Uta Hagen: Practitioner Study

Born 12th of June 1919, Uta Thyra Hagen was a German-American actress and prolific practitioner
whose debut in 1962 cemented her as a pioneer of the performing Arts, even after her blacklisting in
Hollywood, allowing her to become a candidate for the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981 in
addition to two tony awards for Best Actress in a Play and a special Tony Award for lifetime
achievement in 1999.

Early Life:

Uta Hagen was born in Göttingen Germany to an Opera Singing mother and Art Historian father
(Oskar Hagen had started the Handel Opera festival in Gottingen). Six years later, Hagen and her
family emigrated to Madison Wisconsin, USA, where she would live for sixteen years. Uta Hagen had
dreamt of being an actress her entire life, studying at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and
the University of Wisconsin, when she obtained her first official role as Sorrel in ‘Hay Fever’ and
reflected upon this experience, divulging: “I started to believe, perhaps I was an actress.”

A Bounti ful Career:

Uta received her first professional role in 1937, at only eighteen, as Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’, leading to
her next role as Nina in her first Broadway production of pioneering practitioner, Anton Chekhov’s,
‘Seagull’. Hagen then went on to play Desdemona from ‘Othello’ in the longest running
Shakespearian production ever in the history of Broadway and Blanche in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
before marrying Herbert Berghof – owner of Herbert Berghof Studio- who she played beside
throughout the 50’s and 60’s in plays such as ‘The Lady’s Not for Burning’ and ‘The Affairs of Anatol’
as well as debuting the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premier of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Wolf?’ for which she earned her second Tony Award.

In addition to her many stage appearances, Uta Hagen was loved by silver screen appearing in
multiple TV shows including: ‘The Twilight Zone’ , ‘Kraft 90’, ‘The Long Hot Summer’, ‘Lou Grant’ and
‘One Life To Live’ being nominated for two Daytime Emmy Award Nominations. In the latter half of
her on screen appearances, Hagen starred in 2 films, 1978’s ‘The Boys from Brazil’ – landing her and
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and 1990’s ‘Reversal of Fortune’.

An Advocate:

As well as being a pioneer in the entertainment field, prolific actress and accomplished teacher,
Hagen was a well known advocate for the power of theatre and used it to apply for social change.
Hagen had always been an uncompromising human rights activist, who appealed for more socialism
within the film and theatre industry as well as throughout the world as a whole, this was seen as
threatening during the McCarthy Era of Hollywood – A period of time during the 40’s and 50’s in
America that Senator McCarthy and others pushed anti-communist propaganda to stoke the ‘Red
Scare’ – Essentially, Hagen had been blacklisted from Hollywood due to her care for the wider
population.
“when personal beliefs and convictions were challenged, when being left of center was
considered a crime, when people of note were made the dupes of congressional
committees in order to intimidate lesser-known citizens into submission…it was the
only time in my life when I was made fearful or felt that I had lost control over my own
destiny. And for that, I have the right to remain outraged!”

- Uta Hagen, ‘A Challenge for the Actor’, 1991

Denied Opportunities in Hollywood, Hagen cemented herself in the roots of New York Theatre
instead, where she was both a prolific actor and teacher – her pedagogy (methods of teaching a
particularly abstract or theoretical subject) and contributions to theatre still live on to inspire actors
all over the world. Uta was highly sought after and quickly adopted the role of Master Teacher at HB
Studios with her husband, during her time there, releasing best-selling texts such as ‘Respect for
Acting’ and the iconic ‘ A Challenge for the Actor’. Notable pupils of Hagen include:

- Whoopie Goldberg
- Katie Finneran
- Liza Minnelli
- Jack Lemmon
- F. Murray Abraham
- Rita Gardener
- Steve McQueen
- Marlo Thomas