Peter Meyer Kass was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 theater actor and director who became a well-known teacher. His mentor Clifford Odets

Clifford Odets

Clifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high...

 chose Kass to direct and develop The Country Girl

The Country Girl

The Country Girl may refer to:* The Country Girl , a 1915 silent film, based on an 18th-century play by David Garrick* The Country Girl , a 1954 film based on a play by Clifford Odets, starring Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly...

before it opened on Broadway. Kass played Frank Elgin, the male lead.

Kass later directed four Broadway plays, including a short-lived revival of Odets' Night Music

Night music

Night music can refer to:* A nocturne, usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night.* Night music , a stylistic evocation of the night found in the music of the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók....

and Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry was an African American playwright and author of political speeches, letters, and essays...

's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, and he directed for television on Assignment: Manhunt and for films, including Time of the Heathen.

Kass taught at Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

 in the 1950s, then at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 in the 1960s and 1970s before becoming a private instructor. Students included Olympia Dukakis

Olympia Dukakis

Olympia Dukakis is an American actress. In 1987, she won an Academy Award, BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for her performance in Moonstruck...

, Faye Dunaway

Faye Dunaway

Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...

, John Cazale

John Cazale

John Holland Cazale , was an American film and theater actor. During his six-year film career he appeared in five films, each of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter.From his...

, Maureen Stapleton

Maureen Stapleton

Maureen Stapleton was an American actress in film, theater and television.-Early life:Stapleton was born Lois Maureen Stapleton in Troy, New York, the daughter of Irene and John P. Stapleton, and grew up in a strict Irish American Catholic family...

 and Val Kilmer

Val Kilmer

Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...

.

Kass was born in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 and was a lifelong resident. He died of heart failure in Manhattan.

External links