An independent filmmaker frequently compared with fellow New Yorker Woody Allen, Paul Mazursky spent years in show business, developing an acting career and a reputation as a writer before finally getting the chance to direct his own screenplays. A role Off-Broadway in a revival of "He Who Gets Slapped" while still a Brooklyn College student earned him an introduction to Stanley Kubrick, which in turn led to a role in the director's feature debut "Fear and Desire" (1953). By his own admission, Mazursky overplayed his GI cracking under the strain of combat. Typecast as a juvenile delinquent
Landed the leading role in a college revival of Leonid Andreyev's "He Who Gets Slapped" while a senior at Brooklyn College; play transferred for a time Off-Broadway to the Master Institute Theatre where the scenarist Howard Sackler saw him and introduced him to Stanley Kubrick
1951
Changed first name from Irwin to Paul while acting in his first movie on location in California's San Gabriel Mountains
1953
Film acting debut in Kubrick's "Fear and Desire"
1953
Worked in summer stock on Cape Cod, playing Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman", Sorin in "The Seagull" and Undershaft in "Major Barbara"
1954
Was briefly in Hollywood before returning to NYC; began acting in live TV shows
