Years active 1962–present Name Sandra Seacat | Role Actress Children Greta Seacat | |
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Full Name Sandra Diane Seacat Other names Credited as Sandra Kaufman, her then-married name, before 1969 Occupation Acting teacher, actor, director Spouse Michael Ebert (m. ?–1978), Thurn Hoffman Parents Lois Marion Seacat, Russell Henry Seacat Movies Crazy in Alabama, Daddy and Them, In the Spirit, You Don't Know Jack, The Golden Seal Similar People Jeannie Berlin, Richard Pearce, Elaine May, Marlo Thomas, Olympia Dukakis | ||
Laura dern and sandra seacat hollywood mentors
Sandra Diane Seacat (born October 2, 1936) is an American actress, director and acting coach best known for teaching stage-style method acting. Professionally known as Sandra Kaufman before 1969, she was the first of three daughters born to Russell Henry and Lois Marion Seacat in Greensburg, Kansas.
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Career
Seacat began acting in theater in the early 1960s. After a summer-stock production of Leonid Andreyev's play The Waltz of the Dogs, The Village Voice described her as "destined to bring many future stages alive."
She moved to New York and studied acting with Michael Howard, later becoming a member of the Actors Studio, where she studied method acting under Lee Strasberg, the studio's director.
In the early 1970s, she taught at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, City College of New York's Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts, as a member of the Actors Studio, and she taught privately. Among her clients were Steve Railsback and Mickey Rourke, who told New York Magazine that Seacat mentored him for six years.
From the late seventies Seacat has worked in both New York and Los Angeles, coaching actors such as Jessica Lange in preparation for her role in the 1982 film Frances. According to The New York Times, she helped pioneer the practice of dream work, where actors study and play characters from their dreams. She also taught the method to her daughter, Greta Seacat, who also became an acting coach. Seacat's clients Melanie Griffith and Gina Gershon publicly credited Seacat's use of the dream method with improving their craft.
Acting teacher Alex Cole Taylor in 2010 told Backstage that he learned compassion for his students from Seacat. CNN's Todd Leopold, in an article about acting coach Elizabeth Kemp, coupled Seacat with Lee Strasberg as "legendary acting coaches."
Seacat was a faculty member of the 2012 Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Film Forum at the University of Arkansas's Winthrop Rockefeller Institute atop Petit Jean Mountain.
She has commented over the years about actors she has trained, including Laura Dern, who thanked Seacat when she accepted a best actress award at the January 2012 Golden Globe Awards presentation.
Actors who have studied under Seacat include Chris Pine, Marlo Thomas, Lance Henriksen, Harvey Keitel, Isabella Rossellini, Rachel Ward, Treat Williams, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Peter Falk and Lynda Carter.
Directing
Seacat directed one movie, 1990's In the Spirit. In reviewing the film starring Marlo Thomas and Elaine May, The New York Times called it "a nervous new-age comedy more notable for good intentions than good luck." The Boston Globe described the movie as "An Endearing Mess," The Washington Post headlined it a "Grand and Goofy Comedy," and the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Spirit Loses Its Comic Flair Halfway Through." Variety, however, described the actors in the leading roles a "memorable screen odd couple."
While In the Spirit was filming, the Los Angeles Times's Cinefile column covered Seacat's directorial debut, calling her an "acting guru." Liz Smith wrote about the film in her gossip column.
In August 2007, Seacat, with Jamie Wollrab, directed her daughter, Greta Seacat, along with others in Elizabeth Meriwether's play The Mistakes Madeline Made in Boulder, at Colorado's Dairy Center for the Arts, starring Shannon Woodward, Justin Chatwin and Johnny Lewis.