24
Sep
To young and struggling actors hopeful to be taken seriously in the world of American theater, John Houseman was as much a god as an instructor in the 1970s. Before he was 40, Houseman helped mount productions in the Federal Theatre Project opposite Orson Welles, co-founded the Mercury Theatre, and even contributed to the screenplay of Citizen Kane. He also won an Oscar for The Paper Chase (1973), appeared in Seven Days in May (1964), and wrote and produced plays on Broadway. So when he told Christopher Reeve, “Mr. Reeve, it’s very important you become a serious classical actor,” the…