Susan Strasberg

Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (May 22, 1938 – January 21, 1999) was an American actress who worked across stage, film, and television throughout a career spanning several decades. Born in New York City, she was the daughter of Lee Strasberg, the theatre director and drama coach who led the Actors Studio, and Paula Strasberg, a former actress. Her brother John became an acting coach. Her father had been born in what is now Ukraine, and her mother in New York City, both from Jewish families of European origin. Strasberg attended the Professional Children's School before spending time at the High School of Music and Art and the High School of Performing Arts, and she also did some modeling during her youth.

Her professional stage work began at age fourteen, when she appeared off-Broadway in Maya in 1953, a production that ran for seven performances. That same year she made her television debut in "Catch a Falling Star," an episode of Goodyear Playhouse directed by Delbert Mann. Additional early television work included Romeo and Juliet for Kraft Theatre in 1954, in which she played Juliet, as well as episodes of General Electric Theater and Omnibus. She also held a regular role in The Marriage, a short-lived sitcom featuring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, notable as the first network program broadcast in color. Her film debut came in The Cobweb in 1955, followed by a widely praised performance in Picnic that same year, in which she played the younger sister of Kim Novak's character.

Strasberg's Broadway career ran from 1955 to 1983, and its defining early moment was her origination of the title role in The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by Garson Kanin. The production ran for 717 performances between 1955 and 1957. At eighteen, Strasberg received a Tony Award nomination for the role and became the youngest actress to star on Broadway with her name above the marquee title. She also received a Theatre World Award in 1956. Her performance drew significant public attention: she appeared on the cover of Life magazine twice in 1955, in the July 11 and November 11 issues, and on the cover of Newsweek in the December 19, 1955 issue. Despite the production's success, Strasberg was not cast in George Stevens's subsequent film adaptation of the material.

Her next Broadway appearance was in Time Remembered, Jean Anouilh's play that ran for 248 performances during the 1957–58 season alongside Richard Burton and Helen Hayes. She then appeared in Sean O'Casey's The Shadow of a Gunman during the 1958–59 season, a production directed by Jack Garfein that featured members of the Actors Studio and ran for 52 performances. In 1959 she toured with Franchot Tone in Caesar and Cleopatra. She returned to Broadway in 1963 in The Lady of the Camellias, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, though that production ran for only 13 performances.

Between her Broadway engagements, Strasberg pursued an active film career. She chose the lead in Stage Struck (1958), directed by Sidney Lumet, a remake of the 1933 film Morning Glory. She then traveled to Europe, starring in the Italian-Yugoslav Holocaust film Kapò (1960), which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Based in Italy for several years afterward, she made Taste of Fear (1961) for Hammer Films in England, and appeared in Disorder (1962) and the Hollywood production Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962). In 1976 she appeared in a short film directed by Lee Grant, The Stronger, based on a play by August Strindberg, which she credited with reigniting her passion for acting. Her later film work shifted toward horror and slasher productions, including Bloody Birthday (1981), Sweet Sixteen (1983), and The Returning (1983), as well as The Delta Force (1986) and The Runnin' Kind (1989). She also appeared in Orson Welles's The Other Side of the Wind, a film ultimately released in 2018.

Television occupied a substantial portion of Strasberg's career across multiple decades. Her credits included guest appearances on Dr. Kildare, The Big Valley, Bonanza, The Virginian, Night Gallery, The Rockford Files, Murder She Wrote, Cagney and Lacey, and Remington Steele, among many others. She held a regular role on the series Toma in 1974. Television movies in her credits included Hauser's Memory (1970), Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones (1971), and SST: Death Flight (1977). In 1980 she published a memoir titled Bittersweet. She was also a close friend of Marilyn Monroe and authored two best-selling books drawing on her personal experiences in the entertainment world.