Susan Strasberg

Intro

Susan Strasberg became a leading Broadway actress while still in her teens, then built a screen career that ranged from studio drama to psychological suspense and counterculture films. Born in New York on May 22, 1938, she was the daughter of acting teacher and director Lee Strasberg. Her professional identity nevertheless rests on particular performances of her own. The stage role of Anne Frank, the young Millie in Picnic and the central figure in Taste of Fear belong to different dramatic worlds, requiring more than the inheritance of a celebrated theatrical surname.

Career snapshot

The original Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank opened in October 1955 with Strasberg in the title role. IBDB records her run through November 1956, a 1956 Tony nomination for best actress in a play and a Theatre World award. These are stage credits: they should not be confused with the later film adaptation. The production established her in a demanding central role at an unusually early age, and it remains a crucial starting point for understanding a career that subsequently moved between American theatre and international screen work.

The entry point

In Joshua Logan's film of Picnic, Strasberg played Millie Owens, the younger sister of Kim Novak's Madge. William Holden played the visiting drifter Hal Carter, with Betty Field, Rosalind Russell and Arthur O'Connell among the ensemble. Adapted from William Inge's play, the film places private hopes and frustrations within a Kansas town during a holiday weekend. Millie's place in that household gives Strasberg a role distinct from the central romance, while the family relationships connect her performance to the social pressures surrounding the other characters.

Screen identity and style

Strasberg returned to Broadway as Amanda in Time Remembered, which opened in November 1957. Jean Anouilh's play paired her with Richard Burton as Prince Albert and Helen Hayes as the Duchess of Pont-Au-Bronc. The gallery photograph, published in a February 1958 Playbill, shows Burton at left and Strasberg at right. It documents that stage collaboration rather than a film appearance. Her subsequent Broadway credits included Minnie Powell in The Shadow of a Gunman and Marguerite Gauthier in The Lady of the Camellias.

Collaborations and patterns

Taste of Fear in 1961, also released as Scream of Fear, placed her at the centre of a Hammer suspense story directed by Seth Holt and written and produced by Jimmy Sangster. The plot follows a wheelchair-using heiress whose return to her father's home brings disturbing apparent sightings and uncertainty about whom she can trust. Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd and Christopher Lee also appear. The film belongs to Hammer's psychological thrillers, with its tension built around perception and deception rather than the studio's better-known supernatural monsters.

Era reflection

Psych-Out in 1968 brought another change of setting. Richard Rush directed Strasberg as Jennie Davis, a deaf young woman searching for her brother in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. Jack Nicholson played Stoney, Dean Stockwell played Dave and Bruce Dern played Steve Davis. Produced by Dick Clark, the film used the counterculture setting for a drama about vulnerability, community and danger. Its place in Strasberg's career is especially revealing beside Taste of Fear: both give her a central point of view, while their social worlds and filmmaking styles are very different.

Legacy and rediscovery

Television extended that range further. The gallery preserves a 1972 ABC photograph with Gary Collins from The Sixth Sense and a separate CBS portrait distributed for a Mannix guest appearance in 1973. Their captions retain the known production context without assigning an unverified episode role. Strasberg died in New York on January 21, 1999. Her documented work invites discovery across stage and screen: an early Broadway breakthrough, ensemble studio drama, suspense and later television appearances all form part of the same career, rather than a story ending with the role that first made her famous.

Selected screen roles

• The Diary of Anne Frank: Anne Frank; Broadway — 1955-1956
• Picnic: Millie Owens — 1955-1956
• Time Remembered: Amanda; Broadway — 1957-1958
• Taste of Fear: Lead actress — 1961
• Psych-Out: Jennie Davis — 1968
• The Sixth Sense: Guest performer — 1972
• Mannix: Guest performer — 1973

A career in pictures

Three separate sources document Broadway and television work; production dates and image publication dates are identified in the captions.

CBS portrait for Mannix (1973)

Guest performer

CBS publicity photograph stamped May 1, 1973; specific episode role not assigned.

The Sixth Sense with Gary Collins (1972)

Guest performer

Gary Collins at left and Strasberg at right in a separate ABC production photograph.

Time Remembered with Richard Burton (1958)

Amanda; Broadway

Richard Burton at left, Strasberg at right; photograph published in the February 3, 1958 Playbill.

Rewatch notes

• She originated Anne Frank on Broadway and received a 1956 Tony nomination.
• Time Remembered paired her with Richard Burton and Helen Hayes.
• Taste of Fear was released in the United States as Scream of Fear.