Any actors ever study with one of the legendary acting teachers (Uta, Stella, Strasberg, Meisner)?

One of my best friends studied with Meisner for two years. Said he was an insufferable son of a bitch.

No actors ever studied with one of the legendary acting teachers.

What are you talking about, r2?

I know several who studied with Uta Hagen and a couple with Stella Adler.

I went to HB Studio my freshman year of college on a whim. Within a few months, Uta said I was barking up the wrong tree and asked Frances Grille to meet me, at Click. That helped put me through college! My first job was in private banking. After a few months my boss told me I was barking up the wrong tree and called his friend at the new Musée d'Orsay, where I found my place for a few years. Seasoned pros used to be kind and helpful to young people. Is it still true?

Didn’t Marilyn Monroe study with Strasberg?

Yes r6. In that movie My Week with Marilyn they show Starsberg's wife accompanying her to London and trying to get her through the film.

oops Grill

What was Click?

Click the modeling agency?

I think Mark Ruffalo studied with Stella Adler.

Many actors have studied with all of those people.

Have you always been that directionless and whimsical, r5?

Stella must have been scary. I saw a talk with Betty Buckley and she said she just audited the class. She was too scared of Stella to get up and work in front of her., She said she was sort of abusive to students. (and you must be scary if Betty Lynn is afraid of you!)

I meant actors on DL not actors in general.

Obviously actors studied with them.

I think OP is hoping for dirt on the teachers.

Meisner was abusive to the students as well, according to my friend.

r14, Hagen could easily have taught some the eldergays on DL.

Lots of interviews on youtube of Holland Taylor talking about her studies with Stella.

Stella Adler taught until she was half dead.

All that Method/Meisner crap seems so outdated and somewhat laughable to me now. Those actors espousing it were good already and likely added a layer of "studied dullness" to their work studying this gibberish.

I used to think I had to be a heart-lung transplant surgeon to be a decent actor, and I NEVER worked! One day I sort of saw through it and did lots of improv and sketch stuff, and never worried about pleasing that voice again. What happened? I work all the time, of course!

Matthew Modine talks about Stella a lot. Amanda Peet and Sarah Paulson (I think) talk a lot about Uta.

Uta Hagen spent a summer in Collected Stories at the Stratford festival. In her spare time, she would give free acting lessons to members of the festival acting company who asked.

A lot of the older actors at the Actors Studio are disciples of Strasberg. Burstyn, Pacino etc