Biography
Forced out of his lucrative international grain business by the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Houseman found a creative outlet alongside wunderkind Orson Welles at the Federal Theater Project. Frequently controversial productions produced and directed by Houseman and Welles included the 1935 "voodoo" version of "Macbeth" and the historic labor union musical "The Cradle Will Rock" in 1936. After forming the Mercury Theater Company - responsible …
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Career Milestones
1988 | Portrayed Sir Geoffrey Allison in "James Clavell's Noble House" and General Winfield Scott in "Gore Vidal's Lincoln" (both NBC miniseries) | |
1988 | Rounding out feature career, portrayed Marion's Father in Woody Allen's "Another Woman" and Mr. Vogel in "Bright Lights, Big City"; also played himself in "The Naked Gun--From the Files of the Police Squad!" and Richard Donner's "Scrooged" | |
1986 | The John Houseman Theatre dedicated on NYC's 'Theater Row' (42nd Street) | |
| Was commercial pitchman for the investment firm of Smith, Barney | ||
| Showtime revived "The Paper Chase" (as "The Paper Chase: Second Year" and later "The Paper Chase: Third Year"), so that from premiere to show's final demise, it had taken Hart (James Stephens) eight years to complete his three-year law degree | ||
1983 | Played Aaron Jastrow in the acclaimed ABC miniseries "The Winds of War" | |
1983 | Directed The Acting Company revival of "The Cradle Will Rock", starring LuPone | |
| Hosted the syndicated "Tales of the Unexpected" | ||
1980 | Executive produced and acted in "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation of "Gideon's Trumpet" (CBS) | |
| Reprised Professor Kingsfield for "The Paper Chase" (CBS) TV series; although praised by critics, its lack of a competetive audience led to its cancellation; PBS aired reruns for several years | ||
1976 | Portrayed Winston Churchill in "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation of "Truman at Potsdam" (NBC) | |
1975 | Acted in "Rollerball" and "Three Days of the Condor" | |
1973 | Won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role as the imperious law school instructor Professor Kingsfield in "The Paper Chase"; hired for part by former UCLA assistant James Bridges | |
1972 | With Margot Harley, co-founded The Acting Company, a touring repertory group staffed mostly by Juilliard graduates (first company included future stars Kevin Kline, David Ogden Stiers and Patti LuPone); was artistic director until 1986 | |
1968 | Established the Drama Division of NYC's Juilliard School; served as artistic director until 1976 | |
1964 | Portrayed Admiral Barnswell in Frankenheimer's "Seven Days in May"; fourth and last picture with Douglas | |
1964 | Produced and wrote screenplay for Benjamin Jackson's "Voyage to America" | |
1962 | Fourth and last collaboration with Minnelli as producer of "Two Weeks in Another Town"; third picture with Douglas | |
1962 | Produced Frankenheimer's feature "All Fall Down" | |
| Was artistic director of the Professional Theater Group of the University of California at Los Angeles (which later evolved into the widely respected Mark Taper Forum company) | ||
| Produced for CBS' "Playhouse 90"; first affiliation with director John Frankenheimer | ||
| Created the short-lived cultural program, "The Seven Lively Arts" (CBS) | ||
1957 | Acted in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's "Night Ambush" | |
1956 | Served as Artisitc director of the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut | |
1956 | Reteamed with Minnelli and Douglas, producing "Lust For Life" | |
1954 | Produced Robert Wise's "Executive Suite"; Wise had worked as an editor on "Citizen Kane" | |
1953 | Received Best Picture Oscar nomination as producer of Joseph L Mankiewicz's "Julius Caesar" | |
1952 | First association with director Vincente Minnelli as producer of "The Bad and the Beautiful", starring Kirk Douglas | |
1951 | Reteamed with Ray as producer of "On Dangerous Ground" | |
1948 | Produced Max Ophuls' "Letter to an Unknown Woman" | |
1948 | First association with director Nicholas Ray as producer of "They Live By Night" | |
1947 | Directed world stage premiere of Bertolt Brecht's "Galileo", starring Charles Laughton | |
1946 | Produced George Marshall's "The Blue Dahlia" | |
1945 | Worked with director John Berry (an old Mercury Theater protege who had acted with him in "Too Much Johnson") on two movies, "Miss Susie Slagle's" (as associate producer) and "Tuesday in November" (as producer) | |
1944 | First screenplay credit, "Jane Eyre", directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Welles and Joan Fontaine | |
1942 | Did uncredited work on screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's "Saboteur" | |
| Quit his post with Selznick after bombing of Pearl Harbor to become chief of the overseas radio division of the Office of War Information (OWI) | ||
1941 | Briefly served as vice president of David O. Selznick Productions | |
1941 | Directed West Coast stage version of Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie", starring Ingrid Bergman | |
1941 | Did uncredited work on the script for Welles' landmark "Citizen Kane" | |
1938 | Collaborated with Welles and Howard Koch on the radio production of "War of the Worlds" that panicked the nation on Halloween night; died on the 50th anniversary of the radio broadcast | |
1938 | Produced and acted in Welles' "Too Much Johnson", a feature film never released theatrically | |
1937 | Co-founded Mercury Theater with Orson Welles; reportedly fell out over script credits for "Citizen Kane" (1941) | |
1936 | Established (with Welles) the Classical Theater (also known as Federal Theater Project 891), which folded after their controversial production of Marc Blitzstein's proletarian musical "The Cradle Will Rock" | |
1935 | Formed the WPA's Negro Theater Project with Orson Welles; company produced the noteworthy 'Voodoo' "Macbeth" | |
1934 | Directed Virgil Thomson's opera "Four Saints in Three Acts" with a libretto by Gertrude Stein; scored a hit on Broadway | |
| Grain business failed during the Depression | ||
| Began writing for magazines and translating plays for the stage from French and German | ||
| At 21, went to Argentina as an agent of his father's grain business and two years later (in 1924) arrived in the USA on a similar mission; resident status not regularized until his admisssion as a legal immigrant in 1936 | ||
1920 | At 18, won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, but his mother insisted he follow the career of his father as a grain merchant (date approximate) | |
Awards
1983 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in The Winds of War |
1980 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama or Comedy Special in Gideon's Trumpet |
1979 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama in The Paper Chase |
1978 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama in The Paper Chase |
1973 | Academy Award for Actor In a Supporting Role in The Paper Chase |
1973 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture in The Paper Chase |
1973 | National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Paper Chase |
1953 | Academy Award for Best Motion Picture in Julius Caesar |