Oscar Profile #382: Lynn Stalmaster

Born November 27, 1927 in Omaha, Nebraska, Lynn Stalmaster’s father was the first Jewish judge appointed to the District Court of Nebraska. He was also active in the local Jewish community serving as president of the Omaha B’nai Brith. Young Stalmaster attended Dundee Elementary School in Midtown, Omaha. In 1938, his family moved to Beverly Hills, California where he attended Beverly Hills High School. Having acted in high school, he received a degree in Theater Arts from UCLA after having served in the U.S. Army.

On screen in small parts in 1951’s Steel Helmet and The Flying Leathernecks, he soon found his niche in casting, both for TV and theatrical films, rather than acting. His younger brother, Hal, born in 1940, became the actor in the family, starring in the title role in the 1957 Disney film, Johnny Tremain.

Stalmaster was the casting director for such 1950s films as Kings Go Forth, Want to Live! and Pork Chop Hill. He cast such 1960s films as Inherit the Wind, A Child Is Waiting, The Great Escape, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Hallelujah Trail, In the Heat of the Night, Yours, Mine and Ours, If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and Gaily, Gaily. In the 1970s, he was the casting director of such films as The Landlord, Fiddler on the Roof, Harold and Maude, Junior Bonner, Deliverance, The Iceman Cometh, The Last Detail, Cinderella Liberty, Bound for Glory, Coming Home, Damien: Omen II, Superman, The Onion Field and Being There among many others.

In the early 1980s, Stalmaster was the casting director for such films as Blow Out, Mommie Dearest, Making Love, Tootsie, The Right Stuff and The River. When the Casting Society of America gave out their first Artios awards for best casting of 1984, he was a nominee for TV’s Something About Amelia. His only nomination for his screen casting was for 1987’s The Big Easy. He was given a life achievement award at the 2002 awards.

Stalmaster’s late 1980s credits include Jagged Edge, 8 Million Ways to Die, The Untouchables and Casualties of War. His 1990s credits include Frankie & Johnny, For the Boys, Blue Sky and To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday. His last credit was for 2006’s A Lobster Tale.

With his children and grandchildren present, Stalmaster was awarded an honorary Oscar at the 2016 Academy Governors’ Awards. He was the first casting director to be honored for career achievement.

Lynn Stalmaster is now a spry 90-year-old.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963), directed by John Sturges

Surprisingly uncredited, even on IMDb., Stalmaster credits Robert Wise with giving him his first casting assignment in the early 1950s and Sturges with sending him to Europe to scout actors for the various parts in this film which he considered a real eye-opener. He was very proud of casting British actors for British roles and German actors for German roles. The film, which starred Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer, David McCallum, Gordon Jackson, John Leyton and Nigel Stock, remains one of the most popular war films of all time.

THE ICEMAN COMETH (1973), directed by John Frankenheimer

Jeff Bridges calls Stalmaster the “master caster”, crediting him with giving brother Beau his first two starring roles in Gaily, Gaily and The Landlord and for encouraging himself to take the role that convinced him that he could be an actor for the rest of life despite concerns that his early successes might not continue. He was won over by the fact that director Frankenheimer and legendary stars Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan and Fredric March were all suffering from the same doubts despite their lengthy and laudatory careers. Ryan, who died before the film’s release, won several posthumous awards for his performance.

SUPERMAN (1978), directed by Richard Donner

Casting directors don’t always get to suggest an actor for the lead role in a film, but Stalmaster who is very proud of the stage actors he was able to cast even in bit parts in films and TV roles, hit the jackpot with the casting of 24-year-old Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent and Superman in this highly anticipated box-office smash. The years 1978 and 1979 were the most productive years of his career, with Superman sandwiched between such hits as Coming Home and Damien: Omen II before it and The Onion Field and Being There after it.

THE BIG EASY (1987), directed by Jim McBride

The only film for which Stalmaster was nominated for the prestigious Artios award of the Casting Society of America, reunited him with Ned Beatty who he memorably first cast in 1972’s Deliverance. The film’s lead, Dennis Quaid, was nominated for a Film Independent Spirit award for Best Actor. Quaid was well cast as veteran New Orleans cop as was Ellen Barkin as an idealistic assistant district attorney. Also in the large cast were John Goodman, Lisa Jane Persky, Ebbe Roe Smith, Tom O’Brien, Charles Ludlum, Grace Zabriskie and veteran Marc Lawrence.

A LOBSTER TALE (2006), directed by Adam Massey

Stalmaster’s last film is about a lobster fisherman with a dysfunctional family who captures a mysterious green gooey substance in his net that turns out to have healing powers, making he and his family the most popular people in town. The film won a few festival awards but was never given a wider release and went straight to video two years later. The casting, though, was great as ever. It provided Irish actor Colm Meaney with one of his best Hollywood roles aside from several Star Trek films, as well as fine supporting roles for Alberta Watson, Graham Greene and newcomer Jack Knight.