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45-852: The Magic Theatre originated in 1967 when John Lion, a student of Jan Kott at the University of California , directed a production of Eugène Ionesco 's The Lesson at the Steppenwolf Bar in Berkeley. The theatre's name came from a crucial location in Hermann Hesse 's 1927 novel Steppenwolf : "Anarchist Evening at the Magic Theatre, For Madmen Only, Price of Admission Your Mind". The Magic's first real success came with plays written by renowned Beat poet Michael McClure , who sustained an eleven-year residency. The theatre reached

90-645: A Tony Award nomination in the Best Actor in a Play category for his role in George Furth 's Precious Sons . He also won the Theatre World Award and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for his performance. Harris then portrayed William Walker , a 19th-century American who appointed himself President of Nicaragua , in Walker (1987). That same year, he played Harry Nash in

135-666: A Drama Series . Harris was born at Englewood Hospital in Englewood, New Jersey , and grew up in the New York City suburb of Tenafly, New Jersey , the son of Margaret ( née Sholl), a travel agent , and Robert L. "Bob" Harris (1922–2014), who sang with the Fred Waring chorus and worked at the bookstore of the Art Institute of Chicago . Ed has an older brother, Robert and a younger brother, Paul. Ed grew up in

180-706: A Jewish family, Kott was baptized into the Catholic Church at the age of five. He became a communist in the 1930s, and took part in the defense of Warsaw. In June 1939 he married Lidia Steinhaus, the daughter of the mathematician and educator Hugo Steinhaus . In September 1939, Kott fought in the Polish army in its futile campaign against the German invasion and then, after a period in Lvov, returned to Nazi-occupied Warsaw. After World War II he became known initially as

225-434: A middle-class Presbyterian family. His parents were from Oklahoma. He graduated from Tenafly High School in 1969, where he had played on the football team and served as the team's captain in his senior year. A star athlete in high school, Ed Harris played varsity football at Columbia University and was a teammate of future United States Attorney General Eric Holder . At Columbia, where he said he succumbed to

270-567: A result, he was stripped of his professorship at Warsaw University. A poet, translator, and literary critic, he became one of the more prolific essayists of the Polish school in America. He died in Santa Monica, California after a heart attack in 2001. As a theatrical reviewer, Kott received praise for his readings of the classics, and above all of Shakespeare . In his influential volume Shakespeare, Our Contemporary (1964), he interpreted

315-597: A set of plays by Tarell Alvin McCraney . The Magic performed "The Brothers Size", which was directed by Octavio Solis and starred Tobie Windham , Joshua Elijah Reese, and Alex Ubokudom, with a set design by James Faerron . Among the other plays at the Magic in 2010 two were listed in the San Francisco Chronicle's Top Ten: Luis Alfaro's Oedipus el Rey and Liz Duffy Adams' Or. In April 2021, Sean San José

360-601: A similar approach to his reading of Greek tragedy in The Eating of the Gods . Reportedly, Peter Brook 's film King Lear and Roman Polanski 's Macbeth (both made in 1971) were influenced by Kott's view of Shakespearean high tragedy in relation to the 20th-century "nightmare of history". Another Kott collection of essays, The Memory of the Body: Essays on Theatre and Death , extended his influence beyond theater in

405-672: A turning point when company members wanted to restructure it as a collective. Lion responded by moving the theatre across the bay to San Francisco, where it resided in a series of low-rent venues including another bar, the Rose and Thistle. In 1976 Lion learned of plans to convert a historic military base into an arts center with a view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. The idea was to change "swords into plowshares." The Magic became one of Fort Mason's first resident non-profit companies. Sam Shepard began his long association with

450-701: Is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in Apollo 13 (1995), The Truman Show (1998), Pollock (2000), and The Hours (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award nominations. Harris has appeared in numerous leading and supporting roles, including in Creepshow (1982), The Right Stuff (1983), The Abyss (1989), State of Grace (1990), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), The Firm (1993), Needful Things (1993), Nixon (1995), The Rock (1996), Stepmom (1998), The Truman Show (1998), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Enemy at

495-603: The California Institute of the Arts , where he spent two years and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1975. Harris began his career on the stage. In 1976, he played an FBI agent in the world premiere of Thomas Rickman 's play Baalam at the Pasadena Repertory Theatre located at the historic The Hotel Carver . He followed that at the Pasadena Repertory Theatre in 1976 playing Lot in

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540-559: The Hollywood Walk of Fame , located at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard , for his work in motion pictures. Harris received an honorary degree from Muhlenberg College on May 17, 2015. New York magazine once described Harris as "the thinking woman's sex symbol". Harris has received numerous accolades including two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globe Awards . He has also received nominations for four Academy Awards , two BAFTA Awards , three Primetime Emmy Awards and

585-656: The Robert Benton directed drama film Places in the Heart ; during production of this film, Harris met and married his wife Amy Madigan . Also in 1984 he co-starred along with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell in the Jonathan Demme directed World War II biopic Swing Shift and in 1985 played abusive husband Charlie Dick to Jessica Lange 's Patsy Cline in the HBO film Sweet Dreams . In 1986, he received

630-627: The communist party in 1957. In 1964 he was one of the signatories of the so-called Letter of 34 to Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz regarding freedom of culture. Kott traveled to the United States in 1965 on a scholarship from the Ford Foundation. He lectured at Yale and Berkeley , but spent the years 1969 to 1983 teaching at Stony Brook University until he retired. The Polish authorities refused to extend his passport after three years, at which point he decided to defect. As

675-503: The editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Kuźnica and as Poland's leading theorist of Socialist realism . In 1949, as the communist authorities tightened their control over all aspects of life, Kott obtained a position as a professor in Wrocław and moved away from political life. He praised Joseph Stalin, but mostly concentrated on theater. In 1951, during the darkest period of Soviet terror, Kott published an ideological manifesto about

720-1112: The lead as motorcycler William "Billy" Davis, (a role modeled after King Arthur ), in Knightriders , directed by George A. Romero . The following year, he had a small role as Hank Blaine in Creepshow , also directed by Romero. From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, Harris found steady work on television. He had a role in one episode of Gibbsville (1975) , in one episode of Delvecchio (1977), in one episode of The Rockford Files (1978), in one episode of David Cassidy: Man Undercover (1978), two episodes of The Seekers (1979), one episode of Barnaby Jones (1979), one episode of Paris (1980), three episodes of Lou Grant (1979, 1980, and 1981), one episode of CHiPs (1981), one episode of Hart to Hart (1981), one episode of Cassie & Co. (1981), and one episode of American Playhouse (1984). In 1983, Harris became well known after portraying astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff . In 1984, he co starred in

765-579: The theatre . A leading proponent of Stalinism in Poland for nearly a decade after the Soviet takeover, Kott renounced his Communist Party membership in 1957 following the anti-Stalinist Polish October of 1956. He defected to the United States in 1965. He is regarded as having considerable influence upon Western productions of Shakespeare in the second half of the 20th century. Born in Warsaw in 1914 to

810-617: The " Morningside Heights blues" after two years, he was a resident in Carman Hall . When his family moved to New Mexico two years later, Harris followed, having discovered his interest in acting in various theater plays. He enrolled at the University of Oklahoma to study drama. After several successful roles in local theaters (such as the Jewel Box Theater in Oklahoma City ), he moved to Los Angeles and enrolled at

855-481: The 2017 movie Kodachrome . His performance was widely regarded as one of the film's highlights. In 2019, Harris took over the role of Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin 's stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway. The role was previously played by original cast member Jeff Daniels . In 2022, Harris played Rear Admiral Chester "Hammer" Cain in the blockbuster film Top Gun: Maverick . Harris

900-547: The Artistic Director in 1992, and was followed by Mame Hunt until 1998. Eilenberg resumed the position for five more seasons, during which time he premiered Charles L. Mee 's Summertime and First Love and Moira Buffini 's Silence . His Festival of Irish Women Playwrights resulted in the Magic's offering the U.S. premiere of Marie Jones ' Stones in His Pockets , before its Broadway run. Loretta Greco

945-721: The British American drama film The Hours . In between the two Oscar nominated roles, he appeared in the biographical drama A Beautiful Mind (2001) and portrayed German sniper Major Erwin König in the war thriller Enemy at the Gates (2001). In 2002, he appeared in adverts for the Vauxhall Vectra in the United Kingdom. For his lead role as Miles Roby in the 2005 miniseries Empire Falls , Harris

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990-617: The English-speaking world. Kott wrote many books and articles published in American journals such as The New Republic , Partisan Review and The New York Review of Books . Aside from Shakespeare and Greek tragedy, he also wrote about theatre of Japan , Tadeusz Kantor and Jerzy Grotowski . He translated works by Jean-Paul Sartre , Denis Diderot , Eugène Ionesco and Molière into Polish and English. Ed Harris Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950)

1035-471: The Gates (2001), Radio (2003), A History of Violence (2005), Gone Baby Gone (2007), National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), Snowpiercer (2013), Mother! (2017), The Lost Daughter (2021), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022). In addition to directing Pollock , Harris also directed the Western film Appaloosa (2008). In television, Harris is notable for his roles as Miles Roby in

1080-659: The HBO television thriller film The Last Innocent Man . In 1988, he acted in Agnieszka Holland 's To Kill a Priest , starring Christopher Lambert , based on Jerzy Popiełuszko and his murder under the Polish communist regime . It was well received by critics. In 1989, his role as David "Dave" Flannigan in Jacknife earned him his first Golden Globe Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture . Also in 1989, he portrayed Virgil "Bud" Brigman in

1125-532: The Magic as playwright in residence in 1975. The Magic produced the world premiere productions of his Inacoma (1977), Buried Child (1978), Suicide in B-flat , True West (1980) directed by Robert Woodruff , Fool for Love (1983), and The Late Henry Moss (2000). Buried Child was awarded the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Shepard also developed collaborative pieces with the renowned actor and director Joseph Chaikin . Other playwrights associated with

1170-461: The West Coast premiere of Tennessee Williams ' play Kingdom of Earth (aka The Seven Descents of Myrtle ). Harris' first film role came in 1978 with a minor part in the suspense film Coma , starring Geneviève Bujold and Michael Douglas . His first major role in a film came two years later with Borderline (1980), in which he starred alongside Charles Bronson . In 1981, Harris played

1215-518: The drama biopic Pollock , in which he also starred as artist Jackson Pollock . He was nominated for his first Academy Award for Best Actor (his third Oscar nomination overall,) for his performance. To prepare for the role, he built a small studio in which to copy the painter's techniques . Two years later, Harris was nominated for his fourth Academy Award (third in the Best Supporting Actor category) for his role as Richard Brown in

1260-513: The lead role of Kyle Bodine in the neo noir film China Moon (1994). In 1995, Harris portrayed Watergate figure E. Howard Hunt in the Oliver Stone biopic Nixon . He received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as NASA Apollo Mission Control Director Gene Kranz in Apollo 13 . In 1996, Harris starred in and was executive producer for

1305-403: The merger and sued SAG President Ken Howard and several SAG Vice Presidents, seeking to have the merger undone. They were unsuccessful. The lawsuit was dismissed on May 22, 2012. Harris has a reputation for being serious on the film set. He told a journalist in 2006, "I don't like bullshittin' ... so, I guess that comes across as serious." On March 13, 2015, he was honored with a star on

1350-733: The miniseries Empire Falls (2005) and as United States Senator John McCain in the television movie Game Change (2012); the latter earning him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film . He starred as the Man in Black in the HBO science fiction - Western series Westworld (2016–2022), for which he earned a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in

1395-452: The plays in the light of philosophical and existential experiences of the 20th century, augmented with his own life's story. This autobiographical accent became a hallmark of his criticism, as exemplified in his collection of essays on theater, The Gender of Rosalind . Kott sought to juxtapose Shakespeare with Eugène Ionesco and Samuel Beckett , but his greatest insight came from the juxtaposition of Shakespeare with his own life. He took

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1440-539: The role of theater, entitled "O teatr godny naszej epoki" (For theater worthy of our times), in which he demanded a "new" theater subservient to the Party and its ideology. Historian Teresa Wilniewczyc noted, that his zeal for totalitarian control over the world of Polish culture was "far more than was required". Only after the Stalin era came to an end, did he become its ardent critic (March 1956). He renounced his membership of

1485-512: The sci fi film The Abyss , directed by James Cameron . In 1992, Harris co starred as Dave Moss in the drama film Glengarry Glen Ross , based on the play of the same name by David Mamet . He won the Valladolid International Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film. He next appeared in the films The Firm (1993) and Needful Things (1993), before portraying

1530-686: The television adaptation of Riders of the Purple Sage . That same year, he returned to Broadway as Major Steve Arnold in the Ronald Harwood play Taking Sides . In 1998, his co starring role in The Truman Show earned him a second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor , and won him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture . Harris made his directorial debut in 2000 with

1575-576: The television documentary film The Armenian Genocide as American diplomat Leslie Davis . He next appeared alongside Casey Affleck and Morgan Freeman in the Ben Affleck directed neo noir mystery film Gone Baby Gone (2007). Harris then co-starred as antagonist Mitch Wilkinson in National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), alongside Nicolas Cage . In 2008, he co wrote, directed and starred along with Viggo Mortensen in

1620-593: The theatre include John O'Keefe , who staged many of his plays there, including Shimmer . In 1986, John Lion and the Magic received the Margo Jones Award , the highest honor given by the Dramatists Guild . The award cited the Magic's "significant contribution to the dramatic art through the production of new plays." John Lion left the Magic in the late 1980s to teach, direct and lecture. He died suddenly on August 1, 1999. Larry Eilenberg became

1665-403: The thriller film Man on a Ledge for Summit Entertainment . He then won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his performance as Senator John McCain in the HBO made for television drama Game Change . In 2013, he appeared in

1710-694: The western thriller Sweetwater , and starred opposite Annette Bening in the romantic drama film The Face of Love . Harris then voiced Mission Control in Alfonso Cuarón 's space epic Gravity (2013), starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney . In 2015, he portrayed the title character in the film version of the Shakespeare tragedy Cymbeline . In 2016, he appeared alongside Madigan and Taissa Farmiga in The New Group 's revival of Sam Shepard 's Buried Child , for which he

1755-585: The western, Appaloosa . In 2010, he and wife Amy Madigan appeared together in Ash Adams' independent crime drama Once Fallen . Later that same year Harris starred in the survival drama The Way Back as Mr. Smith. His performance received much critical praise, and he was suggested by critics to receive a fifth Oscar nomination. Also in 2010, he portrayed the role of Jason Hudson in Call of Duty: Black Ops . In 2012, he co-starred alongside Sam Worthington in

1800-448: Was appointed as Artistic Director . Actors who have performed at the Magic include Danny Glover , Peter Coyote , Kathy Baker , Ed Harris , John O'Keefe (also playwright), and the original cast of The Late Henry Moss , Nick Nolte , Sean Penn , Woody Harrelson , James Gammon and Cheech Marin . Jan Kott Jan Kott (October 27, 1914 – December 22, 2001) was a Polish political activist, critic and theoretician of

1845-702: Was artistic director from 2008 to 2020. Prior to joining Magic, she was the producing artistic director of the Women's Project in New York City. In her first season she used a viral fundraising campaign to recover from a financial crisis and keep the season going. In the fall of 2010, the Magic Theatre collaborated with the Marin Theatre Company and the American Conservatory Theater to put on "The Brother/Sister Plays,"

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1890-883: Was due to Kazan's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, naming his friends from the Group Theatre as communists resulting in their being blacklisted , for which Kazan had never given an apology. On March 20, 2012, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) merged to form a new union, SAG-AFTRA . Harris, along with others including Edward Asner , Martin Sheen , Valerie Harper , Michael Bell , and Wendy Schaal , were opposed to

1935-464: Was in the film Love Lies Bleeding as Lou Sr. in 2024. Harris married actress Amy Madigan on November 21, 1983, while they were filming Places in the Heart together. They have one daughter, Lily Dolores Harris (born May 3, 1993). On March 21, 1999, during the 71st Academy Awards , Harris along with Amy Madigan openly showed disdain for Elia Kazan , who had received an Academy Honorary Award , by staying in their seats and not applauding. This

1980-473: Was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film . Also that year, he played a vengeful mobster in David Cronenberg 's A History of Violence (2005) starring Viggo Mortensen . In 2006, he portrayed composer Ludwig van Beethoven in the film Copying Beethoven , and starred in

2025-1080: Was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play . In 2016, he also began playing the villainous Man in Black in HBO's sci-fi thriller series Westworld , and had a co-starring role in the ensemble cast of Warren Beatty 's romantic comedy drama Rules Don't Apply , with Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich . In 2017, he appeared in Dean Devlin 's sci-fi film Geostorm , alongside Gerard Butler and Andy García . Harris had been previously set to star in Alejandro González Iñárritu 's Starz drama series The One Percent with Hilary Swank and Ed Helms . Harris co-starred in Darren Aronofsky 's horror film Mother! (2017), alongside Jennifer Lawrence , Javier Bardem , Michelle Pfeiffer , and Domhnall Gleeson . Harris also starred in

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