John Houseman Biography

Fast Facts

• Founded Juilliard's drama department in the late '60s and served as the program director from 1968 until 1976
• Studied at Clifton College in the early 1920s
• Passed away in 1988 at 86-years-old after a long battle with cancer
• Initially began working in international grain trading, his father's profession, but turned to acting following the stock market crash of 1929
• Quote: "If God sent down word that I could do just one thing, I'm sure I would gravitate back to the theater․"
• Quote: "There is not a long list of regrets․ I have been so very lucky․ Things have fallen so consistently into my open mouth․ There is nothing I wish I had done․"
• No stranger to American theater productions, he would often collaborate with Orson Welles after first meeting him in the early 1930s
• Co-founded New York's Mercury Theatre company with Orson Welles in 1937
• After emigrating to the United States in 1925, he would eventually become a U․S․ citizen by 1943
• Following the outbreak of WWII, he would join the overseas radio division of the Office of War Information
• Stated he "became a director by pure accident" after meeting composer Virgil Thomson, who was in need of someone to help run his latest project, at a cocktail party