Herbert Berghof

Herbert Berghof, born in Vienna on September 13, 1909, was an actor, director, and acting teacher whose career spanned Broadway, film, and arts education in the United States. Born to Jewish parents in what was then Austria-Hungary, he trained as an actor in Vienna under Max Reinhardt before relocating to New York City in 1939. There he established himself as a performer and director on Broadway and began working alongside Lee Strasberg.

In 1945, Berghof co-founded HB Studio — the Herbert Berghof Studio — in New York City, creating a space where actors could train and develop their craft. Three years later, actress Uta Hagen joined the institution as his artistic partner; the two married in 1957 and continued leading the studio together until Berghof's death. Among the notable alumni who trained at HB Studio were Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Liza Minnelli, Robert De Niro, Geraldine Page, Fritz Weaver, Anne Bancroft, Donna McKechnie, and Matthew Broderick. Berghof became a charter member of the Actors Studio in 1947, alongside Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Jerome Robbins, and Sidney Lumet. Though affiliated with that institution, he diverged from colleagues who emphasized Method technique, shifting his own approach toward a focus on actions rather than thoughts and reactions.

His Broadway career extended from 1940 to 1969 and included appearances in a range of dramatic works. He appeared in The Russian People, Temper the Wind, and Hedda Gabler, and took on roles in the drama Nathan the Wise and Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea in 1950. He starred in The Andersonville Trial in 1959. As a director, Berghof helmed the first Broadway production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in 1956.

Berghof also maintained a film career across several decades. His screen appearances included 5 Fingers and Red Planet Mars, both in 1952, followed by Fräulein in 1958, Cleopatra and An Affair of the Skin in 1963, Harry and Tonto in 1974, Voices in 1979, Those Lips Those Eyes and Times Square in 1980, and Target in 1985. He died of a heart ailment on November 5, 1990, at his home in Manhattan, at the age of 81.