
John Houseman
Highest Rated: 100% Citizen Kane (1941)
Lowest Rated: 14% Wholly Moses! (1980)
Birthday: Sep 22, 1902
Birthplace: Bucharest, Romania
Widely regarded as one of the most respected innovators of the American stage, John Houseman also enjoyed tremendous success as a producer, screenwriter and, perhaps most remarkable of all, as a character actor in a prolific later career, begun at the age of 70. Forced out of his lucrative international grain business by the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Houseman found a creative outlet alongside wunderkind Orson Welles at the Federal Theater Project. Frequently controversial productions produced and directed by Houseman and Welles included the 1935 "voodoo" version of "Macbeth" and the historic labor union musical "The Cradle Will Rock" in 1936. After forming the Mercury Theater Company - responsible for the infamous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast in 1938 - with Welles, he followed the young auteur to Hollywood, where he made significant contributions to "Citizen Kane" (1941). A falling out over "Kane" brought an end to Houseman's relationship with the volatile Welles, although a successful career as a film producer kept him in the industry for more than 30 years. Then, just as he was about to retire, the 70-year-old Houseman became one of the most sought-after supporting actors in the years following his Academy Award-winning turn as a crusty, yet conscientious law professor in "The Paper Chase" (1973). Over the next 15 years, he would be seen in scores of feature films, television miniseries and commercial campaigns. In a variety of professional roles, Houseman made immeasurable contributions to the mediums of stage, film and television.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
60% | 38% | Bright Lights, Big City | Mr. Vogel (Character) | $15.7M | 1988 |
71% | 71% | Scrooged | Himself (Character) | $58.2M | 1988 |
64% | 75% | Another Woman | Marion's Father (Character) | $499.5K | 1988 |
35% | 43% | Ghost Story | Sears James (Character) | - | 1981 |
14% | 39% | Wholly Moses! | The Archangel (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet | 38% | The Babysitter | Dr. Lindquist (Character) | - | 1980 |
75% | 64% | The Fog | Mr. Machen (Character) | $69.5K | 1980 |
No Score Yet | 56% | Gideon's Trumpet |
Chief Justice/ Executive Producer |
- | 1980 |
84% | 69% | My Bodyguard | Dobbs (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet | 29% | Bells | Stanley Markowitz (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet | 40% | A Christmas Without Snow | Ephraim Adams (Character) | - | 1980 |
50% | No Score Yet | Old Boyfriends | Doctor Hoffman (Character) | - | 1979 |
47% | 58% | The Cheap Detective | Jasper Blubber (Character) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hazard's People | John Hazard (Character) | - | 1976 |
44% | 39% | St. Ives | Abner Procane (Character) | - | 1976 |
66% | 61% | Rollerball | Bartholomew (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Beyond the Horizon | Dr. Fawcett (Character) | - | 1975 |
87% | 83% | Three Days of the Condor | Mr. Wabash (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fear on Trial | Mike Collins (Character) | - | 1975 |
83% | 72% | The Paper Chase | Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (Character) | - | 1973 |
64% | 77% | This Property Is Condemned | Producer | - | 1966 |
No Score Yet | 40% | In the Cool of the Day | Producer | - | 1963 |
89% | 65% | Two Weeks in Another Town | Producer | - | 1962 |
40% | 51% | All Fall Down | Producer | - | 1962 |
100% | 81% | Lust for Life | Producer | - | 1956 |
71% | 56% | The Cobweb | Producer | - | 1955 |
69% | 70% | Moonfleet | Producer | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet | 44% | Her Twelve Men | Producer | - | 1954 |
100% | 73% | Executive Suite | Producer | - | 1954 |
95% | 81% | Julius Caesar | Producer | - | 1953 |
79% | 86% | The Bad and the Beautiful | Producer | - | 1952 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Holiday for Sinners | Producer | - | 1952 |
94% | 79% | On Dangerous Ground | Producer | - | 1951 |
100% | 86% | Letter From an Unknown Woman | Producer | - | 1948 |
95% | 81% | They Live by Night | Producer | - | 1948 |
100% | 71% | The Blue Dahlia | Producer | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Unseen | Producer | - | 1945 |
100% | 83% | Jane Eyre | Screenwriter | - | 1944 |
100% | 90% | Citizen Kane | Writer | $977.3K | 1941 |
No Score Yet | 64% | Too Much Johnson | Producer | - | 1938 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Gore Vidal's Lincoln | Unknown (Character) | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 227 | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Paper Chase | Professor Charles W. Kingsfield, Jr. (Character) | 1983-1986 1978-1979 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Associates | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The French Atlantic Affair | Unknown (Character) | 1979 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Aspen | Unknown (Character) | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bionic Woman | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1976 |
QUOTES FROM John Houseman CHARACTERS
Kingsfield says: Nobody inhibits you from expressing yourself.
Kingsfield says: You come in here with a skull full of mush... and you leave thinking like a lawyer.
Kingsfield says: You teach yourselves the law... but I train your mind.
Kingsfield says: Through this method of questioning, answering... questioning, answering... we seek to develop in you the ability to analyze... that vast complex of facts that constitute... the relationships of members within a given society.