John Houseman
John Houseman (
September 22,
1902 –
October 31,
1988) was a
Romanian-born
actor and
film producer.
He was born
Jacques Haussmann in
Bucharest to a French-born
Jewish father and an English mother.
Emigrating to the
United States, he took the
stage name of
John Houseman. He is best known 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.
Amongst the more than two dozen films he produced, Houseman produced the 1946
film noir,
The Blue Dahlia. He also co-produced
Orson Welles's infamous 1938 radio broadcast
The War of the Worlds. He and Welles cofounded the
Mercury Theatre.
He was the
Executive Producer of
CBS's 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 was also known for his role as grandfather
Edward Stratton II in
Silver Spoons, which starred
Rick Schroder, and for his commercials for brokerage
Smith Barney, which featured the
catchphrase, "They make money the old fashioned way...they
earn it."
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 future stars
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.
John Houseman lost his battle with spinal
cancer in 1988 at his home in
Malibu, California. He was 86 years old. He had appeared in
The Naked Gun, which was released after his death.
He once claimed he had bedded both de Havilland sisters (i.e.
Olivia de Havilland and younger sister
Joan Fontaine).
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