Milton Katselas
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Milton Katselas (born December 22, 1933) in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, is an American director and famed Hollywood acting teacher at The Beverly Hills Playhouse, who has taught such stars as Jenna Elfman, George Clooney, Alec Baldwin, Giovanni Ribisi, Tom Selleck, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ted Danson, Tony Danza, Jeffrey Tambor, Gene Reynolds, Tyne Daly, Mel Harris, Catherine Bell, Sofia Milos and many more.
[edit] Biography
Milton Katselas was born in Pittsburgh to Greek immigrant parents,[1] who had a tiny restaurant right outside the gates of a Westinghouse Electric plant. When Katselas was 14 years old, his father went into the movie-theater business, who ran a local theater company of Greek actors, and he himself would sing. After high school, Katselas set off for Pittsburgh's Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon) to study theater. On a visit to New York, he sneaked in to watch Lee Strasberg's acting class where he also saw renowned director Elia Kazan on the street and chased him down. "I talked to him in Greek, and he talked with me," Katselas recalls. "He told me, `When you finish college, come see me.'" Katselas did.[2] Following graduation in 1954, he began studying with Strasberg and serving as an apprentice to Kazan. After working with several other big-name directors - including Josh Logan, Joseph Anthony, and Sanford Meisner, Katselas struck out on his own, making his off-Broadway his reputation as a theater director debut in New York, on the original 1960 production of Edward Albee's The Zoo Story. He was nominated for a Tony Award for the Broadway production of Butterflies Are Free in 1969, and also directed the 1972 movie version starring Goldie Hawn, Edward Albert, and Eileen Heckart, who won an Academy Award for her role. His other credits include the Broadway shows Camino Real and The Rose Tattoo, local productions of The Seagull, Romeo and Juliet, and Streamers - all of which won him L.A. Drama Critics Circle awards for best direction.
Katselas has become a talented director, acting teacher, writer, painter and an industry leader, showcasing his talent as an acting teacher for over twenty years. He wrote a book titled Dreams Into Action which garnished international attention and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show discussing the book's success.
