Alan Mandell Dies at 98 in Westwood
Alan Mandell, a stage veteran recognized for his interpretations of Samuel Beckett’s absurdist plays and a landmark 1957 production of Waiting for Godot inside San Quentin State Prison, has died at age 98, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Mandell died Tuesday of natural causes at his home in Westwood, according to statements provided to the outlet by his son, Peter Mandell, and daughter-in-law, Sarah Mandell. Representatives for the family also confirmed the death to the Los Angeles Times.
Born Albert Mandell in Toronto on Dec. 27, 1927, to parents Bella and Louis who ran a restaurant, his early exposure to acting included playing in Oliver Twist as a youngster. He later served as the artistic director of Theater ’49 in Toronto through the early 1950s before visiting his sister in San Francisco in 1954 and discovering the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop. What was intended as a one-week vacation turned into a 12-year stay with the workshop, as he became its business manager and worked alongside co-founders Jules Irving and Herbert Blau.
San Quentin Prison Godot and Beckett Collaboration
In November 1957, Mandell portrayed the slave Lucky in a performance of Waiting for Godot for 1,400 inmates at San Quentin State Prison. That production served as an introduction to Martin Esslin’s influential 1961 book Theatre of the Absurd. Following the performance, Mandell co-founded the San Quentin Drama Workshop with inmate Rick Cluchey, establishing the first extended prison theater program in the United States launched by prisoners. The program ran from 1958 through 1965.
Samuel Beckett later directed Mandell in productions of Waiting for Godot and Endgame in Europe. Their professional and personal relationship endured until the Irish playwright’s death in 1989. Mandell explained Beckett’s precise methodology to Los Angeles Times theater critic Charles McNulty in 2015, stating that the text was like a score and finding the rhythm of the line was paramount.
Film and Television Career
Beyond his extensive stage career, Mandell built a notable screen resume. In film, he played the aging rabbi whose counsel consists entirely of lyrics from Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” in the Coen brothers’ 2009 film A Serious Man. His film credits also include John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) and Shortbus (2006), Peter Bogdanovich’s Illegally Yours (1988), the 1993 film Midnight Witness, and Dan Gilroy’s Velvet Buzzsaw (2019).
On television, Mandell made appearances on Cannon, The Six Million Dollar Man, Baretta, Eight Is Enough, Sisters, Great Performances, and Grey’s Anatomy. Late in his career, he lent his voice to serialized podcast productions including Romeo and Juliet, Anthem: Homunculus, and A Voice From Darkness.
Final Stage Appearances and Modern Legacy
Mandell continued performing challenging theatrical roles late into his life. In 2012, he received an Ovation Award at the Mark Taper Forum for playing Estragon opposite Barry McGovern as Vladimir in Waiting for Godot. He portrayed Hamm alongside McGovern in his final Beckett performance in Endgame at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City in 2016. Last year, actors Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter sought out Mandell at his home for his expertise while preparing for their Broadway revival of Waiting for Godot.
Daniel Segura, Mandell’s main assistant for the past 10 years, reflected on the actor’s enduring spirit and musicality. “He was just a steadfast human I know, nothing ever fully got him down,” Segura told The Hollywood Reporter. “He just kept marching on. I think we are all in a little bit of shock because there was an immortality to him.”
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