Paul Mann (December 2, 1913 – September 24, 1985) was a Canadian film and theatre actor, as well as founder of the Paul Mann Actor's Workshop. His brother was the actor
Larry D. Mann
Larry D. Mann (18 December 1922 – 6 January 2014) was a Canadian actor. He was best known as "The Boss" in a series of Bell Canada television commercials in the 1980s and for voicing the character of Yukon Cornelius in ''Rudolph the Red-Nose ...
.
Biography
Mann was influential in developing the concept of
Method acting
Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...
in America. While many other Method advocates (including
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American theatre director, actor and acting teacher. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 193 ...
) shared their knowledge at the
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founde ...
, Mann taught his own classes at his Actor's Workshop, founded in 1953. Along with
Lloyd Richards
Lloyd George Richards (June 29, 1919 – June 29, 2006) was a Canadian-American theatre director, actor, and dean of the Yale School of Drama from 1979 to 1991, and Yale University professor emeritus.
Biography
Richards was born in Toront ...
(a fellow
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
native and chief assistant director of the school), Mann also managed to create a comfortable atmosphere for actors of all races. Alumni of his school include
Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (19 ...
,
Billy Dee Williams
William December Williams Jr. (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor. He appeared as Lando Calrissian in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, first in the early 1980s for ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) and ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), and thirt ...
,
Ossie Davis
Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...
,
Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive Go ...
,
Al Lewis, and
Vic Morrow
Victor Morrow (born Victor Morozoff; February 14, 1929 – July 23, 1982) was an American actor. He came to prominence as one of the leads of the ABC drama series '' Combat!'' (1962–1967), which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstan ...
.
Mann's own acting career was based primarily in theatre, beginning when he was sixteen. His onscreen appearances were limited to an episode of the 1950s television serial ''
Danger
Danger is a lack of safety and may refer to:
Places
* Danger Cave, an archaeological site in Utah
* Danger Island, Great Chagos Bank, Indian Ocean
* Danger Island, alternate name of Pukapuka Atoll in the Cook Islands, Pacific Ocean
* Danger Isl ...
'' and two feature film roles. The first was that of merchant Aleko Sinnikoglou in ''
America, America
''America America'' (British title ''The Anatolian Smile''—a reference to an ongoing acknowledgment of the character Stavros' captivating smile) is a 1963 American drama film directed, produced and written by Elia Kazan, adapted from his own b ...
'' (1963) (directed by his friend
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...
) and the last was the village butcher Lazar Wolf in the screen adaptation of ''
Fiddler on the Roof
''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 190 ...
'' (1971). He was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture is a Golden Globe Award that was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year.
The formal ...
for both films.
Mann also was professor of acting and director of the theater arts program at the
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
.
[ ] A year before his death, Mann was found liable in a civil suit brought in Manhattan by eight female former students accusing him of sexual abuse and harassment and was ordered to pay them a total of $12,000.
Filmography
Theatre credits
In most recent order:
*''Danton's Death'' /
evival, Play/ ''?'' / Oct 21, 1965 - Nov 1965
*''Incident at Vichy'' /
riginal, Play, Drama/ ''Marchand'' / Dec 3, 1964 - May 7, 1965
*''The Changeling'' /
riginal, Play/ ''?'' / Oct 29, 1964 - Dec 23, 1964
*''After The Fall'' /
riginal, Play, Drama/ ''Quentin's Father'';
Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes ...
portrayed ''Quentin'' / Jan 23, 1964 - May 29, 1965
*''Too Late the Phalarope'' /
riginal, Play/ ''Japie Grobler'' / Oct 11, 1956 - Nov 10, 1956
*''Flight Into Egypt'' /
riginal, Play, Drama/ ''Freund'' / Mar 18, 1952 - Apr 19, 1952
*''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
'' /
evival, Play, Tragedy/ ''Menteith'' and ''Murderer'' / Mar 31, 1948 - Apr 24, 1948
*''Flight to the West'' /
riginal, Play/ ''Thomas Hickey'' / Dec 30, 1940 - Apr 26, 1941
*''Johnny Johnson'' /
riginal, Play, Play with music, Comedy/ ''German Priest'' and ''Orderly'' / Nov 19, 1936 - Jan 16, 1937
*''Bitter Oleander'' /
riginal, Play, Drama/ as ''Second Man'' / Feb 11, 1935 - Mar 1935
*''Follow Thru'' /
riginal, Musical, Comedy/ as ''Gentleman'' / Jan 9, 1929 - Dec 21, 1929
References
Bibliography
*Goudsouzian, A. (2004). ''Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon'', UNC Press,
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Paul
1913 births
1985 deaths
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male stage actors
Jewish Canadian male actors
Male actors from Toronto
20th-century Canadian male actors
Canadian expatriates in the United States