Sanford Meisner

Born August 31, 1905 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Sanford Meisner graduated from Erasmus Hall in 1923 and attended The Damrosch Institute of Music (now Juilliard), where he studied to become a concert pianist before talking his way into a job in a Theatre Guild production of Sidney Howard’s They Knew What They Wanted. He realized then that acting, which really “dug at him”, was what he was looking to find.

It was just at this time that the Moscow Art Theatre came to town under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski. The productions of this Russian company featured acting performances of such truth and power as had never been seen in America. It inspired a fervent group of young actors, including Meisner, Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, and Harold Clurman, to join together to establish the Group Theatre in 1931. It was the first permanent theater company that brought “method” acting, rooted in methods of Konstantin Stanislavsky, to practice and prominence in America. Meisner appeared in twelve Group productions, including the first, The House of Connelly, and all of Clifford Odets’ plays, including Waiting for Lefty which Meisner co-directed with Odets in 1935.

The most notable three teachers to emerge from the Group Theatre were Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and Sanford “Sandy” Meisner. They all shared the same vision that had been articulated by Stanislavski - really experiencing the part. But each of them found their own methods for teaching actors how to achieve this. In 1933, Meisner became disenchanted with pure “method” acting. He wrote “actors are not guinea pigs to be manipulated, dissected, let alone in a purely negative way. Our approach was not organic, that is to say, not healthy.” Meisner had ongoing discussion about technique with Adler, who worked with Stanislavsky in Paris and Clurman, who took deep interest in the American character. Eventually Meisner realized that if American actors were ever going to achieve the goal of “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances,” an American approach was needed. The Neighborhood Playhouse provided him with a venue to develop that approach on his own. In 1936, he headed the Drama Department at The Playhouse, while continuing to act and direct plays produced by The Group Theatre until its demise in 1941. He also appeared on Broadway in Embezzled (1944) and Crime and Punishment(1948). He directed The Time of Your Life (1955) and acted in The Cold Wind and the Warm (1958).

Meisner left The Playhouse in 1958 to become director of the New Talent Division of Twentieth Century Fox. He moved to Los Angeles, where he was also able to cultivate his career as a film actor.

He returned to the Neighborhood Playhouse as head of the Drama Department from 1964-1990. In 1985, Meisner and James Carville co-founded The Meisner/Carville School of Acting on the Island of Bequia in the West Indies. They later extended the school to North Hollywood, California, with Martin Barter.

Sandy Meisner received commendations from Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Reagan. He was honored by California Governor Pete Wilson and was named the “Humanitarian of the Year 1990” by The Washington Charity Awards. His final appearance as an actor was in a guest starring role on a special episode of ER in 1995. Backstage West dedicated an issue to Meisner and his world-renowned “Meisner Technique.”

Arthur Miller once said of Meisner, “He has been the most principled teacher of acting on this country for decades now, and every time I am reading actors I can pretty well tell which ones have studied with Meisner. It is because they are honest and simple and don’t lay on complications that aren’t necessary.”

Sanford Meisner passed away on February 2nd, 1997. He was a very good teacher and many of his students achieved phenomenal success. What most distinguishes Meisner’s approach to actor training is its simplicity, directness, and effectiveness. As such, it has continued to build in popularity and is now taught around the world.