Morris Carnovsky

Morris Carnovsky , 1897-1992, American actor, b. St. Louis. After his New York City debut in The God of Vengeance (1922), he joined the Theatre Guild and later performed with The Group Theatre, of which he was a founding member. He worked as an actor and director for the Actors Laboratory Theatre in Hollywood (1945-50). Carnovsky has concentrated on Shakespearean roles since his first appearance at Stratford, Conn., in 1956. His films include Cyrano de Bergerac (1951).

Carnovsky, Morris (1897–1994), highly respected American actor, mainly in supporting roles, who made his New York début in Sholom Asch's God of Vengeance (1922). He was with the Theatre Guild, 1924–30, his roles including Alyosha in an adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (1927), and Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (1929). During the 1930s he was with the Group Theatre and appeared in a number of modern plays, including Paul Green's The House of Connelly (1931) and Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing (1935), Golden Boy (1937; London, 1938), and Rocket to the Moon (1938). He was a member of the Actors' Laboratory Theatre in Hollywood, 1940–50, directing a number of productions there. After 1956 he appeared regularly at the American Shakespeare Theatre, crowning a distinguished career by playing King Lear there in 1963, 1965, and 1975.

Carnovsky, Morris (1897–1992), actor. A native of St. Louis, he worked at several stock companies, including that run by Henry Jewett in Boston, before making his New York debut in The God of Vengeance (1922). From 1924 through 1930 he was a member of the Theatre Guild's acting company, and appeared with it in important supporting roles in such plays as Marco Millions (1928), Uncle Vanya (1929), Hotel Universe (1930), and Elizabeth the Queen (1930). After appearing in Both Your Houses (1933), Carnovsky joined the Group Theatre, where he played such memorable roles as the unhappy Dr. Levine in Men in White (1933), the self‐sacrificing grandfather Jacob in Awake and Sing! (1935), the violinist's father Mr. Bonaparte in Golden Boy (1937), and dentist Ben Stark in Rocket to the Moon (1938). In later years his most distinguished performances came when he played Lear and Shylock with the American Shakespeare Festival. Elliott Norton called his 1967 interpretation of the latter role “a heroic performance. . .powerful, rich in understanding, proud to the very end, and infinitely moving.” Although he rarely achieved stardom in a career that spanned more than sixty years, he was kept busy regularly and just as regularly was admired for whatever sort of role he tackled, but he excelled as troubled, thoughtful men.