Susan Strasberg
Encyclopedia
Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (May 22, 1938 – January 21, 1999) was an American
film and stage actress.
coach Lee Strasberg
of the Actors Studio
and former actress Paula Strasberg
. Her brother John Strasberg
is an acting coach.
After a widely praised performance as a teenager in Picnic (1956), Strasberg originated the title role in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank
and was nominated for a Tony Award
at the age of 18. She later starred in the Italian Holocaust film Kapò
which was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign film of 1960
.
From the 1960s into the 1980s Strasberg guest starred in many US television dramas, including The Virginian
, The Invaders
, Bonanza
, The F.B.I., Breaking Point, Burke's Law
, The Streets of San Francisco
, Night Gallery
, McCloud
, Alias Smith & Jones, The Big Valley
, Remington Steele
. and The Rockford Files
(1976), playing the lead character's ex-girlfriend (she had also appeared in a 1974 episode).
Strasberg later lived in Italy where she was widely called La Strasberg. In 1993 she was a jury member for the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival
.
Strasberg wrote two best-selling books. Bittersweet was an autobiography in which she wrote about her tumultuous relationships with actors Richard Burton
and Christopher Jones
along with her daughter's struggles with a heart defect. Marilyn and Me: Sisters, Rivals, Friends was about Strasberg's friendship with Marilyn Monroe
, whom she called a "surrogate sister" and a "member" of the Strasberg family for many years.
, with whom she had appeared in an episode of The Legend of Jesse James
TV series. In her autobiography she joked that her daughter would be the "real Jennifer Jones," given the actress Jennifer Jones
used a stage name.
Strasberg struggled with cancer for many years. She died in 1999 from thrombosis
following an injury.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film and stage actress.
Background and career
Strasberg was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of theatre director and dramaDrama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
coach 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"...
of the Actors Studio
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...
and former actress 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....
. Her brother John Strasberg
John Strasberg
John Strasberg is the son of Lee and Paula Strasberg of the Actors Studio, and brother of actress Susan Strasberg....
is an acting coach.
After a widely praised performance as a teenager in Picnic (1956), Strasberg originated the title role in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank
The Diary of Anne Frank (play)
The Diary of Anne Frank is a stage adaptation of the book The Diary of a Young Girl. The play is a dramatization by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. It opened at the Cort Theatre, Broadway, on October 5, 1955, in a production by Kermit Bloomgarden, directed by Garson Kanin and designed by Boris...
and was nominated for a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
at the age of 18. She later starred in the Italian Holocaust film Kapò
Kapò
Kapò is an Italian film about the Holocaust directed by Gillo Pontecorvo in 1959. It was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film. It was an Italian-French co-production filmed in Yugoslavia.-Plot:...
which was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign film of 1960
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
.
From the 1960s into the 1980s Strasberg guest starred in many US television dramas, including The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
, The Invaders
The Invaders
The Invaders, a Quinn Martin Production , is an ABC science fiction television program created by Larry Cohen that ran in the United States for two seasons, from January 10, 1967 to March 26, 1968...
, Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, The F.B.I., Breaking Point, Burke's Law
Burke's Law
Burke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...
, The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...
, Night Gallery
Night Gallery
Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although...
, McCloud
McCloud
McCloud is an American television police drama that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1977. The title role was played by Dennis Weaver as Marshal Sam McCloud, a law officer from Taos, New Mexico on semi-permanent "special assignment" with the New York City Police Department.-History:The first choice for...
, Alias Smith & Jones, The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
, Remington Steele
Remington Steele
Remington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic...
. and The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
(1976), playing the lead character's ex-girlfriend (she had also appeared in a 1974 episode).
Strasberg later lived in Italy where she was widely called La Strasberg. In 1993 she was a jury member for the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival
43rd Berlin International Film Festival
The 43rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 11 to 22, 1993.-Jury:* Frank Beyer * Juan Antonio Bardem* Michel Boujut* François Duplat* Katinka Faragó* Krystyna Janda* Naum Kleiman* Brock Peters...
.
Strasberg wrote two best-selling books. Bittersweet was an autobiography in which she wrote about her tumultuous relationships with actors Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
and Christopher Jones
Christopher Jones (actor)
William "Billy" Frank Jones, better known as Christopher Jones, is an American character actor, born August 18, 1941 in Jackson, Tennessee....
along with her daughter's struggles with a heart defect. Marilyn and Me: Sisters, Rivals, Friends was about Strasberg's friendship with Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, whom she called a "surrogate sister" and a "member" of the Strasberg family for many years.
Personal life
Strasberg's daughter Jennifer Robin was born March 14, 1966 in Los Angeles through her short marriage with actor Christopher JonesChristopher Jones (actor)
William "Billy" Frank Jones, better known as Christopher Jones, is an American character actor, born August 18, 1941 in Jackson, Tennessee....
, with whom she had appeared in an episode of The Legend of Jesse James
The Legend of Jesse James (TV series)
The Legend of Jesse James is a 34-episode western television series starring Christopher Jones in the tile role of notorious outlaw Jesse James which aired on ABC from September 13, 1965, to May 9, 1966...
TV series. In her autobiography she joked that her daughter would be the "real Jennifer Jones," given the actress Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones
Phylis Lee Isley , better known by her stage name Jennifer Jones, was an American actress. A five-time Academy Award nominee, Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Song of Bernadette .-Early life:Jones was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the daughter of Flora Mae and...
used a stage name.
Strasberg struggled with cancer for many years. She died in 1999 from thrombosis
Thrombosis
Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel is injured, the body uses platelets and fibrin to form a blood clot to prevent blood loss...
following an injury.
Filmography
- The CobwebThe Cobweb (film)The Cobweb is a MGM film. It was directed by Vincente Minnelli and based on a novel by William Gibson. It was released on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection on January 18, 2011....
(1955) - Picnic (1955)
- 1955 Motion Picture Theatre Celebration (1955) (short subject)
- Stage StruckStage Struck (film)Stage Struck is a 1958 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet. The screenplay by Augustus and Ruth Goetz is based on a play by Zoe Akins, which served as the basis for the 1933 film Morning Glory starring Katharine Hepburn....
(1958) - KapòKapòKapò is an Italian film about the Holocaust directed by Gillo Pontecorvo in 1959. It was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film. It was an Italian-French co-production filmed in Yugoslavia.-Plot:...
(1959) - Scream of FearTaste of FearTaste of Fear is a 1961 British thriller film directed by Seth Holt, shot in black-and-white by Douglas Slocombe, and released by Hammer Films...
(1961) - The Shortest Day (1962)
- Disorder (1962)
- Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962)
- The High Bright SunThe High Bright SunThe High Bright Sun is a 1964 British action film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, George Chakiris and Susan Strasberg. It is set in Cyprus during the EOKA uprising against British rule in the 1950s...
(1964) - The TripThe Trip (1967 film)The Trip is a cult film released by American International Pictures, directed by Roger Corman, written by Jack Nicholson, and shot on location in and around Los Angeles, including on top of Kirkwood in Laurel Canyon, Hollywood Hills, and near Big Sur, California in 1966...
(1967) - Psych-OutPsych-OutPsych-Out is a feature film about hippies, psychedelic music, and recreational drugs, produced and released by American International Pictures. Originally scripted as The Love Children, the title when tested caused people to think it was about bastards, so Samuel Z...
(1968) - The Name of the Game Is Kill (1968)
- Chubasco (1968)
- The Brotherhood (1968)
- Sweet Hunters (1969)
- The Sisters (1969)
- The Other Side of the Wind (1972) (unfinished)
- So Evil, My Sister (1974)
- The Legend of Hillbilly John (1974)
- The Stronger (1976) (short subject)
- Sammy Somebody (1976)
- Rollercoaster (1977)
- The ManitouThe ManitouThe Manitou is an American horror movie from 1978 with Tony Curtis and Susan Strasberg, based on a 1975 book by Graham Masterton. The movie is based on an old legend about the Native American spirit-concept Manitou.-Plot:...
(1978) - In Praise of Older Women (1978)
- Acting: Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio (1981) (documentary)
- Bloody BirthdayBloody BirthdayBloody Birthday is a 1981 horror film directed by Ed Hunt. It was the first film to be produced by Gerald Olson.-Plot:In 1970, three children are born at the height of a total eclipse. Due to the sun and moon blocking Saturn, which controls emotions, these children become heartless and uncaring,...
(1981) - The Returning (1983)
- Sweet 16 (1983)
- The Delta Force (1986)
- Remembering Marilyn (1987) (documentary)
- Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend (1987) (documentary)
- The Runnin' Kind (1989)
- Prime Suspect (1989)
- SchweitzerAlbert SchweitzerAlbert Schweitzer OM was a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire...
(1990) - The Cherry Orchard (1992)
External links
- John Strasberg Studios
- Susan Strasberg discussing Marilyn Monroe video, 6 min.,