Alvin Epstein

Epstein, Alvin (b. 1925), actor, director, and manager. He was born in New York and, after attending the High School of Music and Art, studied dance with Martha Graham, mime with Etienne Decroux, and acting with Sanford Meisner. He made his professional New York acting debut Off Broadway in 1946, then traveled and performed across Europe and in the Middle East. Epstein made his Broadway debut in a Marcel Marceau mime program in 1956, the same year he played the Fool to Orson Welles's King Lear and originated the role of the unintelligible Lucky in the first American production of Waiting for Godot (1956). His acting career also included the disillusioned Clov in the absurdist Endgame (1958), the tormented Father in Six Characters in Search of an Author (1988), and the dying title professor in Tuesdays with Morrie (2002). Epstein co‐founded the Berkshire Theatre Festival and ran the Yale Repertory Theatre and the Guthrie Theatre in the 1970s.