Milton Katselas, the prominent acting coach and director passed away suddenly a few short weeks ago.
Katselas founded the Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school in 1978. His latest top selling book, ACTING CLASS- TAKE A SEAT was released shortly before his passing.
Honoring the life of this amazing and talented man at the Actors Playhouse was Neil Simon, Rich Kind, Tovah Feldshuh, Gary Grossman, Robin Strasser, Penny Fuller, Miltons Family, Producers and Friends. The sentiments about Milton were moving, as each spoke of how he helped their careers blossom and how he changed lives. His legacy will continue on through the thousands of people and students he touched.
Included in the long list of actors he taught were Gene Hackman, Anne Archer, Kate Hudson, Kim Cattrall, Chris Noth, Tyne Daly, Jenna Elfman, Robert Urich, Patrick Swayze, Tom Selleck and Tony Danza, Chris Noth, Jorge Garcia and many more.
He was only 24 when he started to teach acting in New York after observing a class that failed to impress him and a friend convinced him he could do better.
'When I teach, my job is to bring out whatever is possible,' Katselas said in 1998 in Buzz magazine. 'It's not my job to push the ejector seat on somebody's dreams.'
Milton George Katselas was born Feb. 22, 1933, in Pittsburgh to Greek immigrant parents. His family ran a small restaurant near a local electric plant, whose workers kept its 14 stools filled.
Eventually, his father 'bought a movie house with a pool hall under it,' Katselas told The Times in 1985. 'That's where I started to do my studies in human psychology -- I did some hustling there.'
In Pittsburgh, Katselas studied theater at what is now Carnegie Mellon University.
After graduating in the 1950s, he went to New York, 'scared stiff' about breaking into theater, he later said, and studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.
He will be missed!
For information on his book contact: Karen Ammond- kbcmedia@att.net
