Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (May 22, 1938 – January 21, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Thought to be the next Hepburn-type ingenue, she was nominated for a Tony Award at age 18, playing the title role in The Diary of Anne Frank. She appeared on the covers of LIFE and Newsweek in 1955. A close friend of Marilyn Monroe and Richard Burton, she wrote two best-selling tell-all books. Her later career primarily consisted of slasher and horror films, followed by TV roles, by the 1980s.
Biography
Early life
Strasberg in the 1950s
Strasberg was born in New York City to theatre director and drama coach Lee Strasberg of the Actors Studio and former actress Paula Strasberg. Her brother, John, is an acting coach. Her father was born in what is now Ukraine, and her mother in New York City. They were both from Jewish families who emigrated from Europe.[citation needed]
At age 14, Strasberg appeared off-Broadway in Maya in 1953, which ran seven performances. Her TV debut was in "Catch a Falling Star", an episode of Goodyear Playhouse directed by Delbert Mann the same year.[1]
She had a regular role in a short-lived sitcom, The Marriage, playing the daughter of Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. It was the first network show broadcast in color.
Strasberg made her film debut in The Cobweb (1955). She followed it with a widely praised performance as a teenager in Picnic (1955), playing the younger sister of Kim Novak.[3] Kim Stanley played the role on Broadway but was too old for film. Joshua Logan, the director, wrote Strasberg's "incipient beauty and spirit seemed just right for me."[4]
The Diary of Anne Frank
Strasberg originated the title role in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by Garson Kanin, which ran for 717 performances from 1955 to 1957. Brooks Atkinson wrote that she was "a slender, enchanting young lady with a heart-shaped face, a pair of burning eyes, and the soul of an actress."
Strasberg was nominated for a Tony Award at the age of 18 and became the youngest actress to star on Broadway with her name above the marquee title. In 1955 she appeared twice on the cover of Life (July 11, 1955 issue; November 11, 1955 issue) and soon after on the cover of Newsweek (December 19, 1955 issue).
The success of the play led to numerous film offers.[6] She decided on the lead in Stage Struck (1958), directed by Sidney Lumet. It was a remake of Morning Glory (1933) with Katharine Hepburn. According to one obituary, "It had seemed as if the beautiful, dark-haired actress might have an impact equal to that made by Jean Simmons and Audrey Hepburn as ingenues."[1]
Strasberg was not cast in the George Stevens film version of Anne Frank. Several reasons have been suggested for this: that Stevens did not want to deal with the influence of Strasberg's mother, Paula, and that Stevens saw Strasberg at the end of the play's run when her performance had become tired. Strasberg did not test for the role.[1]
Strasberg's next appearance on Broadway was in Time Remembered (1957–58) by Jean Anouilh with Richard Burton and Helen Hayes. It was another success and ran for 248 performances.[7]
She went to Europe to star in the Italian–Yugoslav Holocaust film Kapò (1960), which was nominated for an Academy Award as its year's Best Foreign Language Film.[9]
Strasberg based herself in Italy for the next few years. "I wanted to see what it was like when I was alone", she said.[10]
Strasberg returned to the US to appear on Broadway in The Lady of the Camellias (1963), directed by Franco Zeffirelli. The director said Strasberg had the qualities of being "romantic, cynical, classical, contemporary."[12] The show only ran for 13 performances.
In 1976 she appeared in a short film directed by Lee Grant called The Stronger, based on a play by August Strindberg, which she said reignited her passion for acting.[14]
In 1980 she published a memoir, Bittersweet, because she said her career was "stalled. . . . It seemed totally untenable to me, acting for 25 years—I had played Juliet, Cleopatra, and Anne Frank—and there I was, sitting in Hollywood just waiting for somebody to want me."[1]
"I love acting", she said in 1983. "I mean, I can't quite conceive of not doing it. But it's less important to me since I started writing, because I really like writing. And I really enjoy, I love lecturing and speaking and having that kind of contact with people too."[18]
Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe visit Strasberg backstage at The Diary of Anne Frank
Strasberg wrote two best-selling books. Bittersweet was an autobiography in which she wrote about her tumultuous relationships with her parents and with actors Richard Burton and Christopher Jones, as well as with her own daughter's struggles with a heart defect. She received a $100,000 advance for it and sold paperback rights for $300,000.[20]
Marilyn and Me: Sisters, Rivals, Friends (1992) was about Strasberg's friendship with Marilyn Monroe, whom she called a "surrogate sister" and a "member" of the Strasberg family for many years.[21]
Strasberg was working on a third book about her personal spiritual journey at the time of her death entitled Confessions of a New Age Heretic.[22]
On September 25, 1965, in Las Vegas, Strasberg married actor Christopher Jones, with whom she had appeared in an episode of The Legend of Jesse James.[24] Their daughter, Jennifer Robin, was born six months later. The couple divorced in 1968 due to her husband's mental instability.[25] Jennifer was born with a congenital birth defect, which Strasberg blamed on her and Jones's drug-taking.[1]
Death
In the mid-1990s Strasberg was diagnosed with breast cancer. Although believed to be in remission, she died of the disease at her home in New York City on January 21, 1999, at age 60.[26]
^Adams, Val (Feb 28, 1956). "ALL-STAR CAST SET FOR 'CRADLE SONG': Evans Signs Misses Hayes, Anderson, Strasberg and McKenna for TV Offering". New York Times. p. 63.
^"Drama: 'Stagestruck' Aimed at Susan Strasberg". Los Angeles Times. June 13, 1956. p. B8.
^Zolotow, Sam (14 June 1957). "SUSAN STRASBERG GETS COMEDY ROLE: She Will Appear Sept. 12 in 'Time Remembered,' Play from French by Anouilh Wouk Comedy Is Due 2 Players to London". New York Times. p. 21.
^Atkinson, Brooks (Nov 21, 1958). "Theatre: A Prologue to Greatness: ' Shadow of a Gunman' by O'Casey at Bijou". New York Times. p. 26.
^Hopper, Hedda (Feb 20, 1960). "Looking at Hollywood: Susan Strasberg to Star in Italian Movie, 'Kapo'". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. n_a1.
^William Glover. The Washington Post and Times-Herald (Aug 5, 1962). "Grownup Susan Strasberg Used To Feel Old but Now Feels Young". p. G3.
^Calta, Louis (Nov 11, 1961). "SUSAN STRASBERG TO PLAY CAMILLE: Zeffirelli Will Stage Dumas Tragedy Here Next Fall". New York Times. p. 15.
^"Susan Strasberg Signed for Role". Los Angeles Times. Sep 24, 1965. p. C15.
^ abLee, Grant (9 July 1977). "FILM CLIPS: Susan Comes Out of Her Slump". Los Angeles Times. p. b6.
^"Will success smile again on Susan Strasberg?". Chicago Tribune. Sep 30, 1973. p. j3.
^Bergan, Ronald (Jan 25, 1999). "Obituary: Susan Strasberg: Lucky star who failed to shine". The Guardian. p. 013.
^Klemesrud, Judy (Apr 27, 1980). "Susan Strasberg Looks Back: Scenes From a Bittersweet Life: The Book's Beginning Frank Account of Affairs Mother's Bitterness Recalled". New York Times. p. 72.
^Polak, Maralyn Lois (Dec 11, 1983). "SUSAN STRASBERG: A STAR IS REBORN". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 11.
