Occupation Actor Spouse Uta Hagen (m. 1957–1990) Years active 1945–1990 Education University of Vienna | Name Herbert Berghof Organizations founded HB Studio Role Actor | |
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Born 13 September 1909 ( 1909-09-13 ) Vienna Austria-Hungary Empire Died November 5, 1990, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States Movies 5 Fingers, Harry and Tonto, Red Planet Mars, Cleopatra, Times Square Similar People Uta Hagen, Harry Horner, Joseph L Mankiewicz, Paul Mazursky, Allan Moyle | ||
Uta Hagen's Acting Class
Herbert Berghof (September 13, 1909 – November 5, 1990) was an American actor, director and acting teacher.
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Born and educated in Vienna, Austria, he studied acting there with Max Reinhardt. After fleeing the Nazis, he moved to New York in 1939, where he launched a career as an actor and director on Broadway, and worked with Lee Strasberg. Berghof became a charter member of the Actors Studio in 1947, with classmates including Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Jerome Robbins, and Sidney Lumet.
In 1945 he co-founded HB Studio (the Herbert Berghof Studio) in New York City, as a place where aspiring actors could train and practice. In 1948, Uta Hagen joined the Studio as Berghof's artistic partner, and married in 1957. They ran the studio together until his death in 1990. Notable alumni included Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Liza Minnelli, Robert De Niro, Geraldine Page, Fritz Weaver, Anne Bancroft, Donna McKechnie and Matthew Broderick.
Stage appearances by Berghof included roles in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea (1950), The Andersonville Trial (1959). Among his film appearances were 5 Fingers (1952), Red Planet Mars (1952), Fräulein (1958), Cleopatra (1963), An Affair of the Skin (1963), Harry and Tonto (1974), Voices (1979), Those Lips, Those Eyes (1980), Times Square (1980) and Target (1985). He directed the first Broadway production of Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1956).
Described by The New York Times as "one of the nation's most respected acting teachers and coaches", he died of a heart ailment on November 5, 1990 at his home in Manhattan.
Herbert Berghof
