Houseman, John

Houseman, John [né Jacques Haussmann] (1902–88), director, actor, and producer. Romanian‐born and English‐educated, he first came to playgoers' attention when he directed Four Saints in Three Acts (1934). Houseman consolidated his reputation that same year by directing a revival of The Lady from the Sea and Valley Forge and then producing Archibald MacLeish's Panic (1935). The following year he staged Leslie Howard's Hamlet. He was a producer for the Federal Theatre Project, then in 1937 he founded the Mercury Theatre with Orson Welles. Designed largely to offer “plays of the past—preferably those which seem to have emotion or factual bearing on contemporary life,” the company in its all too short existence mounted several notable productions, the most remarkable being its modern‐dress version of Julius Caesar. After the troupe disbanded, Houseman directed The Devil and Daniel Webster (1939) and Philip Barry's Liberty Jones (1941) and co‐produced Native Son (1941). He did not work again in the theatre until after World War II, directing Lute Song (1946), Louis Calhern's King Lear (1950), and the Phoenix Theatre's Coriolanus (1954). From 1956 to 1959 he was artistic director for the American Shakespeare Festival, then held a similar position until 1964 with the Theatre Group of the University of California. He next headed the drama division of Juilliard and after 1972 staged several productions of the Acting Company, which he headed. In his last years Houseman became well known as a film and TV actor. Autobiographies: Run‐Through, 1972; Front and Center, 1979; Final Dress, 1983.