Morris Carnovsky Is Dead at 94; Acting Career Spanned 60 Years (original) (raw)
Arts|Morris Carnovsky Is Dead at 94; Acting Career Spanned 60 Years
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- Sept. 2, 1992
Credit...The New York Times Archives
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September 2, 1992
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Section D, Page
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Morris Carnovsky, a pipe-smoking character actor who endured the blacklist of the 1950's to triumph in Shakespeare, died yesterday at his home in Easton, Conn. He was 94 years old.
His family said he died of natural causes.
In a career that lasted more than 60 years, he appeared in first productions of plays by authors as different as George Bernard Shaw ("St. Joan" and "The Apple Cart") and Clifford Odets ("Awake and Sing" and "Golden Boy"). But when he was asked to describe the essence of an actor, he quoted a playwright whose works he did not take up until he was nearly 60.
"Shakespeare tells us in many ways with many words" what an actor is, Mr. Carnovsky declared. "He said it for me most aptly for me in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream': 'The lunatic, the lover and the poet are of imagination all compact.' " A Stage-Struck Child
Mr. Carnovksy was born in St. Louis on Sept. 5, 1897, the son of a grocer who took him to Yiddish theater as a child. "There was such richness in their portrayals of Jewish life," he said in a 1975 interview. "I could savor it. Once I smelled greasepaint, I was committed."
He had the lead as Disraeli in his first play, in high school in 1914. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Washington University in 1920, he moved to Boston and made his first appearance as a professional actor with the Henry Jewitt Players.
Concentrating on supporting roles, he moved to New York City and joined the Theater Guild, playing everything from Alyosha in "The Brothers Karamazov" to Kublai the Great Khan in "Marco Millions" to the Judge in "Volpone" to Brother Martin in the world premiere of "Saint Joan." In 1929 he moved into the limelight as Uncle Vanya in the Chekhov play.
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