Widely regarded as one of the most influential and respected innovators of the American stage, John Houseman also enjoyed success as a film and TV producer, screenwriter and, perhaps most remarkable of all, prolific character actor, beginning after he had reached the august age of 70. Born Jacques Haussman in Bucharest, Romania, he made his way to the USA in 1924 on the wings of the family grain business but was soon writing for magazines and translating German and French works for the stage. After the Depression bankrupted him, he had the tremendous good fortune to meet composer Virgil
At 18, won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, but his mother insisted he follow the career of his father as a grain merchant (date approximate)
At 21, went to Argentina as an agent of his father's grain business and two years later (in 1924) arrived in the USA on a similar mission; resident status not regularized until his admisssion as a legal immigrant in 1936
Began writing for magazines and translating plays for the stage from French and German
Grain business failed during the Depression
1934
Directed Virgil Thomson's opera "Four Saints in Three Acts" with a libretto by Gertrude Stein; scored a hit on Broadway
