Arthur Allan Seidelman

Last updated

Arthur Allan Seidelman (born 1937 in New York City [1] ) is an American television, film, and theatre director and an occasional writer, producer, and actor. His works are distinguished by a humane, probing, and sympathetic depiction of characters facing ethical challenges. His approach to directing is guided by his belief that character and relationships, along with an emphasis on genuine emotion over intellectualization, are the keys to unlocking the dramatic potential of a performance, a play, or a screenplay.

Contents

Early life and career

Born in the Bronx, [2] the son of Jeanne and Theodore Seidelman and nephew of Yiddish Theatre star Isidore Casher, Seidelman received his B.A. from Whittier College and an M.A. in Theatre from UCLA. He subsequently studied with Group Theatre (New York City) co-founder Sanford Meisner, who became a lifelong friend and mentor. Seidelman credits Meisner with teaching him how to approach actors and to find the cord of inner realism that ignites a scene. Seidelman also studied with Group Theatre co-founder Harold Clurman.

Walter Kerr praised Seidelman's 1970 revival of Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing as an "astonishingly fresh and deeply moving evening" and wrote also that it was "directed and played as nakedly as though no one were watching." [3]

Film

Seidelman made his screen directorial debut with Hercules in New York , a 1969 comedy-action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in his first feature, which has become a cult classic. He then co-wrote and directed Children of Rage starring Helmut Griem as an Israeli doctor caught up in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and also starring Simon Ward and Cyril Cusack. The film was the first Hollywood feature to address issues on both sides of the conflict, and it was screened for major international bodies including the United Nations General Assembly and the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Seidelman also directed The Caller , a science fiction thriller shot at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios, starring Malcolm McDowell and Madolyn Smith and the 2007 film Black Friday (also known as The Kidnapping). [4]

Seidelman's film The Sisters (2005 film), a modern adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters (play), stars Maria Bello, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Tony Goldwyn, and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival (now known as the Tribeca Festival). The film won numerous awards including the Santa Fe Film Festival Milagro Award for Best American Independent Film.

He also directed Walking Across Egypt with Ellen Burstyn, Echoes, a reincarnation thriller, and Puerto Vallarta Squeeze , starring Scott Glenn and Harvey Keitel in a film adaptation by Richard Alfieri of the novel by Robert James Waller. Seidelman's most recent feature film Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks stars Gena Rowlands as the widow of a Southern Baptist minister and Cheyenne Jackson as her gay dance instructor, and also stars Jacki Weaver and Rita Moreno. [5]

Television

Seidelman has directed many award-winning television productions, including Alan Menken and Lynn Ahrens’ film musical A Christmas Carol-The Musical for NBC starring Kelsey Grammer, Jesse L. Martin, Jane Krakowski, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Geraldine Chaplin, and Jason Alexander. The film, shot entirely in Budapest with Dickens-era sets erected on the back lot of Mafilm Studios, has become a holiday classic.

He directed four highly acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame productions: Grace and Glorie starring Gena Rowlands, Diane Lane, and Viola Davis, The Summer of Ben Tyler starring James Woods and Elizabeth McGovern, Harvest of Fire starring Patty Duke, and The Runaway starring Maya Angelou. He also directed Like Mother Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes starring Mary Tyler Moore for CBS, Strange Voices and The People Across the Lake both for NBC and both starring Valerie Harper, By Dawn's Early Light with Richard Crenna and David Carradine for HBO, The Kid Who Loved Christmas starring Cicely Tyson, Michael Warren, and Sammy Davis Jr. for Eddie Murphy Productions and Paramount Television, and Miracle in the Woods starring Della Reese and Meredith Baxter for CBS. Strange Voices was one of 1987's highest rated made-for-TV movies with a 33 share in the Nielsen TV Ratings. Seidelman also directed Black Friday (also known as The Kidnapping) with Judd Nelson, and Sin of Innocence starring Dee Wallace and, in his film debut, Dermot Mulroney. His CBS film Poker Alice , shot on location in Old Tucson, starred Elizabeth Taylor in her first romantic comedy/western. He directed the first film made by the Disney Channel, A Friendship in Vienna , from a screenplay by Richard Alfieri, and starring Jane Alexander and Ed Asner. The film is screened in schools as a teaching tool about The Holocaust. Seidelman's NBC movie Kate's Secret , starring Meredith Baxter Birney as a woman fighting bulimia, remains one of the most watched made-for-television films in TV history.

Seidelman cut his teeth in television by directing episodes of many renowned series including Fame , The Paper Chase , Knots Landing , Hill Street Blues , Magnum, P.I. , Murder, She Wrote , Trapper John, M.D. , L.A. Law , and A Year in the Life , for which he received numerous Emmy Awards and Emmy nominations. He hosted the PBS series Actors on Acting and staged Norman Lear’s 1982 all-star American Broadcasting Company variety show special I Love Liberty featuring Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Burt Lancaster, Walter Matthau, Mary Tyler Moore, and Martin Sheen. He also won a Writers Guild of America Award for his contribution to I Love Liberty .

Seidelman also guest starred in the final episode of ER .

Theatre

Seidelman directed Broadway productions of Billy (1969), a musical adaptation of Billy Budd ; Vieux Carré (1977) by Tennessee Williams; and Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (2003) by Richard Alfieri. [6] He directed a revival of The Most Happy Fella for the New York City Opera in 1991. He has had considerable success off-Broadway with acclaimed productions of The Ceremony of Innocence , by Ronald Ribman, Awake and Sing by Clifford Odets and Hamp by John Wilson, among others. He also directed Madama Butterfly for Opera Santa Barbara and The Gypsy Princess for Opera Pacific. In Los Angeles, he has directed major revivals of Hair , Of Thee I Sing , Mack and Mabel , The Boys from Syracuse , Follies , and others. Also in Los Angeles, he directed the first productions of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks [7] and The Sisters. For regional theatres, he has directed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , The Little Foxes , A Man for All Seasons , The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd , Romeo and Juliet , Stop the World – I Want to Get Off , and The Tempest , among others. In addition, he served as the Administrator of the Forum Theatre (now the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater) for the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and as Artistic Director of Theatre Vanguard in Los Angeles.

He has directed Richard Alfieri's Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks in its Los Angeles premiere (with Uta Hagen and David Hyde Pierce) at the Geffen Playhouse [7] and on Broadway (with Polly Bergen and Mark Hamill), [6] in the West End (with Claire Bloom and Billy Zane), [8] at the Coconut Grove Playhouse (with Rue McClanahan and Mark Hamill), [9] and a Los Angeles revival (with Constance Towers and Jason Graae). [10] The play has gone on to become one of the most-produced plays in the world with productions in 27 countries. Seidelman recently directed Alfieri's latest play, Revolutions , at the Barter Theatre.

Awards

Seidelman's honors include two Emmy Awards, five Emmy nominations, a Peabody Awards, an Obie Award, and the Festival Award (Grand Prize) from the New York Film and Television Festival, as well as prizes from the Chicago International Film Festival , San Francisco International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, and Heartland International Film Festival, the Humanitas Prize, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, three Christopher Awards, and the 2023 Sharm El-Sheikh Samiha Ayoub Award for Contribution to Understanding between Nations and Peoples.

Personal life

Seidelman was stricken with polio at age 9, and, as he was being rushed to the hospital, he overheard a paramedic tell his parents that he would never walk again. Undaunted and determined, after spending months in an iron lung and undergoing years of physical therapy, he did regain his mobility. He later stated that battling polio prepared him for the challenges of a career in show business.

Burt Reynolds, after working with Seidelman on the NBC TV series Amazing Grace, said of him, "He's the only director I've worked with in years who knows what to say to an actor other than, 'Turn right at the couch.'"

While researching the film Children of Rage , he lived extensively in the Middle East, including in refugee camps in Lebanon, where at one point, he was taken hostage by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.[ citation needed ] After days in captivity, during which he convinced them that the project would present a balanced view of the Arab/Israeli conflict, Seidelman was released.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Hulce</span> American actor and producer

Thomas Edward Hulce is an American actor and theatre producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus (1984), as well as the roles of Larry "Pinto" Kroger in Animal House (1978), Larry Buckman in Parenthood (1989), and Quasimodo in Disney's animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Awards include an Emmy Award for The Heidi Chronicles, a 2007 Tony Award for Best Musical as a lead producer for Spring Awakening, an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for Amadeus, and four Golden Globe nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal Linden</span> American actor

Hal Linden is an American stage and screen actor, television director and musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polly Bergen</span> American actress, singer, entrepreneur (1930–2014)

Polly Bergen was an American actress, singer, television host, writer and entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Dancy</span> English actor (born 1975)

Hugh Michael Horace Dancy is an English actor who rose to prominence for his role as the title character in the television film adaptation of David Copperfield (2000) as well as for roles in feature films as Kurt Schmid in Black Hawk Down (2001) and Prince Charmont in Ella Enchanted (2004). Other film roles include Joe Conner in Shooting Dogs (2005), Grigg Harris in The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), Luke Brandon in Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), Adam Raki in Adam (2009) and Ted in Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011). On television, he portrayed criminal profiler Will Graham in the NBC television series Hannibal (2013–2015), Cal Roberts in the Hulu original series The Path (2016–2018) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in the Channel 4 miniseries Elizabeth I (2005); the latter role earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Dancy currently portrays Senior Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price on NBC's revival of the original Law & Order (2022–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dianne Wiest</span> American actress (born 1948)

Dianne Evelyn Wiest is an American actress. She has won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress for 1986’s Hannah and Her Sisters and 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway, one Golden Globe Award for Bullets over Broadway, the 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for Road to Avonlea, and the 2008 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for In Treatment. In addition, she was nominated for an Academy Award for 1989’s Parenthood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debbie Allen</span> American actress (born 1950)

Deborah Kaye Allen is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards. She has won a Golden Globe Award, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991.

<i>A View from the Bridge</i> 1955 play by Arthur Miller

A View from the Bridge is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was first staged on September 29, 1955, as a one-act verse drama with A Memory of Two Mondays at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The run was unsuccessful, and Miller subsequently revised and extended the play to contain two acts; this version is the one with which audiences are most familiar. The two-act version premiered in the New Watergate theatre club in London's West End under the direction of Peter Brook on October 11, 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Grizzard</span> American actor (1928–2007)

George Cooper Grizzard Jr. was an American stage, television, and film actor. He was the recipient of a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Tony Award, among other accolades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Rubinstein</span> American actor, composer, director (b. 1946)

John Rubinstein is an American actor, composer and director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constance Towers</span> American actress and singer

Constance Mary Towers is an American film, stage, and television actress, and singer. She gained prominence for her appearances in several mainstream 1950s films before transitioning to theater, starring in numerous Broadway productions through the 1970s. Her accolades include two Emmy Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raphael Sbarge</span> American actor

Raphael Sbarge is an American actor and filmmaker. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Jake Straka on The Guardian (2001–04), Jiminy Cricket / Dr. Archibald Hopper on Once Upon a Time (2011–18) and Inspector David Molk on the TNT series Murder in the First (2014–16). He is also known for voicing Carth Onasi in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003), RC-1262 / "Scorch" in Star Wars: Republic Commando (2005) and Kaidan Alenko in the Mass Effect trilogy (2007–12).

Barnet Kellman is an American theatre, television and film director, television producer and film actor, and educator, best known for the premiere productions of new American plays, and for the pilots of long-running television series such as Murphy Brown and Mad About You. He is the recipient of two Emmy Awards and a Directors Guild of America Award. He is the co-founder and director of USC Comedy at the School of Cinematic Arts, and holds the school's Robin Williams Endowed Chair in Comedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Layton</span>

Joe Layton was an American director and choreographer known primarily for his work on Broadway.

Lonny Price is an American director, actor, and writer, primarily in theatre. He is best known for his New York directing work, including Sunset Boulevard, Sweeney Todd, Company, and Sondheim! The Birthday Concert. As an actor, he is perhaps best known for his creation of the role of Charley Kringas in the Broadway musical Merrily We Roll Along, Neil Kellerman in Dirty Dancing, and Ronnie Crawford in The Muppets Take Manhattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lithgow</span> American actor (born 1945)

John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor. He studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his diverse work on stage and screen. He has received numerous accolades including six Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and four Grammy Awards. Lithgow has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2001 and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Alfieri</span> American dramatist

Richard Alfieri to Sam and Nena Alfieri is an American playwright, screenplay writer, novelist, film producer, and actor. His awards include two Writers Guild Awards and an Emmy nomination.

<i>Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks</i>

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks is a 2001 play by American playwright Richard Alfieri. It is a play with only two characters: Lily Harrison, the formidable widow of a Baptist minister, and Michael Minetti, a gay and acerbic dance instructor hired to give her dancing lessons. It premiered at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles before moving to Broadway. It has gone on to performances in 24 countries and been translated into 14 languages.

<i>Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks</i> (film) 2014 film

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks is a 2014 Hungarian-American comedy-drama film starring Gena Rowlands and Cheyenne Jackson alongside a supporting cast including Jacki Weaver, Rita Moreno, Julian Sands and Anthony Zerbe. The film was adapted by Richard Alfieri from his play of the same name and directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman. It was the final film of director of photography Vilmos Zsigmond, who died two years after the film's release in 2016.

Jonathan Stuart Cerullo is an American director and choreographer, executive producer, and former performer. Cerullo is known for his work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally. He has also worked in circus, film, and television.

Douglas Denoff is an eight-time Tony Award-Nominated Broadway theatre producer, writer and entrepreneur. He has won the Drama Desk Award as a producer and television's Emmy Award, and, in 2012 received his first Grammy Award nomination. Through his company Sutton Square Entertainment, he develops and produces original new musicals and plays that can be successful on Broadway, and in regional theatres and touring companies.

References

  1. ↑ "Arthur Allan Seidelman | Yiddish Book Center".
  2. ↑ Arthur Allan Seidelman at FilmReference.com
  3. ↑ The New York Times , June 7, 1970, Section 2, Page 1 "35 Years Later, It Still Sings"
  4. ↑ "The Kidnapping". IMDb . Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  5. ↑ Chang, Justin (16 December 2014). "Film Review: 'Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks'". Variety . Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  6. 1 2 Gans, Andrew (21 November 2003). "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks to Close Nov. 23". Playbill. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  7. 1 2 Oxman, Steven (10 June 2001). "Review: 'Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks'". Variety . Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  8. ↑ Billington, Michael (2 December 2006). "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks". The Guardian . Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  9. ↑ Jones, Kenneth (27 June 2003). "Rue McClanahan Bows Out of Bway's Six Dance Lessons; Hamill Ready to Dance". Playbill . Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  10. ↑ Stoudt, Charlotte (5 November 2008). "'Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 29 September 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.