Paton Price

Paton Price (May 2, 1916 – April 26, 1982) was an American actor, director, and acting coach whose career spanned Broadway performance, theater direction, film studio coaching, and television direction. Born in Evant, Texas, he earned a degree in English from Texas Tech University before relocating to New York City to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and pursue a career on stage.

Price appeared on Broadway between 1938 and 1947, with credits including Crime and Punishment, in which he performed alongside Sir John Gielgud, and Schoolhouse on the Lot. As the 1940s progressed, his focus shifted from performing to instruction, and he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Among the students he taught during this period were Kirk Douglas, Colleen Dewhurst, Jason Robards, and Don Murray. He also directed theater productions in Ohio during these years. During the same period, Price collaborated with architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Eugene Masselink on plans to construct a new theater in Hartford, Connecticut. The project, referred to as the New Theater and connected to Wright's earlier unrealized plans for a theater in Woodstock, New York, was ultimately abandoned due to local opposition, though Price and Wright maintained a cordial relationship afterward.

Price's pacifism shaped a significant chapter of his life during World War II. As a conscientious objector who refused to serve in the United States Armed Forces, he spent four years at Lewisburg Penitentiary Center. His commitment to pacifism, combined with his belief in acting as a vehicle for personal conviction, had a notable influence on his student Dean Reed.

In the 1950s, Price moved to Hollywood, where he worked with Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures as an acting coach. His students in this phase of his career included Jean Seberg, Dick Clark, Kent McCord, Victoria Shaw, the Smothers Brothers, and Glenn Corbett. He subsequently moved into television direction in the 1960s, helming episodes of 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and The Partridge Family.

Price retired from teaching professionally in 1964 and settled on a ranch in Paso Robles, California. He died on April 26, 1982, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, survived by his wife Tilly and a son. He was buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.