Sanford "Sandy" Meisner (August 31, 1905 â€" February 2, 1997) was an
American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting
instruction that is now known as the Meisner technique. While Meisner
was exposed to method acting at the Group Theatre, his approach
differed markedly in that he completely abandoned the use of affective
memory, a distinct characteristic of method acting. Meisner maintained
an emphasis on "the reality of doing", which was the foundation of his
approach.Born in Brooklyn, Meisner was the oldest child of Hermann
Meisner, a furrier, and Bertha Knoepfler, both Jewish immigrants who
came to the United States from Hungary. His younger siblings were
Jacob, Ruth, and Robert. To improve Sanford's health during his youth,
his family took a trip to the Catskills. However, while there his
brother Jacob contracted bovine tuberculosis from drinking
unpasteurized milk and died shortly thereafter. In an interview many
years later, Meisner later identified this event as "the dominant
emotional influence in my life from which I have never, after all
these years, escaped." Blamed by his parents for Jacob's death, the
young Meisner became isolated and withdrawn, unable to cope with
feelings of guilt for his brother's death.He found release in playing
the family piano and eventually attended the Damrosch Institute of
Music (now the Juilliard School) where he studied to become a concert
pianist. When the Great Depression hit, Meisner's father pulled him
out of music school to help in the family business in New York City's
Garment District. Meisner later recalled that the only way he could
endure days spent lugging bolts of fabric was to entertain himself by
replaying, in his mind, all the classical piano pieces he had studied
in music school. Meisner believed this experience helped him develop
an acute sense of sound, akin to perfect pitch. Later, as an acting
teacher, he often evaluated his students' scene work with his eyes
closed (and his head dramatically buried in his hands). This trick was
only partly for effect; the habit, he explained, actually helped him
to listen more closely to his students' work and to pinpoint the true
and false moments in their acting.After graduation from high school,
Meisner pursued acting professionally, which had interested him since
his youth. He had acted at the Lower East Side's Chrystie Street
Settlement House under the direction of Lee Strasberg, who was to play
an important role in his development. At 19, Meisner heard that the
Theatre Guild was hiring teenagers. After a brief interview, he was
hired as an extra for They Knew What They Wanted. The experience
deeply affected him and he realized that acting was what he had been
looking for in life. He and Strasberg both appeared in the original
Theatre Guild production of the Rodgers and Hart review The Garrick
Gaieties, from which the song "Manhattan" came.
American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting
instruction that is now known as the Meisner technique. While Meisner
was exposed to method acting at the Group Theatre, his approach
differed markedly in that he completely abandoned the use of affective
memory, a distinct characteristic of method acting. Meisner maintained
an emphasis on "the reality of doing", which was the foundation of his
approach.Born in Brooklyn, Meisner was the oldest child of Hermann
Meisner, a furrier, and Bertha Knoepfler, both Jewish immigrants who
came to the United States from Hungary. His younger siblings were
Jacob, Ruth, and Robert. To improve Sanford's health during his youth,
his family took a trip to the Catskills. However, while there his
brother Jacob contracted bovine tuberculosis from drinking
unpasteurized milk and died shortly thereafter. In an interview many
years later, Meisner later identified this event as "the dominant
emotional influence in my life from which I have never, after all
these years, escaped." Blamed by his parents for Jacob's death, the
young Meisner became isolated and withdrawn, unable to cope with
feelings of guilt for his brother's death.He found release in playing
the family piano and eventually attended the Damrosch Institute of
Music (now the Juilliard School) where he studied to become a concert
pianist. When the Great Depression hit, Meisner's father pulled him
out of music school to help in the family business in New York City's
Garment District. Meisner later recalled that the only way he could
endure days spent lugging bolts of fabric was to entertain himself by
replaying, in his mind, all the classical piano pieces he had studied
in music school. Meisner believed this experience helped him develop
an acute sense of sound, akin to perfect pitch. Later, as an acting
teacher, he often evaluated his students' scene work with his eyes
closed (and his head dramatically buried in his hands). This trick was
only partly for effect; the habit, he explained, actually helped him
to listen more closely to his students' work and to pinpoint the true
and false moments in their acting.After graduation from high school,
Meisner pursued acting professionally, which had interested him since
his youth. He had acted at the Lower East Side's Chrystie Street
Settlement House under the direction of Lee Strasberg, who was to play
an important role in his development. At 19, Meisner heard that the
Theatre Guild was hiring teenagers. After a brief interview, he was
hired as an extra for They Knew What They Wanted. The experience
deeply affected him and he realized that acting was what he had been
looking for in life. He and Strasberg both appeared in the original
Theatre Guild production of the Rodgers and Hart review The Garrick
Gaieties, from which the song "Manhattan" came.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.