Clifford Odets Video | Clips from Films Directed and Interviews

Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 18, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester. Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets (born Gorodetsky) and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high school to pursue acting. In 1931, he became a founding member of the Group Theatre, a highly influential theatre company in the U.S. that utilized a new acting technique, closely associated with the thinking of the Russian master Constantin Stanislavski. Odets... MORE

Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 18, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester. Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets (born Gorodetsky) and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high school to pursue acting. In 1931, he became a founding member of the Group Theatre, a highly influential theatre company in the U.S. that utilized a new acting technique, closely associated with the thinking of the Russian master Constantin Stanislavski. Odets eventually became The Group's primary playwright. Odets pursued acting with great passion. He worked consistently at The Theatre Guild, where he befriended the casting director, Cheryl Crawford. It was Crawford who suggested that Harold Clurman meet and invite Odets to a meeting to discuss the new theatre that they were developing with Lee Strasberg. Odets was mesmerized by Clurman's talks, and became the last actor chosen for The Group's first summer of rehearsals in June, 1931. From the start, Odets was relegated to small roles and being an understudy. With the extra time on his hands and at LESS