Quick Facts
Biography
Estelle Harman (September 11, 1922 – April 15, 1995) was an acting coach in Los Angeles. She began as an acting instructor at UCLA in the 1950s, then was hired by Universal Studios as Head of Talent to groom their stable of film actors, which included Rock Hudson, Bill Bixby, Tony Curtis and Audie Murphy.
As the contract years ended in Hollywood, she started her own school — the Estelle Harman Actors Workshop. It operated two theatres, an on-camera class and offered a curriculum that met federal requirements for financial aid. The school closed shortly before her death in the mid-1990s. The list of movie actors that studied with her is lengthy, many of whom went on to successful acting careers in hollywood movies and television.
Her teaching emphasized the "independent actor" who could utilize the tools of different acting approaches (Sanford Meisner, Konstantin Stanislavski) without having to be dogmatic about any of them.