Sanford Meisner

Sanford Meisner was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1905, the oldest child born to Jewish immigrants from Hungary. As a child, Meisner’s young brother died after falling ill while on a family trip to the Catskills. Meisner’s parents blamed him for his brother’s death, and Meisner found escape and solace in music. He began studying piano but eventually found his true passion in acting. After joining the Group Theatre, he began developing his own methodology as an alternative to the popular method technique.

Meisner was married twice: first to Peggy Meredith and then to Betty Gooch. Both ended in divorce. Openly bisexual, Meisner spent the remainder of his life with partner James Carville. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1970 and underwent a laryngectomy. In 1997, he died in his sleep at age 91 in his home at Los Angeles.

Key Dates & Events

• 1931 - Meisner is selected, along with twenty-eight other actors, to form the Group Theatre.
• 1935 - Meisner begins teaching at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
• 1936 - Meisner becomes the head of the Drama department at the Playhouse.
• 1958 - Meisner begins working for Twentieth Century Fox as director of the New Talent Division.
• 1961 - Meisner returns to New York to teach at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
• 1970 - Meisner is diagnosed with throat cancer and undergoes a laryngectomy.
• 1985 - Meisner and his partner James Carville establish the Meisner/Carville School of Acting on the West Indies island of Bequia.
• 1990 - The documentary, Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre’s Best Kept Secret, is released.
• 1995 - Meisner opens The Sanford Meisner Center for the Arts in North Hollywood.