Houseman (Hauseman), John

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HOUSEMAN (Hauseman), JOHN

HOUSEMAN (Hauseman), JOHN (1902–1988), U.S. theatrical producer and director. Born in Bucharest, the son of a Jewish father and English mother, Houseman began his career in the U.S. theater in 1934. His productions include Four Saints in Three Acts (1934), Valley Forge (1935), a Haitian Macbeth (for the Federal Negro Theater Project, 1935), Hamlet with Leslie Howard (1936), and a modern-dress Julius Caesar (1937) at the Mercury Theater which he had cofounded with Orson Welles. He was artistic director of the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford (1956–59), taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, and in 1965 he became director of the new drama division of the Juilliard School of Music, New York.

In the early 1970s (and in his early 70s!), Houseman became a movie star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Paper Chase (1973). Houseman went on to appear in many films, including Rollerball (1975), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Wholly Moses (1980), Ghost Story (1981), and Another Woman (1988).

[Jonathan Licht (2nd ed.)]