.............Alumni Quotes
Many years after his death, Sandy Meisner is still a legend among the elite of the American Stage and in Hollywood. He was called by PBS Great Masters Series ‘Theatre’s best-kept secret.’ The following quotes from several of Sandy’s alumni only begin to capture the brilliance of this remarkable man. |
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“I envy all of you who may be discovering Sandy for the first time.” |
… Sydney Pollack |
| “I owe everything I am, everything I’ve achieved as an actor to Sanford Meisner. There isn’t a day that passed where I don’t think of Sandy and what he’s meant to my career … He changed my life forever.” |
… Robert Duvall |
| “Sandy gave the word ‘teacher’ a whole new meaning for me … He was the single greatest influence in my creative life.” |
… Mary Steenburgen |
| “Sandy wasn’t teaching for the money or the reputation of it. He was really trying to bring to his students what he believed deeply to be the highest of pursuits so his students could be part of this movement – the joy of it, the greatness of it, the importance of it really. So that was a great, great gift he gave us all – a respect for the craft of acting.” |
… Jon Voight |
| “I would have been nothing if it weren’t for Sandy. He literally gave me my career as an actor.” |
… Steve McQueen |
| “I studied with Strasburg, Clurman, Stella, Bobby Lewis – none of them taught like Sandy. Sandy was the master.” |
… Mark Rydell |
| “Sandy was the first, true genius I and most of us had ever met in our lives. And we all knew we were in the presence of genius.” |
… David Mamet |
“You knew you were in the presence of genius and the truth of that statement is in the quality of work Sandy’s students have produced over the years.” |
… John Cassavettes |
| “The thing I’ve always admired about Sandy - unlike so many acting teachers I’ve experienced over the years - he was never above the information, more important than the information. Sandy was a purest. A true artist with complete artistic devotion to his art and his craft.” |
… Arthur Miller |
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| “Sandy was a most sensitive, urbane, gentle, fine man – a man of unusual and delicate sensibilities. And always an artist. He represented something very rare these days - artistic integrity. We don’t have it much anymore. Artistic devotion. He had standards and a respect for the craft of acting and that’s obvious anytime you hear his students talk about him.” |
… Elia Kazan |