John Houseman

Infobox Actor
caption = John Houseman, May 1979, at the National Film Society convention in Los Angeles


birthname = Jacques Haussmann
birthdate = birth date|1902|9|22
birthplace = Bucharest, Romania
deathdate = death date and age|1988|10|31|1902|9|22
deathplace = Malibu, California,
United States
spouse = Zita Johann
(1929–1933)
Joan Courtney
(1952–1988)
academyawards = Best Supporting Actor
1973 "The Paper Chase"
goldenglobeawards = Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1974 "The Paper Chase"

John Houseman (September 22, 1902—October 31, 1988) was an Oscar-winning American actor and film producer.

Biography

Personal life

Houseman was born Jacques Haussmann in Bucharest, the son of a British mother of Welsh and Irish descent and an Alsatian-born Jewish father who ran a grain business.cite book|last=Magill|first=Frank Northen|authorlink=|coauthors=|title= Survey of Contemporary Literature|publisher=Salem Pr. Inc.|date=1977|location=|pages=6535|month=|url=|id=ISBN0893560502] cite book|last=Houseman|first=John|authorlink=|coauthors=|title= Run-Through: A Memoir|publisher=Simon and Schuster|date=1972|location=|pages=15|month=|url=|id=ISBN] [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9041204/John-Houseman "John Houseman"] . Encyclopedia Britannica.] [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/person/872601/John-Houseman "John Houseman"] New York Times Movies.] He was educated in England at Clifton College before emigrating to the United States in 1925, where he took the stage name of John Houseman. He became a citizen of the U.S. in 1943. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Ha-Ja/Houseman-John.html "John Houseman] ] Houseman died of spinal cancer in 1988 at his home in Malibu, California.

Career

Along with Orson Welles, Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, best remembered for their 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds". Their collaboration got portrayed in Tim Robbins's 1999 movie "Cradle Will Rock".

During the Second World War, Houseman worked for the Voice of America, managing its operations in New York. [cite website|url=http://www.voanews.com/english/about/beginning-of-an-american-voice.cfm|title=The Beginning: An American Voice Greets the World|publisher=Voice of America]

Houseman produced more than two dozen films, including the 1946 film noir, "The Blue Dahlia". He first became widely known to the public, however, for his Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning role as Professor Charles Kingsfield in the 1973 film "The Paper Chase", a role which he reprised in the television series of the same name.

He was the Executive Producer of CBS' landmark Seven Lively Arts series. Houseman also played Energy Corporation Executive Bartholomew in the 1975 film "Rollerball" and parodied Sydney Greenstreet in the 1978 Neil Simon film, "The Cheap Detective".

In the 1980s, Houseman became more widely known for his role as grandfather Edward Stratton II in "Silver Spoons", which starred Rick Schroder, and for his commercials for brokerage firm Smith Barney, which featured the catchphrase, "They make money the old fashioned way...they earn it." Another was Puritan brand cooking oil, with "less saturated fat than the leading oil", featuring the famous 'tomato test'. He also made a guest appearance in John Carpenter's 1980 movie "The Fog" as Mr. Machen. He played the Jewish professor Aaron Jastrow in the 1983 miniseries "The Winds of War".

Houseman taught acting at The Juilliard School where his first graduating class included Kevin Kline and Patti LuPone. Unwilling to see his first class immediately disbanded by the testing world of stage and screen, he formed them into a touring repertory company appropriately named the Group 1 Acting Company. They later shortened their name simply to The Acting Company and are still touring the country today.

In 1988, he appeared in "" and "Scrooged", which were released after his death.

In 2001, he was portrayed by Jonathan Rigby in the "Doctor Who" audio adventure "Invaders from Mars".

In February 2008, filming began on the movie "Me and Orson Welles". The film tells the story of Houseman's relationship with Orson Welles when running The Mercury Theatre in New York in the late 1930s. The film is using The Gaiety Theatre on the Isle of Man to replicate The Mercury.

Filmography

References

External links

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