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.
Stalmaster became the first person to receive an Academy Award for casting when he received an honorary Oscar for his entire life in 2016. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had long resisted giving special recognition to casting directors, and Stalmaster was brought to tears.
“Not only is it an Oscar for me, but it is also a recognition of the significant contribution that casting makes,” he said.
He started his career as an actor and even starred with John Wayne in the 1951 movie “Flying Leathernecks,” but he wanted a backup plan. He was an apprentice to a few TV producers who made him their casting director.
Stalmaster was looking for stars for shows like ‘Gunsmoke’ and ‘Ben Casey’ when director Robert Wise tapped him to cast supporting actors in a 1958 film starring Susan Hayward titled ‘I Want to Live!’
Stalmaster opened his independent casting agency just as the reign of Hollywood’s contract-based studio system ended, giving actors and directors new freedom of choice in choosing their projects. Stalmaster made it his business to get to know every young artist in Los Angeles and New York and traveled across the US and Europe to find new talent.
Stalmaster has cast more than 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 about casting directors, ‘Casting By’, the title of which refers to how Stalmaster and his colleagues were called in movies, rather than being called ‘casting directors’.
“Lynn pioneered our craft and pioneered more than half a century of world-class film and television 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 if my father – he was on the Supreme Court in Nebraska – dads don’t want their sons to be actors,” he said. “But he said to me, ‘I want you to go to the Abbey Theater.’ ”
With his acting background, Stalmaster often read to the actors he hoped to cast to bring out their best performance during auditions.
“I could look into their eyes and play the scene,” he said in a 2016 interview. “And I’ve probably played more roles than any other actor in history – and women!”
He introduced Travolta for what would become his breakout role: Vinnie Barbarino on the sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter.” Other actors who can thank Stalmaster for early film roles include Dreyfuss, who had one line in 1967’s ‘The Graduate’, as well as Jon Voight, James Caan, Martin Landau and Jeff Bridges.
Former Associated Press writer Sandy Cohen compiled biographical material for this obituary.