to the Moon
.
He also appeared in the anti-war musical Johnny Johnson
, Sidney Kingsley
's Men in White
, the Elia Kazan directed Thunder Rock, My Sister Eileen
, and Cafe Crown.
Writing about the Group's production of Awake and Sing, the New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson said, "...Morris Carnovsky as the lonely old sage struggling with ideas he cannot resolve or use, gives a performance worth a mayor's reception on the steps of City Hall. Probably Mr. Carnovsky and Mr. Adler would have become remarkable actors in any case. But the discipline of the Group Theater has given them a mastery of acting they could never have achieved by themselves. The Group Theater makes good!"
's The Life of Emile Zola
starring Paul Muni
. It was followed by a supporting role in Anatole Litvak
's Tovarich
, before Carnovsky returned to New York and a newly re-configured formation of The Group Theater. After the collapse of the Group Theater in 1940, Carnovsky returned to Hollywood where he appeared in several films and continued his stage work by joining the Actor's Lab.
In 1943, he played a retired Norwegian school teacher, Sixtus Andresen, in the Warner Bros.
anti-Nazi film, Edge of Darkness, which starred Errol Flynn
and was directed by Lewis Milestone
. Carnovsky portrayed George Gershwin
's father in Rhapsody in Blue
in 1945, and in Dead Reckoning
(1947), he starred as the villainous nightclub owner Martinelli with Humphrey Bogart
. In 1950, he portrayed LeBret in Cyrano de Bergerac
starring José Ferrer
. Later that year, he played Dr. Raymond Hartley in the mystery The Second Woman
and the kindly judge who sentences a young boy who likes to play with firearms in Joseph H. Lewis's Gun Crazy
. This was to be Carnovsky's last Hollywood film for 12 years, after which he was blacklisted.
, was one of eight Group Theater members named by his former comrade Elia Kazan
(himself a Communist party member) before the House Un-American Activities Committee
. Actor Sterling Hayden
also testified before the committee that he had attended Communist party meetings that were sometimes held at Carnovsky's house in Hollywood. When Carnovsky was called before the HUAC he refused to "name names", and this effectively ended his career in Hollywood, so he returned to the New York stage.
, adapted by Arthur Miller, Noel Coward
's Nude With Violin
, The Dybbuk, and Tiger at the Gates. Then in 1956 Carnovsky recalls with delight, "Shakespeare suddenly discovered me!" "In 1956", he said, "John Houseman, who was then the general director and producer at the Stratford (Conn.) American Shakespeare Theatre
, called me up and said, 'would you like to do some Shakespeare?' I said, 'Yes, of course!' So that's how I began. The first year I did a part in King John, a part in Measure For Measure
and a part in The Taming of the Shrew
. Then I proceeded to learn what Shakespeare was all about, in light of the realistic method of acting that I had discovered during my years with the Group Theater. The following year, I found myself doing Shylock in The Merchant of Venice
, and that was really the opening of the can of peas, for me." At Stratford he played many roles, notably Feste in Twelfth Night in a production featuring Katharine Hepburn
as Viola, and Prospero in a celebrated production of The Tempest
directed by William Ball of the American Conservatory Theater.
He also appeared in a few more pictures: In 1962 he went to Paris to appear in Sidney Lumet
's adaptation of Arthur Miller
's A View from the Bridge
. He played Creon in a TV play of Medea
, and in 1974 appeared in The Gambler
, playing James Caan's father.
He was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame
in 1979.
Morris Carnovsky died at his home in Easton, Connecticut
, on September 1, 1992, four days before his 95th birthday, from natural causes. His wife, Phoebe Brand
, died on July 3, 2004, at the age of 96 from pneumonia
. The couple had a son, Stephen Carnovsky.
A highly-acclaimed performance at Stratford (CT) Shakespeare Festival in King Lear
led to something of a second career for Carnovsky as a mentor of young actors, as he traveled to universities all over the country, playing the leading role in the Shakespeare classic with supporting casts made up of college students. At Connecticut College, Carnovsky taught future film actor Leland Orser
. In this way Carnovsky appeared with Shakespearean actor Richard Hauenstein (who played Kent) when he appeared as Lear at West Virginia University
in Morgantown
. In 1984, he wrote a book The Actor's Eye with friend and colleague Peter Sander that distilled his theory of acting.
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. He worked briefly in the Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and...
before attending Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
. Opting for a mainstream acting career, he appeared in dozens of Broadway shows
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
.
Broadway career and The Group Theater
In 1922, Carnovsky began his long career on Broadway with his New York City stage debut as Reb Aaron in The God of Vengeance. Two years later, Carnovsky joined the Theatre GuildTheatre Guild
The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of the Washington Square Players.Its original purpose was to...
acting company and appeared in the title role of Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
(by Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
). This was followed by roles in Saint Joan
Saint Joan (play)
Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw, based on the life and trial of Joan of Arc. Published not long after the canonization of Joan of Arc by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts...
(by George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
), The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger and completed in November 1880...
, The Doctor's Dilemma (also by Shaw) and the role of Kublai Khan in Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's Marco Millions.
In 1931, he helped found the Group Theatre, which specialized in dramas with socially relevant and politically tinged messages. Many of the Group's members where inspired by the Moscow Art theater and several members, including Carnovsky, also joined the American Communist Party
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
. Among the notable Group Theater directors were Harold Clurman
Harold Clurman
Harold Edgar Clurman was a visionary American theatre director and drama critic, "one of the most influential in the United States". He was most notable as one of the three founders of the New York City's Group Theatre...
, Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
, Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
, and Cheryl Crawford
Cheryl Crawford
Cheryl Crawford was an American theatre producer and director.Born in Akron, Ohio, Crawford majored in drama at Smith College. Following graduation, she moved to New York City and enrolled at the Theatre Guild's school...
. It included such actors as Franchot Tone
Franchot Tone
Franchot Tone was an American stage, film, and television actor, star of Mutiny on the Bounty and many other films through the 1960s...
, John Garfield
John Garfield
John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner...
, Ruth Nelson, Art Smith, Luther Adler
Luther Adler
Luther Adler was an American actor best known for his work in theatre, but who also worked in film and television. He also directed plays on Broadway.-Life and career:...
, Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner , also known as Sandy, was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting that is now known as the Meisner technique....
, Paula Strasberg
Paula Strasberg
Paula Miller Strasberg was a former stage actress who became actor and teacher Lee Strasberg's second wife, mother of actors John and Susan Strasberg as well as Marilyn Monroe's acting coach and confidante....
and Carnovsky's wife, Phoebe Brand
Phoebe Brand
Phoebe Brand was an American actress, who was blacklisted along with her husband, Morris Carnovsky, in the McCarthy era.-Early life:...
. Carnovsky summered at Pine Brook Country Club
Pine Brook Country Club
-Introduction:Pine Brook Country Club began when Benjamin Plotkin purchased Pinewood Lake and the surrounding countryside on Mischa Hill in the historic village of Nichols, Connecticut. Plotkin built an auditorium with a revolving stage and forty rustic cabins and incorporated as the Pine Brook...
in Nichols, Connecticut
Nichols, Connecticut
Nichols, a historic village in southeastern Trumbull on the Gold Coast of Fairfield County, was named after the family who maintained a large farm in its center for almost 300 years. The Nichols Farms Historic District, which encompasses part of the village, is listed on the National Register of...
, with the Group Theatre.
Carnovsky appeared in almost every major Group Theater production, often playing parts that had been written specifically for him by his good friend, the actor and playwright Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high...
. Among Carnovsky's major triumphs at the Group Theater were the Odet's plays Awake and Sing, Golden Boy
Golden Boy
Golden Boy is a drama by Clifford Odets. The play was initially produced on Broadway by The Group Theatre in 1937. Odets' biggest hit was made into a 1939 film of the same name, starring William Holden in his breakthrough role, and also served as the basis for a 1964 musical.-Plot:It focuses on Joe...
, Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
and Rocket to the Moon
Rocket to the Moon (play)
Rocket to the Moon is a 1938 play by the American playwright Clifford Odets. It was adapted for television by the BBC in 1986, with John Malkovich and Connie Booth in the lead roles....
.
He also appeared in the anti-war musical Johnny Johnson
Johnny Johnson (musical)
Johnny Johnson is a musical with a book and lyrics by Paul Green and music by Kurt Weill.Based on Jaroslav Hašek's satiric novel The Good Soldier Švejk, it focuses on a naive and idealistic young man who, despite his pacifist views, leaves his sweetheart Minny Belle Tompkins to fight in Europe in...
, Sidney Kingsley
Sidney Kingsley
Sidney Kingsley was an American dramatist. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Men in White in 1934.- Biography :...
's Men in White
Men in White
-Film and theatre:* Men in White , a 1933 drama written by Sidney S. Kingsley* Men in White , an American drama film* Men in White , a comedy film by National Lampoon Inc...
, the Elia Kazan directed Thunder Rock, My Sister Eileen
My Sister Eileen (play)
My Sister Eileen is an American comedy stage production, written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, based on autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney...
, and Cafe Crown.
Writing about the Group's production of Awake and Sing, the New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson said, "...Morris Carnovsky as the lonely old sage struggling with ideas he cannot resolve or use, gives a performance worth a mayor's reception on the steps of City Hall. Probably Mr. Carnovsky and Mr. Adler would have become remarkable actors in any case. But the discipline of the Group Theater has given them a mastery of acting they could never have achieved by themselves. The Group Theater makes good!"
Film career
In 1937 Carnovsky (along with several other actors from the Group) went to Hollywood where they hoped that by appearing in movies, they could raise the money needed to bolster the often shaky finances of The Group. Carnovsky's movie debut came in the Academy Award-winning best picture of 1937, William DieterleWilliam Dieterle
William Dieterle was a German actor and film director, who worked in Hollywood for much of his career. His best known films include The Devil and Daniel Webster, The Story of Louis Pasteur and The Hunchback of Notre Dame...
's The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...
starring Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
. It was followed by a supporting role in Anatole Litvak
Anatole Litvak
Anatole Litvak was a Ukrainian-born filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in a various countries and languages...
's Tovarich
Tovarich (film)
Tovarich is a 1937 American comedy film directed by Anatole Litvak, based on the 1935 play by Robert E. Sherwood, which in turn was based on the 1933 French play Tovaritsch by Jacques Deval. It was produced by Litvak through Warner Bros., with Robert Lord as associate producer and Hal B. Wallis...
, before Carnovsky returned to New York and a newly re-configured formation of The Group Theater. After the collapse of the Group Theater in 1940, Carnovsky returned to Hollywood where he appeared in several films and continued his stage work by joining the Actor's Lab.
In 1943, he played a retired Norwegian school teacher, Sixtus Andresen, in the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
anti-Nazi film, Edge of Darkness, which starred Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
and was directed by Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone was a Russian-American motion picture director. He is known for directing Two Arabian Knights and All Quiet on the Western Front , both of which received Academy Awards for Best Director...
. Carnovsky portrayed George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's father in Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue (film)
Rhapsody in Blue is a 1945 fictionalized screen biography of the American composer and musician George Gershwin . Starring Robert Alda as Gershwin, the film features a few of Gershwin's acquaintances playing themselves...
in 1945, and in Dead Reckoning
Dead Reckoning (1947 film)
Dead Reckoning is a 1947 Columbia Pictures film noir starring Humphrey Bogart and Lizabeth Scott and featuring Morris Carnovsky. It was directed by John Cromwell and written by Steve Fisher and Oliver H.P. Garrett based on a story by Gerald Drayson Adams and Sidney Biddell...
(1947), he starred as the villainous nightclub owner Martinelli with Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
. In 1950, he portrayed LeBret in Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950 film)
Cyrano de Bergerac is a 1950 black-and-white feature film based on the 1897 French Alexandrine verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. It uses poet Brian Hooker's 1923 English blank verse translation as the basis for its screenplay...
starring José Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
. Later that year, he played Dr. Raymond Hartley in the mystery The Second Woman
The Second Woman
The Second Woman is a black-and-white film noir melodrama directed by James V. Kern-Plot:This psychological thriller tells the story of Jeff Cohalan . He's a successful architect who is tormented by the fact that his fiancée was killed in a mysterious car accident on the night before their wedding...
and the kindly judge who sentences a young boy who likes to play with firearms in Joseph H. Lewis's Gun Crazy
Gun Crazy
Gun Crazy is a 1950 film noir feature film starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and wife. The film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, and produced by Frank King and Maurice King...
. This was to be Carnovsky's last Hollywood film for 12 years, after which he was blacklisted.
Hollywood blacklist
Carnovsky was at one time a member of the American Communist Party. He, along with his wife, Phoebe BrandPhoebe Brand
Phoebe Brand was an American actress, who was blacklisted along with her husband, Morris Carnovsky, in the McCarthy era.-Early life:...
, was one of eight Group Theater members named by his former comrade Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
(himself a Communist party member) before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
. Actor Sterling Hayden
Sterling Hayden
Sterling Hayden was an American actor and author. For most of his career as a leading man, he specialized in westerns and film noir, such as Johnny Guitar, The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing. Later on he became noted as a character actor for such roles as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr...
also testified before the committee that he had attended Communist party meetings that were sometimes held at Carnovsky's house in Hollywood. When Carnovsky was called before the HUAC he refused to "name names", and this effectively ended his career in Hollywood, so he returned to the New York stage.
Return to Broadway
Returning to Broadway in the early 1950s, Carnovsky appeared in Ibsen's An Enemy of the PeopleAn Enemy of the People
An Enemy of the People is an 1882 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen wrote it in response to the public outcry against his play Ghosts, which at that time was considered scandalous...
, adapted by Arthur Miller, Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Nude With Violin
Nude with Violin
Nude with Violin is a play by Noël Coward. A light comedy of manners, the play is Coward's satire on "Modern Art" and the value placed on art....
, The Dybbuk, and Tiger at the Gates. Then in 1956 Carnovsky recalls with delight, "Shakespeare suddenly discovered me!" "In 1956", he said, "John Houseman, who was then the general director and producer at the Stratford (Conn.) American Shakespeare Theatre
American Shakespeare Theatre
The American Shakespeare Theatre was a theater company based in Stratford, Connecticut, United States. It was formed in 1955 by Lawrence Langner, Lincoln Kirstein, and Joseph Verner Reed. Plays were produced at the Festival Theatre in Stratford from 1955 until the company ceased operations in...
, called me up and said, 'would you like to do some Shakespeare?' I said, 'Yes, of course!' So that's how I began. The first year I did a part in King John, a part in Measure For Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
and a part in The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
. Then I proceeded to learn what Shakespeare was all about, in light of the realistic method of acting that I had discovered during my years with the Group Theater. The following year, I found myself doing Shylock in The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
, and that was really the opening of the can of peas, for me." At Stratford he played many roles, notably Feste in Twelfth Night in a production featuring Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
as Viola, and Prospero in a celebrated production of The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
directed by William Ball of the American Conservatory Theater.
He also appeared in a few more pictures: In 1962 he went to Paris to appear in Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
's adaptation of Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
's A View from the Bridge
A View from the Bridge
A View from the Bridge is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller that was first staged on September 29, 1955 as a one-act verse drama with A Memory of Two Mondays at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The play was unsuccessful and Miller subsequently revised the play to contain two acts; this...
. He played Creon in a TV play of Medea
Medea
Medea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...
, and in 1974 appeared in The Gambler
The Gambler (1974 film)
The Gambler is a 1974 feature film starring James Caan, Lauren Hutton, and Paul Sorvino.The film is loosely based on the short novel The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and was filmed at a time when leading actor James Caan was battling his own addiction to cocaine...
, playing James Caan's father.
He was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame
American Theatre Hall of Fame
The American Theatre Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the Executive Committee. In an announcement at a luncheon meeting on March 1972, he said that the new Theater Hall of Fame would be located in the Uris Theatre . James M...
in 1979.
Morris Carnovsky died at his home in Easton, Connecticut
Easton, Connecticut
Easton is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,490 at the 2010 census. Easton contains the historic district of Aspetuck....
, on September 1, 1992, four days before his 95th birthday, from natural causes. His wife, Phoebe Brand
Phoebe Brand
Phoebe Brand was an American actress, who was blacklisted along with her husband, Morris Carnovsky, in the McCarthy era.-Early life:...
, died on July 3, 2004, at the age of 96 from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. The couple had a son, Stephen Carnovsky.
A highly-acclaimed performance at Stratford (CT) Shakespeare Festival in King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
led to something of a second career for Carnovsky as a mentor of young actors, as he traveled to universities all over the country, playing the leading role in the Shakespeare classic with supporting casts made up of college students. At Connecticut College, Carnovsky taught future film actor Leland Orser
Leland Orser
Leland Jones Orser is an American film and television actor. Orser is a character actor, whose career has included playing a number of deranged, psychotic, and degenerate characters. Orser has appeared in small roles in a wide variety of films and television shows, including Chief of Surgery Dr...
. In this way Carnovsky appeared with Shakespearean actor Richard Hauenstein (who played Kent) when he appeared as Lear at West Virginia University
West Virginia University
West Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...
in Morgantown
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...
. In 1984, he wrote a book The Actor's Eye with friend and colleague Peter Sander that distilled his theory of acting.
Partial filmography
- The Life of Emile ZolaThe Life of Emile ZolaThe Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...
(1937) - TovarichTovarich (film)Tovarich is a 1937 American comedy film directed by Anatole Litvak, based on the 1935 play by Robert E. Sherwood, which in turn was based on the 1933 French play Tovaritsch by Jacques Deval. It was produced by Litvak through Warner Bros., with Robert Lord as associate producer and Hal B. Wallis...
(1937) - Edge of Darkness (1943)
- Rhapsody in BlueRhapsody in Blue (film)Rhapsody in Blue is a 1945 fictionalized screen biography of the American composer and musician George Gershwin . Starring Robert Alda as Gershwin, the film features a few of Gershwin's acquaintances playing themselves...
(1945) - Our Vines Have Tender GrapesOur Vines Have Tender GrapesOur Vines Have Tender Grapes is an American drama film released in 1945, directed by Roy Rowland and starring Edward G. Robinson and Margaret O'Brien.-Background:...
(1945) - CorneredCornered (film)Cornered is a film noir starring Dick Powell and directed by Edward Dmytryk. This is the second teaming of Powell and Dmytryk .Many scenes shot by cinematographer Harry J. Wild and Dmytryk stand out as classic film noir...
(1945) - Dead ReckoningDead Reckoning (1947 film)Dead Reckoning is a 1947 Columbia Pictures film noir starring Humphrey Bogart and Lizabeth Scott and featuring Morris Carnovsky. It was directed by John Cromwell and written by Steve Fisher and Oliver H.P. Garrett based on a story by Gerald Drayson Adams and Sidney Biddell...
(1947) - Dishonored LadyDishonored LadyDishonored Lady is a film starring Hedy Lamarr, Dennis O'Keefe, John Loder, William Lundigan, and Natalie Schafer, directed by Robert Stevenson, and released by United Artists...
(1947) - SaigonSaigon (film)Saigon is a 1948 film starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in their fourth and final film together. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and was one of the last films Veronica Lake made under her contract with the studio.-Plot:...
(1948) - Thieves' HighwayThieves' HighwayThieves' Highway is a 1949 film noir directed by Jules Dassin. The screenplay was written by A. I. Bezzerides, based on his novel Thieves' Market.-Plot:...
(1949) - Gun CrazyGun CrazyGun Crazy is a 1950 film noir feature film starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and wife. The film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, and produced by Frank King and Maurice King...
(1950) - The Second WomanThe Second WomanThe Second Woman is a black-and-white film noir melodrama directed by James V. Kern-Plot:This psychological thriller tells the story of Jeff Cohalan . He's a successful architect who is tormented by the fact that his fiancée was killed in a mysterious car accident on the night before their wedding...
(1950) - Cyrano de BergeracCyrano de Bergerac (1950 film)Cyrano de Bergerac is a 1950 black-and-white feature film based on the 1897 French Alexandrine verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. It uses poet Brian Hooker's 1923 English blank verse translation as the basis for its screenplay...
(1950) - Vu du pont (1962)
- The GamblerThe Gambler (1974 film)The Gambler is a 1974 feature film starring James Caan, Lauren Hutton, and Paul Sorvino.The film is loosely based on the short novel The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and was filmed at a time when leading actor James Caan was battling his own addiction to cocaine...
(1974) - Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut HeadsJoe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut HeadsJoe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads is a 1983 independent film that Spike Lee submitted as his master's degree thesis at the Tisch School of the Arts....
(1983)