ACTOR

American Masters - Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces premiered on PBS in 2000. When we think of the silent film era, we think of actors like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Clara Bow, stars who created trademark personas and spent their entire careers testing the ...

"Take it from a director: if you get an actor that Sandy Meisner has trained, you've been blessed." - Elia Kazan A leading acting teacher who trained some of the most famous performers of the stage and screen, Sanford Meisner was a founding member of ...

Among the celebrated pantheon of Hollywood royalty, few are as well-respected and universally adored as Gregory Peck. For more than fifty years, he was a major presence in the theater, on television, and most importantly, on the big screen. For many, Peck was a symbol ...

On December 10, 1938, David O. Selznick burned down Atlanta. On the back of his Culver City studio, Selznick had begun filming what would be his and Hollywood's greatest triumph, GONE WITH THE WIND. David Selznick's career Selznick was just thirty-six years old and already ...

John Cassavetes was born in New York City on December 9th, 1929. After graduating from high school, he attended Mohawk College and Colgate University before graduating from the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1950. Throughout the early 1950s he worked as an actor ...

More than an actor (and Academy Award winner), Sidney Poitier is an artist. A writer and director, a thinker and critic, a humanitarian and diplomat, his presence as a cultural icon has long been one of protest and humanity. His career defined and documented the ...

Lee Grant, Director of AMERICAN MASTERS SIDNEY POITIER: ONE BRIGHT LIGHT, acted with Poitier at the pinnacle of his popularity, in 1969's groundbreaking film IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. Grant: "The performances in IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT went way beyond the screenplay. ...