Lynn Stalmaster, the legendary casting director who worked on nearly 200 films ranging from “West Side Story” to “Harold and Maude” to “Tootsie”, has passed away. He was 93.
Stalmaster died Friday morning in Los Angeles, said Laura Adler, director of the Casting Society of America.
Stalmaster pioneered as an independent casting director working on a freelance basis. He was known for his skill at spotting new talent and matching 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 when he received a tribute from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Governors Award.
“As a pioneer of our trade, Lynn pioneered more than half a century of world-class film and television credits. He has been a friend and mentor to many of us, ”Casting Society of America co-chairs Russell Boast and Rich Mento said in a statement. “Thanks, Lynn, for showing us the way.”
From the mid-1950s to the late 1990s, Stalmaster worked 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 attributed his success and longevity in the industry to having empathy and understanding from actors after getting his start fresh out of UCLA as an actor in such films as Sam Fuller’s “The Steel Helmet” (1951) and Nicholas Ray’s “Flying Leathernecks “(1951) opposite John Wayne. He was also a regular on the 1952-55 television drama ‘Big Town’.
“You know, I care about actors so much,” he said Variety in 2016. “After four or five years on the other side of the desk, I wanted to treat actors with dignity and respect and let them come in and feel at ease. It is heavy [being an actor]If I knew [an actor] had a bad day, I would always be sensitive to their needs. “
Stalmaster was born in Omaha, Neb., But his family moved to Beverly Hills when he was a child to help with his severe asthma, according to his biography on Oscars.com.
While attending Beverly Hills High School, he became active as an artist in radio and theater. He served in the United States Army for a period and returned to study theater arts at UCLA. After working as an actor, he returned to UCLA for a master’s degree and ended up as a production assistant for TV producers Grosse-Krasne, which set him on the path to a casting career.
He took the innovative step of planting his flag as an independent casting director and began working on such TV series as “Gunsmoke” and “Have Gun Will Travel.”
In 1956, director Robert Wise hired Stalmaster to work on “I Want to Live,” the story of a death row inmate for which Susan Hayward won an Oscar for Best Actress. In 1968, Stalmaster became the first casting pro to receive a separate title card for a feature film, ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ from 1968, according to Oscars.org.
During his prolific six-decade career, Stalmaster earned, among others, ‘Inherit the Wind’, ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’, ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’, ‘The Great Escape’, ‘In the Heat of the Night’, ‘The Graduate,’ They’re shooting horses, aren’t they? ”,“ Deliverance ”,“ There are ”,“ 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.