Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 â€" 14 January 2004) was a
German-American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the
role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, who called her "a profoundly truthful
actress". Because Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part
because of her association with Paul Robeson, her film opportunities
dwindled and she focused her career on New York theatre.She later
became a highly influential acting teacher at New York's Herbert
Berghof Studio and authored best-selling acting texts, Respect for
Acting, with Haskel Frankel, and A Challenge for the Actor. Her most
substantial contributions to theatre pedagogy were a series of "object
exercises" that built on the work of Konstantin Stanislavski and
Yevgeny Vakhtangov.She was elected to the American Theater Hall of
Fame in 1981. She twice won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
and received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in
1999.Born in Göttingen, Germany, daughter of Thyra A. (née Leisner),
a trained opera singer, and Oskar Hagen, an art historian and
musician, Hagen and her family emigrated to the United States in 1924.
Though shipping records indicate that he took a position at Cornell
University, his new position was in fact at the University of
Wisconsinâ€"Madison. Uta was raised in Madison, Wisconsin. She
appeared in productions of the University of Wisconsin High School and
in summer stock productions of the Wisconsin Players. She studied
acting briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1936. After
spending one semester at the University of Wisconsinâ€"Madison, where
her father was the head of the department of art history, she left for
New York City in 1937. Her first professional role was as Ophelia
opposite Eva Le Gallienne in the title role of Hamlet in Dennis,
Massachusetts, in 1936.
German-American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the
role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, who called her "a profoundly truthful
actress". Because Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part
because of her association with Paul Robeson, her film opportunities
dwindled and she focused her career on New York theatre.She later
became a highly influential acting teacher at New York's Herbert
Berghof Studio and authored best-selling acting texts, Respect for
Acting, with Haskel Frankel, and A Challenge for the Actor. Her most
substantial contributions to theatre pedagogy were a series of "object
exercises" that built on the work of Konstantin Stanislavski and
Yevgeny Vakhtangov.She was elected to the American Theater Hall of
Fame in 1981. She twice won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
and received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in
1999.Born in Göttingen, Germany, daughter of Thyra A. (née Leisner),
a trained opera singer, and Oskar Hagen, an art historian and
musician, Hagen and her family emigrated to the United States in 1924.
Though shipping records indicate that he took a position at Cornell
University, his new position was in fact at the University of
Wisconsinâ€"Madison. Uta was raised in Madison, Wisconsin. She
appeared in productions of the University of Wisconsin High School and
in summer stock productions of the Wisconsin Players. She studied
acting briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1936. After
spending one semester at the University of Wisconsinâ€"Madison, where
her father was the head of the department of art history, she left for
New York City in 1937. Her first professional role was as Ophelia
opposite Eva Le Gallienne in the title role of Hamlet in Dennis,
Massachusetts, in 1936.
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