Alan Mandell, Esteemed Actor and Interpreter of Samuel Beckett's Plays, Dies at 98
Alan Mandell, an acclaimed classical actor and one of the foremost interpreters of playwright Samuel Beckett's work, died Tuesday (October 13) at his home in Westwood, Los Angeles, according to a Hollywood Reporter breaking-news alert on October 15 and an obituary in the Los Angeles Times. He was 98. Representatives for Mandell's family confirmed his death to the Times.
Born Albert Mandell in Toronto on December 27, 1927, Mandell began his theater career in the early 1950s as artistic director of Theatre '49 in Toronto. In 1954, while visiting his sister, he joined the San Francisco Actor's Workshop, where his work with co-founders Jules Irving and Herbert Blau helped transform the group into one of the first regional theater companies in the United States. "My one-week vacation turned into a 12-year stay," he told the Times in 1992.
His lifelong association with Beckett began in 1957, when his portrayal of Lucky in a production of "Waiting for Godot" at San Quentin Prison inspired the creation of the San Quentin Drama Workshop with inmate Rick Cluchey — the first extended prison theater program in the U.S. launched by prisoners, which operated from 1958 through 1965 and which Mandell directed for six years. He later performed under Beckett's own direction, playing Lucky in "Waiting for Godot" and Nagg in "Endgame," toured Europe with the original productions, and recreated Beckett's direction for a filmed "Endgame." He described Beckett's rehearsal method as conducting rather than directing: "It was about rhythm. It was about language. The pauses were like musical beats."
Mandell later served as company manager of the Repertory Theatre at Lincoln Center under Irving and Blau, and in Los Angeles he was a consulting director and actor at the Los Angeles Actors' Theatre, which became the Los Angeles Theatre Center. He performed onstage late into his life: at the Mark Taper Forum he played Estragon opposite Barry McGovern in "Waiting for Godot" in 2012 and appeared in Arthur Miller's "The Price" in 2015; in 2016, at 88, he starred in and directed "Endgame," a production the Times' theater critic Charles McNulty called "the best rendering of the play I have encountered." In 2007, at 80, he played an aging Nuremberg judge in the two-character play "Trying."
On screen, Mandell's credits include "Illegally Yours" (1988), "Midnight Witness" (1993), "Shortbus" (2006), the Coen brothers' "A Serious Man" (2009), in which he played Rabbi Marshak, and "Velvet Buzzsaw" (2019). His television appearances included "Great Performances," "Cannon," "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "Grey's Anatomy," the last of which was his final TV appearance.
Mandell was married to Elizabeth Heller until her death in 1997. He is survived by his two children and three grandchildren.
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Photo: 艾伦·曼德尔出席音乐剧《艾蜜莉的异想世界》（Amélie）首演夜，2016年12月16日于洛杉矶阿罕松剧院。Ryan Miller／Capture Imaging 摄，来源：BroadwayWorld，图片版权归原作者所有
