:en:Milton Katselas
{{Short description|American stage and film director and producer (1933-2008)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Milton Katselas
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| nationality = American
| birth_name = Milton George Katselas
| birth_date = December 22, 1933
| birth_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and given age|2008|10|24|74}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| occupation = Director, acting instructor, coach, producer
}}
Milton George Katselas (December 22, 1933 – October 24, 2008) was an American-Greek director and producer of stage and film, as well as a Hollywood acting instructor and coach who trained under Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg at the acclaimed Actors Studio in New York City. In 1978, he acquired the Beverly Hills Playhouse, where he taught a master class for many years.
Katselas was a Scientologist and some former students have alleged that his acting classes were used as recruitment for the Church of Scientology, while others have stated Katselas never mentioned or spoke about Scientology during classes.{{multiref |1={{cite web |first=Mark |last=Oppenheimer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/magazine/15Katselas-t.html |title=The Actualizer |work=The New York Times |date=July 15, 2007 |access-date=2007-12-14 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104172512/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/magazine/15Katselas-t.html |archive-date=November 4, 2022 |quote= }} |2={{cite news|last=Oppenheimer|first=Mark|title=Friends, thetans, countrymen|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=September 9, 2007|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/09/09/sm_scientology.xml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205125446/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/09/09/sm_scientology.xml|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 5, 2008|accessdate =2008-10-18}} }}
Professional life
{{Moresources|section|date=November 2022}}
=Early years=
Katselas was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Greek immigrant parents,{{cite web|url=http://www.katselas.com/mk.html |title=Dreams Into Action |accessdate=2007-01-16 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217042017/http://www.katselas.com/mk.html |archivedate=December 17, 2005 }} who owned a small restaurant outside the gates of a Westinghouse Electric plant. When Milton was 14 years old, his father went into the movie theater business and ran a local theater company of Greek actors. Milton Katsalas later adjusted his surname to Katselas.
After high school, he set off for Pittsburgh's Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon) to study theater. On a visit to New York, he sneaked in to watch Lee Strasberg's acting class where he also saw renowned director Elia Kazan on the street and chased him down. "I talked to him in Greek, and he talked with me"... [H]e told me, `When you finish college, come see me.'", Katselas recalled."The Star of His Own Show", Buzz Magazine, March 1998 Following graduation in 1954, he began studying with Strasberg and serving as an apprentice to Kazan.
=Theater and film producer=
After working with several other big-name directors, including Joshua Logan, Joseph Anthony, and Sanford Meisner, Katselas struck out on his own, beginning with the original 1960 Off-Broadway production of Edward Albee's The Zoo Story. This was followed by another critical success the following year, Michael Shurtleff's Call Me By My Rightful Name. He was nominated for a Tony Award for the Broadway production of Leonard Gershe's Butterflies Are Free in 1969, and also directed the 1972 movie version starring Goldie Hawn, Edward Albert, and Eileen Heckart, who won an Academy Award for her role.
In 1973 he reunited with Gershe and Albert for the film version of 40 Carats. His other credits include the Broadway shows Camino Real and The Rose Tattoo, local productions of The Seagull, Romeo and Juliet, and Streamers - all of which won him L.A. Drama Critics Circle awards for best direction.
In 1983, Katselas directed a revival of Noël Coward's Private Lives, the only Broadway stage production in which Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton co-starred together. However, after the show was panned in its Boston tryout, Taylor, who was a producer, fired Katselas, yet he retained his directing credit for the Broadway run.[https://nymag.com/arts/theater/features/50176/ The Liz and Dick Show], May 9, 1983, Marie Brennan, New York Magazine. Retrieved November 3, 2008. He also directed the screen adaptation of Mark Medoff's When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?{{cite web|title=When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/116595/When-You-Comin-Back-Red-Ryder-/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140616114408/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/116595/When-You-Comin-Back-Red-Ryder-/overview|url-status=dead|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Hal Erickson|author-link=Hal Erickson (author)|date=2014|archive-date=2014-06-16}}
=The Playhouse=
In 1978, Katselas founded an acting school in Los Angeles called the Beverly Hills Playhouse, where he gave acting classes for 30 years until his death in 2008.{{Cite news |last=Weber |first=Bruce |date=2008-11-03 |title=Milton Katselas, Acting Teacher and Director, Dies at 75 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/movies/03katselas.html |access-date=2025-05-01 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
He had a wide range of students, including Gene Hackman, Jenna Elfman, George Clooney, Alec Baldwin, Giovanni Ribisi, Tom Selleck, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ted Danson, Tony Danza, Jeffrey Tambor, Tyne Daly, Lakshmi Manchu, Doris Roberts, Anne Archer, Kate Hudson, Kim Cattrall, Thaao Penghlis, Robert Urich, and Patrick Swayze.{{cite magazine|first=Janet|last=Reitman|title=Inside Scientology|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9363363/inside_scientology/print|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=2006-02-23|accessdate=2007-12-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430200426/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9363363/inside_scientology/print|archive-date=2009-04-30|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2008-10-30-0810290751-story.html |title=Milton Katselas: 1933-2008 |date=October 30, 2008 |first=Valerie J |last=Nelson |publisher=Chicago Tribune}}
Some students reportedly felt alienated by the unspoken pressure to join the Church of Scientology, however. While Katselas was highly regarded as a teacher, his classes remained controversial.{{cite book|last1=Breitbart|first1=Andrew |author1-link=Andrew Breitbart |last2=Ebner |first2=Mark|author2-link=Mark Ebner |title=Hollywood, interrupted : insanity chic in Babylon—the case against celebrity |year=2004|publisher=John Wiley and Sons, Inc|location=New York|isbn=0471706248|pages=136–137 |url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodinterru00brei/page/136}}
In his later years, Katselas became disaffected with post-Hubbard Scientology. He eventually had a break with the organisation, when a Scientologist named Grant Cardone sent an e-mail accusing Katselas of improper sexual conduct with his students. Following the incident, a number of Scientologist actors left the school.
=Books=
Katselas was the author of two books.
- Dreams into action : Getting what you want! (1996) {{ISBN|0787104930}}
- Acting Class: Take a Seat (2008) {{ISBN|1597775924|9781597775922}}
Personal life
Katselas was a long-time Scientologist, having been introduced to the cult in 1965, and had attained the Scientology state of Operating Thetan. While his relationship with Church of Scientology management broke down in his later years, he remained dedicated to Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard to his death.{{multiref2 |1={{cite web |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/06/grant_cardone_t.php |title=Grant Cardone, NatGeo's 'Turnaround King': Doing Scientology's Dirty Work? |date=June 20, 2011 |first=Tony |last=Ortega |author-link=Tony Ortega |publisher=The Village Voice |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624035927/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/06/grant_cardone_t.php |archive-date=June 24, 2011}} |2={{cite web |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/06/milton_katselas.php |title=Milton Katselas Pleads With Scientology After Grant Cardone's Attack: A Church Jihad? |date=June 24, 2011 |first=Tony |last=Ortega |author-link=Tony Ortega |publisher=The Village Voice |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110627141939/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/06/milton_katselas.php |archive-date=June 27, 2011}} }}
Katselas died of heart failure on October 24, 2008, aged 74, at the Los Angeles hospital Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.{{cite news|last=Saperstein|first=Pat|title=Acting teacher Milton Katselas dies|work=Variety|publisher=Reed Business Information|date=October 27, 2008|url=https://www.variety.com/article/VR1117994731.html?categoryid=13&cs=1|accessdate=2008-10-27}}
Katselas was portrayed by actor James Franco in the Sal Mineo biopic Sal, which Franco also directed.{{Cite news |date=2013-10-25 |title=James Franco On Telling The Story Of A Tragic Hollywood Rebel In “Sal” |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3020575/james-franco-on-telling-the-story-of-a-tragic-hollywood-rebel-in-sal |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20211022111705/https://www.fastcompany.com/3020575/james-franco-on-telling-the-story-of-a-tragic-hollywood-rebel-in-sal |archive-date=2021-10-22 |access-date=2025-05-01 |work=Fast Company |language=en-US}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
{{Wikinews|Acting teacher and director Milton Katselas dies at age 75}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0441501}}
- {{iobdb name|11378}}
- [http://www.bhplayhouse.com/ Beverly Hills Playhouse]
{{Milton Katselas|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katselas, Milton}}
Category:American acting coaches
Category:American theatre directors
Category:American Scientologists
Category:American people of Greek descent
Category:Mass media people from Greater Los Angeles
Category:Artists from Pittsburgh
Category:Film directors from California