- Born
- Died
- Birth nameUta Thyra Hagen
- Height1.70 m
- Noted stage actress who has also done limited work in TV and film. Born in Germany and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Her Broadway debut was in "The Seagull" in 1938. She won her first Tony (and other awards) in 1950 for Clifford Odets "The Country Girl". Her second Tony was for the role of Martha in Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".
She later became a highly influential acting teacher at New York's HB Studio (founded by Herbert Berghof in 1945) and authored best-selling acting texts, Respect for Acting, with Haskel Frankel, and A Challenge for the Actor. Her most substantial contributions to theater pedagogy were a series of "object exercises" that built on the work of Konstantin Stanislavski and Yevgeni Vakhtangov.
She was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981. She twice won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1999.- IMDb mini biography by: Herman Seifer <alagain@aol.com>
- SpousesHerbert Berghof(January 25, 1957 - November 5, 1990) (his death)José Ferrer(December 8, 1938 - June 14, 1948) (divorced, 1 child)
- Reprised her signature role of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the age of 80 to wonderful reviews. A year later, she gave her last performance on stage at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood, California on August 21, 2001, playing opposite David Hyde Pierce in Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.
- She and then-husband José Ferrer co-starred with Paul Robeson in Othello in 1943-1944. Allegations that their association with the left-wing Robeson cast them under suspicion of having Communist ties during the McCarthy era, are completely false. Rumor was she was never able to forge a film career until the 70s due to the Robeson association, however, although opportunity presented itself, she had no film career before the McCarthy era, and Ferrer's career never suffered from the friendship with Robeson. She was quite happy with her stage appearances and teaching.
- Made an auspicious film debut as the grandmother in Tom Tryon's eerie best-seller L'autre (1972) at the age of 53.
- With Haskel Frankel, Uta wrote "Respect for Acting", considered one of the most significant book on acting. It remains in print and a consistent seller.
- One child with José Ferrer, Leticia Thyra Ferrer, born on October 15, 1940 in New York. In Uta Hagen's autobiography "Sources: A Memoir," her daughter's first name "Leticia" stood for happiness, and her second name "Thyra" is from the name of Uta's mother.
- Nobody ever learns how [to act]. The search for human behavior is infinite. You'll never understand it all. I think that's wonderful.
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