Susan Strasberg  

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Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (May 22, 1938 – January 21, 1999) was an American actress.

Biography

Personal life

Strasberg, a Jewish American, was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of theatre director and drama coach Lee Strasberg and former actress Paula Strasberg. Her brother, John Strasberg, is an acting coach. Strasberg died in 1999 from breast cancer. She had a daughter, Jennifer Robin Jones (born March 14 1966 in Los Angeles, by actor Christopher Jones) and joked in her autobiography "Bittersweet" that her daughter would be the "real Jennifer Jones" as the actress Jennifer Jones had taken it as a stage name.

Career

After a widely praised performance as a teenager in Picnic, Strasberg originated the title role in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank at the age of 18 and was nominated for a Tony Award. Her stature on the stage was symbolized when Julie Harris presented to her a handkerchief which Helen Hayes had used in portraying Victoria Regina and had presented to Harris to honor her performance in I Am a Camera. Strasberg also starred in the Italian holocaust film Kapò, which was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign film of 1960. She lived in Italy for several years and was delighted to be called "La Strasberg" in the Italian idiom.

Strasberg wrote two best-selling books: Bittersweet, an autobiography, in which she discussed her tumultuous relationships with actors Richard Burton and Christopher Jones, as well as her daughter's struggles with a serious heart defect, and Marilyn and Me: sisters, rivals, friends which recounted her relationship with her "surrogate sister" Marilyn Monroe who was a "member" of the Strasberg family for many years.

Filmography

• The Cobweb (1955)
• Picnic (1955)
• 1955 Motion Picture Theatre Celebration (1955) (short subject)
• Stage Struck (1958)
• Kapò (1959)
• Scream of Fear (1961)
• The Shortest Day (1962)
• Disorder (1962)
• Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962)
• The High Bright Sun (1964)
• The Trip (1967)
• Psych-Out (1968)
• The Name of the Game Is Kill (1968)
• Chubasco (1968)
• The Brotherhood (1968)
• Sweet Hunters (1969)
• The Sisters (1969)
• The Other Side of the Wind (1972) (unfinished)
• So Evil, My Sister (1974)
• The Legend of Hillbilly John (1974)
• The Stronger (1976) (short subject)
• Sammy Somebody (1976)
• Rollercoaster (1977)
• The Manitou (1978)
• In Praise of Older Women (1978)
• Acting: Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio (1981) (documentary)
• Bloody Birthday (1981)
• The Returning (1983)
• Sweet 16 (1983)
• The Delta Force (1986)
• Remembering Marilyn (1987) (documentary)
• Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend (1987) (documentary)
• The Runnin' Kind (1989)
• Prime Suspect (1989)
• Schweitzer (1990)
• The Cherry Orchard (1992)