Lynn Stalmaster, the legendary casting director who has worked on almost 200 films, from “West Side Story” to “Harold and Maude” to “Tootsie”, has died. He was 93 years old.
Stalmaster died Friday morning in Los Angeles, confirmed Casting Society of America executive Laura Adler.
Stalmaster was a pioneer as an independent casting director who worked as a freelance. He was known for his ability to identify new talent and match actors for the perfect roles. He was also a champion for raising the status of casting directors in the industry. In 2016, he became the first casting professional to be honored with an Oscar by receiving a tribute to the Governors Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“A pioneer in our craft, Lynn was a pioneer with over half a century of world-class film and television credits. He was a friend and mentor to many of us, ”said the Co-Chairs of the Casting Society of America, Russel Boast and Rich Mento, in a statement. “Thank you, Lynn, for showing us the way.”
From the mid-1950s to the late 1990s, Stalmaster served as an influential collaborator with filmmakers such as Norman Jewison, Blake Edwards, Arthur Hiller, John Frankenheimer, Hal Ashby, John Cassavetes, Mike Nichols and Sydney Pollack.
Stalmaster credited his success and longevity in the industry to the empathy and understanding of the actors, having started his new start at UCLA as an actor in films like Sam Fuller’s “The Steel Helmet” (1951) and Nicholas Ray’s “Flying Leathernecks” (1951) opposite with John Wayne. He also participated in the 1952-55 TV drama “Big Town”.
“You know, I care a lot about the actors,” he said Variety in 2016. “Having sat across the table for four or five years, I wanted to treat the actors with dignity and respect, and make them come in and feel comfortable. It is hard [being an actor]. If I knew [an actor] I was having a bad day, I would always be sensitive to your needs. “
Stalmaster was born in Omaha, Nebraska, but his family moved to the Beverly Hills area when he was a child to help with his severe asthma, according to his Oscars.com biography.
While studying at Beverly Hills High School, he became active as a radio and theater artist. He served for a period in the US Army and returned to studying theater arts at UCLA. After working as an actor, he returned to UCLA to pursue his master’s degree and ended up working as a production assistant for TV producers Grosse-Krasne, which put him on the road to a casting career.
He took an innovative step by planting his flag as an independent casting director and started working on TV series like “Gunsmoke” and “Have Gun Will Travel”.
In 1956, director Robert Wise called on Stalmaster to work on “I Want to Live”, the story of a death row prisoner for which Susan Hayward won the Oscar for best actress. In 1968, Stalmaster became the first casting professional to receive a separate title card in a film, “The Thomas Crown Affair” from 1968, according to Oscars.org.
Stalmaster’s credits over the years of his prolific six-decade career include “Inheriting the Wind”, “Judgment at Nuremberg”, “The Thomas Crown Case”, “The Great Escape”, “In the Heat of the Night”, “The Graduated, ”“ They shoot horses, don’t they? ”,“ Liberation ”,“ Being there ”,“ Coming home ”,“ The right things ”.
Other TV credits include “Whirlybirds”, “My Favorite Martian”, “The Detectives”, “The Untouchables”, “Ben Casey”, “Hogan’s Heroes” and “The Rat Patrol”.
He received the Career Achievement Award from the Casting Society of America in 2003.