George Bartenieff Explained

George Bartenieff
Birth Name:George Michael Bartenieff
Birth Date:24 January 1933
Birth Place:Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia, Germany
Death Place:New York City, U.S.
Occupation:Stage and film actor
Citizenship:American
Years Active:1964–2022
Spouse:Karen Malpede

George Michael Bartenieff (January 24, 1933 – July 30, 2022) was a German-born American stage and film actor. He was noted both for his character roles in commercial and non-commercial films and on television, and for his work in the avant-garde theatre and performance world of downtown Manhattan, New York City in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a co-founder of the Theatre for the New City, and of the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade.

Bartenieff appeared in nine shows on Broadway, in 19 productions Off-Broadway, in 18 films, and in 21 television episodes for 14 different programs.[1] He was the recipient of two Obie Awards and a Drama Desk Award.

Bartenieff also taught at the City University of New York, and in a high school in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Life and career

Bartenieff was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of dancer parents, Irmgard (Prim) and Michael Bartenieff. As his father was Jewish, his parents left for the U.S. with the rise of the Nazis, settling in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Bartenieff and his brother Igor lived with his mother's relatives in the Bavarian mountains, before joining their parents in the U.S. He made his stage debut at the age of 14 in the 1947 Broadway theatre production The Whole World Over, directed by Harold Clurman.[2] After appearing in a few shows on Broadway, Bartenieff went to London for training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he "fell in love" with the works of Shakespeare. His intention at the time was to be a classical actor, and his hero was Laurence Olivier.

When Bartenieff returned to the United States, he worked with Andre Gregory's Theatre for the Living Arts in Philadelphia. For a number of years in the 1960s, Bartenieff worked with Gregory in Philadelphia, on Broadway, for Joe Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, and in "cross-disciplinary" showcases at the Judson Poets Theatre at the Judson Church in Greenwich Village.

Bartenieff also began to do "street theatre" at this time. One production, with writer/carpenter/landscape artist Bib Nichols, protested against the Lower Manhattan Expressway which Robert Moses wanted to build across the island. Their production played in the street in the neighborhoods which would be affected by the highway, Little Italy and the West Village; the set was constructed in such a way that if a car came by, it would break apart to allow the vehicle to proceed.

In 1970, feeling that the Judson Poets Theatre had passed its peak, four artists involved in it – Bartenieff, his wife at the time, dancer Crystal Field, director Larry Kornfield, and Theo Barnes – wanted to start their own "cross-disciplinary theater which emphasized poetic language", according to Bartenieff. The Westbeth Artists Community had just started at the time, and a large space appropriate for performance became available in the complex. This was the beginning of Theatre for the New City, which still exists, albeit in other quarters. TNC not only did their own work, they invited other companies, such as Mabou Mines, the Talking Band, and Richard Foreman's company, to perform there. They also mounted street theatre productions, with the purpose of making "the theater part of the community, and the community part of the theater."

Bartenieff stayed with Theatre for the New City for 24 years – performing, directing or producing more than 900 new American plays[3] – but left when he began to feel he was spending more time on the financial problems of the company than he was on his craft. "I had to return," said Bartenieff, "to my own work, from being the Cecil B. DeMille of off-off-Broadway to the idea that small is more." To this end, he collaborated with his wife, playwright and director Karen Malpede, to create a one-man show, I Will Bear Witness, an adaptation of the memoirs of Victor Klemperer, which documented daily life as a Jewish professor in Nazi Germany. This production was the beginning of Bartenieff and Malpede's Theater Three Collaborative, which as of 2012 was 17 years old.

Bartenieff died in New York City on July 30, 2022, at the age of 89.[4]

Stage productions

Broadway

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Off-Broadway

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Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1964The BrigPrisoner
1965The Double Barreled Detective Story Undetermined role
1966Zero in the UniverseSteinmetz
1970Hercules in New YorkNitro
1972The Hot RockMuseum Guard #2
1977Big ThumbsUndetermined role
1981Strong MedicineUndetermined role
1986Dead End KidsUndetermined role
1988The Laser ManHaven
1989Undetermined role
See No Evil, Hear No EvilHuddelston
CookieAndy O'Brien
1993Joey BreakerDean Milford
1996On Seventh AvenueMoe BickTV film
1997AnimaSam
2009Julie & JuliaChef Max Bugnard
2012The DictatorRomanian Accountant
2018A Scientist's Guide to Living and DyingWatts

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1971Great PerformancesEpisode: "Paradise Lost"
1987At Mother's RequestMr. ColesMini-series
Crime StoryDr. Friedrich GantmanEpisode: "Atomic Fallout"
1994Law & OrderJeromeEpisode: "Mayhem"
1995Judge Shawn MacNamara3 episodes
New York UndercoverMr. LefertsEpisode: "Student Affairs"
1998From the Earth to the MoonHugh DrydenEpisode: "Can We Do This?"
1999Law & OrderPresiding JudgeEpisode: "Gunshow"
2002John NemetzEpisode: "Maledictus"
2003American MastersDanforthEpisode: "None Without Sin"
2004Law & OrderStefan AndersEpisode: "Evil Breeds"
Rescue MeMelEpisode: "Leaving"
2006ConvictionJudge Nelson BeckmanEpisode: "Indiscretion"
2007American MastersDr. AdlerEpisode: "Novel Reflections: The American Dream"
200930 RockDouglas TempletonEpisode: "Flu Shot"
2011Curb Your EnthusiasmJudge HornEpisode: "Car Periscope"
2013ElementaryJurgiEpisode: "Possibility Two"
Zero HourOld Man KipskeEpisode: "Chain"
2016The BlacklistMan on the BeachEpisode: "Cape May"
2019Ray DonovanGerald MoskovitzEpisode: "The Transfer Agent"

Awards and honors

In 1977, Theatre for the New City, of which Bartenieff was then co-director, won a Special Citation Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.[5] Personally, Bartenieff won a 2001 Obie for his performance in his one-act play, I Will Bear Witness[6] and a 2006 Drama Desk Award for his performance in Stuff Happens.[7]

References

Notes

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=people&first=George&last=Bartenieff&middle= George Bartenieff
  2. https://www.nyfa.org/level4.asp?id=230&fid=1&sid=51&tid=196 "The Long Run: A Performer's Life"
  3. Fitch, Clyde. "5 Questions I’ve Never Been Asked: George Bartenieff" The Clyde Fitch Report (October 7, 2012)
  4. News: George Bartenieff, Fixture of Downtown Theater, Dies at 89 . August 3, 2022 . The New York Times. August 3, 2022 . Genzlinger . Neil .
  5. Web site: "1977 Obie Award Winners" . January 18, 2014 . February 8, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140208010632/http://www.villagevoice.com/obies/index/1977/ . dead .
  6. Web site: "2001 Obie Award Winners" . January 18, 2014 . June 9, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150609044113/http://www.villagevoice.com/obies/index/2001/ . dead .
  7. http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=31151 "Awards"