21 Facts About Sanford Meisner

Sanford Meisner was an American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting instruction that is known as the Meisner technique.

Sanford Meisner maintained an emphasis on "the reality of doing", which was the foundation of his approach.

Sanford Meisner found release in playing the family piano and eventually attended the Damrosch Institute of Music, where he studied to become a concert pianist.

Sanford Meisner later recalled that his only means of enduring long days spent lugging bolts of fabric was to entertain himself by replaying, in his mind, all the classical piano pieces he had studied in music school.

Sanford Meisner believed this experience helped him develop, at age twenty, an acute sense of sound akin to perfect pitch.

Sanford Meisner had acted at the Lower East Side's Chrystie Street Settlement House under the direction of Lee Strasberg, who would play an important role in his development.

At age 19 Sanford Meisner heard that the Theatre Guild was hiring teenagers and, after a brief interview, was hired as an extra for They Knew What They Wanted.

Sanford Meisner summered with the Group Theatre at their 1936 rehearsal headquarters at Pine Brook Country Club in the countryside of Nichols, Connecticut.

Strasberg initially had not been asked to join the group, while Sanford Meisner was among the first instructors to teach at the studio.

Strasberg's later insistence that he had trained them distressed Sanford Meisner enormously, creating an animosity with his ex-mentor that continued until Strasberg's death.

In 1935, Sanford Meisner joined the faculty of The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and continued as the Director of the Acting Department until his retirement in 1990, and served as Director Emeritus until his death in 1997.

Notable students and alumni of The Neighborhood Playhouse under Sanford Meisner's instruction include: Dylan McDermott, James Caan, Steve McQueen, Robert Duvall, Gregory Peck, Diane Keaton, Jeff Goldblum, Tony Randall, Sydney Pollack, David Mamet, Connie Britton, Brian Geraghty, Leslie Moonves, Sherie Rene Scott, Chris Noth, Tucker Smallwood, Mary Steenburgen, Betsy von Furstenberg, Allison Janney, Jennifer Grey, Ashlie Atkinson, Christopher Meloni, Alex Cole Taylor, and many more.

Sanford Meisner became a fixture on the Los Angeles theater scene for several years after Meisner's death.

Sanford Meisner attended every rehearsal and every performance until the very end.

At least 37 of the students who studied with Sanford Meisner were nominated for or won Academy Awards.

Sanford Meisner's last acting role was in the season one episode of the television medical drama ER, titled "Sleepless in Chicago".

Sanford Meisner, who was bisexual, spent the remainder of his life with partner James Carville.

In 1970 Sanford Meisner was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent a laryngectomy.

The first student's line came when Sanford Meisner approached him from behind and gave him a strong pinch on the back, inspiring him to jump away and yelp his line in pain.

The other student's line came when Sanford Meisner reached around and slipped his hand into her blouse.

Sanford Meisner's line came out as a giggle as she moved away from his touch.