ADLER, STELLA

(1901-1992)

   Born in New York, the daughter of Yiddish theatre legend Jacob Adler and Sara Levitzka, Stella Adler made her stage debut as a child acting with her father. Passionately interested in acting, she studied with Richard Boleslavsky at the American Laboratory Theatre (ALT) and appeared in its productions of The Straw Hat (1926) and Big Lake (1927). Adler joined The Group Theatre* in 1931 at the behest of Harold Clurman,* whom she married (and later divorced). Adler's tall, formidable presence and powerful personality may have limited her as an actress, but she appeared with distinction in several of the Group's productions. She made her lasting contribution to the theatre with the founding of a school for acting, Stella Adler Conservatory,* in 1949.