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Lynn Stalmaster, the Oscar-winning casting director whose eye for talent helped launch the careers of John Travolta, Christopher Reeve, Richard Dreyfuss and many other actors, has passed away. He was 93 years old.
Stalmaster became the first person to receive an Oscar for casting when he accepted an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 2016. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had long resisted giving recognition particular to casting directors and Stalmaster was brought to tears.
“It’s not just an Oscar for me, but it’s recognition of the cast’s major contribution,” he said.
He started his career as an actor, even appearing with John Wayne in the 1951 film “Flying Leathernecks”, but wanted a backup plan. He was the apprentice of two television producers who made him their casting director.
Stalmaster was on the hunt for stars for shows like “Gunsmoke” and “Ben Casey” when director Robert Wise hired him to cast supporting actors in a 1958 film starring Susan Hayward titled “I Want to Live.” !
Stalmaster opened its independent casting office just after the reign of the contract-based studio system in Hollywood ended, giving actors and directors new freedom of choice in choosing their projects. Stalmaster’s mission is to get to know all the young artists in Los Angeles and New York, and has traveled the United States and Europe to find new talent.
Stalmaster has released over 200 films, including “The Graduate”, “Fiddler on the Roof”, “Harold and Maude”, “Tootsie”, “Deliverance”, “Being There”, “Judgment at Nuremberg” and “The Right Stuff” “. He also worked on a documentary on casting directors, “Casting By”, the title of which refers to how Stalmaster and his peers were credited in films, instead of being called “casting directors”.
“A trailblazer in our craft, Lynn was a trailblazer with over half a century of world-class film and television casting credits,” the Casting Society of America said in a statement. “Thanks, Lynn, for showing us the way.”
Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1927, Stalmaster said his father gave him the confidence to become an actor.
“Imagine my dad – he was on the Nebraska Supreme Court – fathers don’t want their sons to be actors,” he says. “But he said to me, ‘I want you to go to the Abbey Theater.'”
With his acting background, Stalmaster would often read in front of actors he hoped to cast to bring out their best performance at auditions.
“I could look them in the eye and act the scene,” he said in an interview in 2016. “And I’ve probably played more roles than any other actor in history – and women!”
He suggested Travolta for what became his breakout role: Vinnie Barbarino on the sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter”. Other actors who can thank Stalmaster for leading film roles include Dreyfuss, who had a line in 1967’s “The Graduate,” as well as Jon Voight, James Caan, Martin Landau, and Jeff Bridges.
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Former Associated Press editor Sandy Cohen compiled the biographical material for this obituary.
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