Lee Strasberg (November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an Academy Award nominated Austro-Hungarian-American director, actor, producer, and acting teacher. He was born Israel Strassberg in Budzanów, former Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Budaniv, Ukraine), to Ida and Baruch Meyer Strassberg.

Personal life
Marilyn Monroe was a student of Strasberg's, and he helped her throughout her life.
His daughter Susan wrote the best-selling book Marilyn and Me: sisters, rivals, friends (published after Lee's death, and probably in light of disinheriting his children), which recounted her relationship with her "surrogate sister". Monroe was 29 when she became Strasberg's favorite student. Over eight years the screen goddess was a sisterly friend and household rival of aspiring actress Susan Strasberg, just 17 when they met. Susan for a time shared her bedroom with the envied intruder, object of the paternal adulation of her father. In the book, Susan swings between admiration and disillusionment with Monroe (Susan describes Monroe as someone who sketched, wrote poetry and sympathized with underdogs when she wasn't floundering in depressed insomnia or drug-induced paranoia). A convert to Judaism after her marriage to Arthur Miller, she peppered her conversation with Yiddishisms.
In her final will, Monroe left Strasberg all of her personal effects and clothing, to be distributed to her friends, colleagues and those to whom she was devoted. This is something that he never followed through with as requested in Monroe's will. He was also given 75% of the residuary of the estate. For many years Lee Strasberg and later his wife Anna Strasberg have indicated that they were willed the Right of Publicity from Marilyn Monroe to her estate. Anna, who never met Monroe took over administration the estate after Lee Strasberg's death. The estate still earns millions of dollars in licensing fees whenever an advertiser or manufacturer uses Monroe's image. According to a recent online report in the Indianapolis Business Journal, Anna Strasberg had attempted to show that these rights were to be passed down to her husband. However recent rulings in New York and California courts in favor of photographers including The Shaw Family Archives in New York and Milton H. Greene Archives and Tom Kelley Studios have negated this falsehood of the Strasberg control of Marilyn Monroe's Right of Publicity. In these states there is no stronghold on Marilyn's image from Marilyn Monroe LLC (MMLLC) and the licensing agency CMG Worldwide. This was a right that did not exist at the time of Marilyn Monroe's death and The Right Of Publicity was also something that Marilyn Monroe did not specifically bequeath in her will.
Anna declared that she would never sell Monroe's personal items after successfully suing Odyssey Auctions in 1994 to prevent the sale of items that Strasberg withheld from Monroe's former business manager Inez Melson. However, in October 1999 Christie's auctioned the bulk of Monroe's personal effects - the auction netted $13.4 million. Julien's staged a second auction of Monroe's personal effects in 2005.

Work on Broadway

Method acting