Jakob Garfein[1] (July 2, 1930 – December 30, 2019) was an American film and theatre director, acting teacher, and a key figure of the Actors Studio.
Growing up in Bardejov, Czechoslovakia during the rise of Nazism,[2] Garfein was deported to Auschwitz at the age of 13 and survived 11 concentration camps. In 1946, as an orphaned teen, he was among an early group of Holocaust[3] survivors to arrive in the U.S, and he obtained his American citizenship in 1952.
After studying at the Dramatic Workshop[4] in New York, Garfein became the first theater director to be awarded membership in the Actors Studio. He put on its first-ever play to move to Broadway, End as a Man (1953), and expanded the influence of Method Acting to Hollywood with the founding of Actors Studio West, alongside Paul Newman, in 1966. He was a teacher to actors Sissy Spacek, Ron Perlman, Irène Jacob, James Thierrée, Laetitia Casta, and Samuel Le Bihan. He directed Uta Hagen, Herbert Berghof, Shelley Winters, Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, Ralph Meeker, Mark Richman, Mildred Dunnock, and Elaine Stritch, and discovered Steve McQueen, Bruce Dern, George Peppard, Ben Gazzara, Pat Hingle, Albert Salmi, and Paul Richards. He also gave James Dean his first acting role in End as a Man (1953).
Working in Hollywood, Garfein collaborated with directors Elia Kazan and George Stevens[5] on the sets of Baby Doll (1956) and Giant (1956). Shortly after, he authored two both politically and artistically challenging films that did not spare Hollywood's conservatism and led to censorship. In The Strange One (1957), he tackled the question of racism in America. As a Jew who survived the Holocaust, he was shocked by segregation upon his arrival in the United States, and he fought for the right for African-American actors to be featured in the film. The Strange One was censored by the Motion Picture Production Code for general "homosexual overtones" and "excessive brutality and suggestive sequences [that] tend to arouse disrespect for lawful authority."
^Genzlinger, Neil (January 7, 2020). "Jack Garfein, a Holocaust survivor who became a noted director, producer and acting teacher, working with some of the greatest actors and playwrights of his era, died on Dec. 30 at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 89". The New York Times.
^"Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany's Nazi Party, was one of the most powerful and notorious dictators of the 20th century. Hitler capitalized on economic woes, popular discontent and political infighting to take absolute power in Germany beginning in 1933". June 29, 2023.[failed verification]
^"The Holocaust was a period in history at the time of World War Two (1939-1945), when millions of Jews were murdered because of who they were. The killings were organised by Germany's Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler". BBC Newsround. January 24, 2012.[failed verification]
^"In January 1940, Erwin Piscator, a German theater director, launched the Dramatic Workshop at the New School for Social Research. In its first semester the program had approximately 20 students for acting and 25 for directing".
^"George Stevens, a filmmaker known as a meticulous craftsman with a brilliant eye for composition and a sensitive touch with actors, is one of the great American filmmakers, ranking with John Ford, William Wyler and Howard Hawks as a creator of classic Hollywood cinema, bringing to the screen mytho-poetic worlds that were also mass entertainment". IMDb.
to JackGarfein. JackGarfein at IMDb JackGarfein at the Internet Broadway Database Website of Le Studio JackGarfein, Paris Tribute to JackGarfein, UCLA...
Garfein is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Herschel Garfein (born 1958), American composer, librettist, and stage director Jack Garfein...
Dead. Garfein's parents are actress Carroll Baker and film director JackGarfein, a Czechoslovak Jew, who survived the Holocaust. His sister is actress...
controversial independent film Something Wild, directed by her then husband JackGarfein, playing a traumatized rape victim. She went on to star in several critically...
Wall Street. Born Blanche Garfein in New York City, she is the daughter of actress Carroll Baker and director JackGarfein. Her father is a Jew from Carpathian...
Various directors and playwrights, including Frank Corsaro, Martin Fried, JackGarfein, Michal V. Gazzo, Charles Gordone, Israel Horovitz, Arthur Penn, Eleanor...
decided to pursue a serious acting career. He trained under director JackGarfein at The Actors Studio in Paris. He made his film debut in Week End Break...
Strasberg appeared in Sean O'Casey's The Shadow of a Gunman (1958–59) for JackGarfein alongside members of the Actors Studio; it ran for 52 performances. Brooks...
resides in Los Angeles. Wright's acting coaches include Susan Batson and JackGarfein.[citation needed] In 2004, Wright played her first lead role, in the...
debut in The Strange One directed by JackGarfein, based on the play End as a Man. It was the first film from Garfein as director and Calder Willingham as...
a military college in the Southern United States. It was directed by JackGarfein, produced by Sam Spiegel, and was adapted from a novel and stage play...
Presents - "The Young and the Beautiful" (1956) The Strange One (1957) - JackGarfein The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - Lieutenant Joyce Bonjour Tristesse...
ran for 398 performances. Girls of Summer (1956–57) was directed by JackGarfein and co-starred George Peppard but only ran for 56 performances. On TV...
Various directors and playwrights, including Frank Corsaro, Martin Fried, JackGarfein, Michal V. Gazzo, Charles Gordone, Israel Horovitz, Arthur Penn, Eleanor...
Various directors and playwrights, including Frank Corsaro, Martin Fried, JackGarfein, Michal V. Gazzo, Charles Gordone, Israel Horovitz, Arthur Penn, Eleanor...
Life of Brian 30 Jan Fedder 64 Germany Actor Das Boot Soul Kitchen 30 JackGarfein 89 US Director Something Wild The Strange One 30 Syd Mead 86 US Concept...
1911), US Béla Gaál (born 1893), Hungary Liz Garbus (born 1970), US JackGarfein (born 1930), US Gyula Gazdag (born 1947), Hungary, US Aleksei Yuryevich...
Erinnerung an Bartfeld csárdás Radoslav Rochallyi (born 1980) – writer JackGarfein (grew up in Bardejov in the 30s and early 40s) – film director Morris...
Huntington Hartford Theatre on May 2 and ran through May 21. Directed by JackGarfein, it starred his wife Carroll Baker as Anna, with James Whitmore as Chris...
later enrolled at the Actors Studio, studying under Sherman Marks and JackGarfein. There, she wrote short sketches and performed with several improvisational...
magazine. She was then fired by Paramount, separated from her husband JackGarfein and moved to Europe to continue her career. Baker was popular in Italy...
One (2023 film), a documentary on the Holocaust survivor and director JackGarfein Wild Ones (manga), a 2004 manga by Kiyo Fujiwara The Wild One (novel)...
64, German actor (Großstadtrevier, Das Boot, Soul Kitchen), cancer. JackGarfein, 89, Czechoslovak-born American film producer and director (The Strange...
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