Leo Adam Biga's My Inside Stories

Nebraska’s own Lynn Stalmaster gets long overdue Oscar

©by Leo Adam Biga

Author of Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film

If you’re like most Nebraskans who watched the Academy Awards last night, you’re probably unaware that one of the receipients of an Honorary Oscar is one of our own – Omaha native Lynn Stalmaster. Stalmaster made history last night as the first casting director so honored by the Academy. That it should have ben Stalmaster is appropriate since, as the attached IndieWire article explains, he basically helped invent the role of the independent casting agent at the very moment the old Hollywood studio system was beginning to dismantle and the rise of independent production companies came to the fore. Casting in old Hollywood was done internally within the studio apparatus or factory system. Stalmaster, who was an actor himself, saw the need and opportunity for a casting expert to help producers and directors identity, audition and assemble casts for their projects. He became the king of casting in Hollywood, for both television and film, from the early 1950s through the 1990s. He discovered many actors who went on to become stars and he cast countless landmark shows and films by legendary directors. Many actors went on to be nominated for Emmys or Oscars, some even winning these awards, for their performances in the roles he cast them in.

From Omaha World-Herald and the Hollywood Reporter:
He was born in Omaha in 1927 to Nebraska District Judge Irvin A. and Estelle Lapidus Stalmaster, and he attended Dundee Elementary School. His father’s made his early career as an assistant state and Douglas County attorney before serving on the Nebraska Supreme Court. The family moved to California in 1938, when Lynn was 12. A self-described “shy child”, he came “out of his shell” during high school and college via acting. He enjoyed a good measure of success as a professional actor, though one day while working as an assistant to a group of producers, including fellow Omahan Phillip Krasne, he was asked to cast some shows. Soon, he was looking for cowboys for the television western, “Gunsmoke.”

Lynn Stalmaster

He cast more than 400 productions during almost 50 years in the industry and is credited with identifying the talent and jumpstarting the careers of John Travolta, William Shatner, Jon Voight and Richard Dreyfuss, among many others. He even earned the nickname “Master Caster.”

“Before Lynn, no one really knew who John was,” Travolta’s manager, Bob LeMond said

The rest, as they say, is history. For many, Stalmaster’s career seems glamorous and powerful; being able to create true stars; but he has said he doesn’t see it that way. “I don’t think of what I had as power. Decisions were made jointly with the director and producer. I wanted to help make the best possible film and hire the best possible actors. I had a responsibility not just to my clients, but to the actors as well.” Once asked how it feels to now be the dean of his profession, he laughed it off, “I’ve just been around the longest!”

Link here to a great IndieWire article detailing what made Lynn Stalmaster such a seminal figure in his field–

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/11/honary-oscar-lynn-stalmaster-casting-directors-1201744901/

______________________________________________

Interestingly, another local, John Jackson, who’s from Council Bluffs but often works in Omaha, is an actor turned casting director having great success in the business. John is fellow local Alexander Payne’s casting director. Payne, like other directors, wiil tell you that casting is perhaps THE single most important aspect in making a successful film. You have to have a good script, of course, but if you don’t have the right cast it won’t be as good as it could be and it might very well fail.

Cheers to Lynn Stalmaster for showing the way and for John Jackson in following in his footsteps, two of hundreds of locals who have made and continue making significant contributions to the screen world.

The following is a selected list of Lynn’s staggering credits from his IMDB. You’ll likely be familiar with dozens of the projects he worked on, but pay particular attention to the features he cast in from the 1960s through the 1980s, as he worked on many of the finest films of those decades:

2006 A Lobster Tale
2000 Battlefield Earth
1996 No Easy Way
1996 To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday
1996 Crime of the Century (TV Movie)
1996 Carpool
1995 Fluke
1994 Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale
1994 Chicago Hope (TV Series)
1994 Blue Sky
1994 There Goes My Baby
1994 Clifford
1994 Intersection
1993 The Program
1993 Guilty as Sin
1992 Double Jeopardy (TV Movie)
1992 Stay Tuned
1992 Folks!
1991 For the Boys
1991 Frankie and Johnny
1991 The Doctor
1991 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
1990 The Bonfire of the Vanities
1990/I Havana
1990 Taking Care of Business
1990 Voices Within: The Lives of Truddi Chase (TV Movie)
1990 Crazy People
1989 Incident at Dark River (TV Movie)
1989 Welcome Home
1989 Casualties of War
1989 A Sinful Life
1989 See No Evil, Hear No Evil
1989 Margaret Bourke-White (TV Movie)
1989 Dead Bang
1989 Get Smart, Again! (TV Movie)
1989 Weekend at Bernie’s
1989 Physical Evidence
1989 Winter People
1988 The Jeweller’s Shop
1988 Split Decisions
1988 Murphy’s Law (TV Series)
1988 Lady in White
1988 Switching Channels
1987 Buck James (TV Series)
1987 Real Men
1987 Big Shots
1987 You Can’t Take It with You (TV Series)
1987 Dragnet
1987 Amazing Grace and Chuck
1987 The Fourth Protocol
1987 American Harvest (TV Movie)
1986 Sword of Gideon (TV Movie)
1986 The Wizard (TV Series)
1986 8 Million Ways to Die
1986 9½ Weeks
1986 The Best of Times
1985 The Eagle and the Bear (TV Movie)
1985 Santa Claus: The Movie
1985 Love, Mary (TV Movie)
1985 Murder: By Reason of Insanity (TV Movie)
1985 Marie
1985 The Other Lover (TV Movie)
1985 Creator
1985 George Burns Comedy Week (TV Series)
1985 Jagged Edge
1985 Joshua Then and Now
1985 Space (TV Mini-Series) 1985 Hollywood Wives (TV Mini-Series)
1985 Robert Kennedy and His Times (TV Mini-Series)
1984 The River
1984 After MASH (TV Series)
1984 The Glitter Dome (TV Movie)
1984 Songwriter
1984 Supergirl
1984 High School U.S.A. (TV Movie)
1984 Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter (TV Movie)
1984 Her Life as a Man (TV Movie)
1984 Harry & Son
1984 The Parade (TV Movie)
1984 Unfaithfully Yours
1984 The Lonely Guy
1984 The Master (TV Series)
1984 Something About Amelia (TV Movie)
1983 Uncommon Valor
1983 Princess Daisy (TV Movie)
1983 Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess (TV Movie)
1983 The Right Stuff
1983 Brainstorm
1983 Hotel (TV Series)
1983 Class
1983 The Thorn Birds (TV Mini-Series)
1983 Deadly Lessons (TV Movie)
1983 Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land (TV Movie)
1983 Love Is Forever (TV Movie)
1983 Invitation to the Wedding
1982 Tootsie
1982 First Blood
1982 Lookin’ to Get Out
1982 Split Image
1982 Mother Lode (uncredited)
1982 The Executioner’s Song (TV Movie)
1982 Young Doctors in Love
1982 Hanky Panky
1979-1982 Hart to Hart (TV Series)
1982 Mae West (TV Movie)
1982 American Playhouse (TV Series)
1982 Some Kind of Hero
1982 T.J. Hooker (TV Series) 1982 Making Love
1982 Prime Suspect (TV Movie)
1982 Marian Rose White (TV Movie)
1981 Modern Problems
1981 Looker
1981 Splendor in the Grass (TV Movie)
1981 Dark Night of the Scarecrow (TV Movie)
1981 Callie & Son (TV Movie)
1981 Mommie Dearest
1981 Blow Out
1981 Second-Hand Hearts
1981 Caveman
1981 Cheaper to Keep Her
1981 On the Right Track
1981 Crisis at Central High (TV Movie)
1981 A Whale for the Killing (TV Movie)
1980 Stir Crazy
1980 Superman II
1980 A Change of Seasons
1980 Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb (TV Movie)
1980 The Last Song (TV Movie)
1980 Foolin’ Around
1980 The Women’s Room (TV Movie)
1980 Loving Couples
1980 The Shadow Box (TV Movie)
1977-1980 Family (TV Series)
1980 Wholly Moses!
1980 When the Whistle Blows (TV Series)
1980 The Mountain Men
1980 Amber Waves (TV Movie)
1980 The Black Marble
1980 Seizure: The Story of Kathy Morris (TV Movie)
1980 Ike: The War Years (TV Movie)
1979 Being There
1979 Letters from Frank (TV Movie)
1979 The Rose
1979 Promises in the Dark
1979 The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan (TV Movie)
1979 Flesh & Blood (TV Movie)
1979 10
1979 The Last Word
1979 The Onion Field
1979 North Dallas Forty
1979 Nightwing
1979 Goldengirl
1979 Prophecy
1979 The MacKenzies of Paradise Cove (TV Series)
1979 Ashanti
1979 Fast Break
1979 Ike: The War Years (TV Mini-Series)
1979 The French Atlantic Affair (TV Mini-Series)
1978 Ishi: The Last of His Tribe (TV Movie)
1978 Superman
1978 And I Alone Survived (TV Movie)
1978 A Question of Love (TV Movie)
1978 Like Mom, Like Me (TV Movie)
1978 The Users (TV Movie)
1978 Foul Play
1978 Matilda
1978 Go Tell the Spartans
1978 Convoy
1978 Damien: Omen II
1978 Murder at the Mardi Gras (TV Movie)
1978 Stickin’ Together (TV Movie)
1978 Cindy (TV Movie)
1978 Gray Lady Down
1978 The Fury
1978 Ski Lift to Death (TV Movie)
1978 Coming Home
1978 The Betsy
1978 Fantasy Island (TV Series)
1978 The Defection of Simas Kudirka (TV Movie)
1978 How Sweet It Is!
1977 Having Babies II (TV Movie)
1977 The Night They Took Miss Beautiful (TV Movie)
1977 Young Dan’l Boone (TV Series) (
1977 You Light Up My Life
1977 New York, New York
1977 The Other Side of Midnight
1977 Good Against Evil (TV Movie)
1977 Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn (TV Movie)
1977 Nashville 99 (TV Series)
1977 Audrey Rose
1977 Black Sunday
1977 Brothers
1977 Westside Medical (TV Series)
1977 SST: Death Flight (TV Movie)
1977 Secrets (TV Movie)
1977 Fun with Dick and Jane
1977 Roots (TV Mini-Series)
1976 The Secret Life of John Chapman (TV Movie)
1976 Nickelodeon
1976 Victory at Entebbe (TV Movie)
1976 Bound for Glory
1976 Silver Streak
1976 I Want to Keep My Baby! (TV Movie)
1976 21 Hours at Munich (TV Movie)
1976 Having Babies (TV Movie)
1976 Mr. T and Tina (TV Series)
1976 The Big Bus
1976 Harry and Walter Go to New York
1976 Second Wind
1976 Farewell to Manzanar (TV Movie)
1976 James Dean (TV Movie)
1976 The Entertainer (TV Movie)
1976 Three’s Company (TV Series)
1975 The Cop and the Kid (TV Series)
1975 The Legend of Valentino (TV Movie)
1975 Beyond the Bermuda Triangle (TV Movie)
1975 Katherine (TV Movie)
1975 The Master Gunfighter
1975 Welcome Back, Kotter (TV Series)
1975 Rollerball
1975 Cornbread, Earl and Me
1975 Mandingo
1975 The Hiding Place
1975 The Wild Party
1975 Hustling (TV Movie)
1975 A Shadow in the Streets (TV Movie)
1974 Punch and Jody (TV Movie)
1974 All the Kind Strangers (TV Movie)
1974 The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder
1974 The Great Niagara (TV Movie)
1974 Kodiak (TV Series)
1974 Hurricane (TV Movie) (as Lyn Stalmaster)
1974 The Dove
1974 The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
1974 The Family Kovack (TV Movie)
1974 Conrack
1974 Billy Two Hats
1974 Rhinoceros
1973 Cinderella Liberty
1973 Sleeper
1973 The Last Detail
1973 A Summer Without Boys (TV Movie)
1973 The Iceman Cometh
1973 The Girl Most Likely to… (TV Movie)
1973 Jonathan Livingston Seagull
1973 The Third Girl from the Left (TV Movie)
1973 Isn’t It Shocking? (TV Movie)
1973 Scorpio
1973 Class of ’63 (TV Movie)
1973 Lolly-Madonna XXX
1973 Firehouse (TV Movie)
1972 The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
1972 The Mechanic
1972 Footsteps (TV Movie)
1972 Hickey & Boggs
1972 The New Centurions
1972 Junior Bonner
1972 The Magnificent Seven Ride!
1972 Deliverance
1972 The Wrath of God
1972 Jeremiah Johnson
1972 Pocket Money
1972 The Sixth Sense (TV Series)
1972 The Cowboys
1971 Harold and Maude
1971 If Tomorrow Comes (TV Movie)
1971 Honky
1971 The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler
1971 Fiddler on the Roof
1971 The Organization
1971 Sweet, Sweet Rachel (TV Movie)
1971 Le Mans
1971 The Grissom Gang
1971 Bearcats! (TV Series)
1971 Valdez Is Coming
1971 Lawman
1971 The Sporting Club
1970 Monte Walsh
1970 Cannon for Cordoba
1970 They Call Me Mister Tibbs!
1970 The Hawaiians
1970 The Landlord
1970 Too Late the Hero
1970 Halls of Anger
1968-1970 Death Valley Days (TV Series)
– The World’s Greatest Swimming Horse (1968) … (casting)
1969 The Reivers
1969 Gaily, Gaily
1969 They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
1969 Viva Max
1969 Castle Keep
1969 What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?
1969 The Bridge at Remagen
1969 The April Fools
1969 Guns of the Magnificent Seven
1969 If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
1968 The Stalking Moon
1968 The Killing of Sister George
1968 How Sweet It Is!
1968 The Thomas Crown Affair
1968 Yours, Mine and Ours
1968 The Scalphunters
1966-1968 The Rat Patrol (TV Series)
1967 Fitzwilly
1967 Clambake
1967 Hour of the Gun
1967 Dundee and the Culhane (TV Series)
1967 In the Heat of the Night
1966-1967 Hey, Landlord (TV Series)
1966 The Iron Men (TV Movie)
1966 Return of the Magnificent Seven
1966 The Fortune Cookie
1966 And Baby Makes Three (TV Movie)
1966 The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!
1964-1966 My Favorite Martian (TV Series)
1965-1966 Hogan’s Heroes (TV Series)
1966 Man in the Square Suit (TV Movie)
1966 Cast a Giant Shadow
1961-1966 Ben Casey (TV Series)
1965 A Rage to Live
1965 The Loved One (uncredited)
1965 The Hallelujah Trail
1965 The Satan Bug
1964-1965 My Living Doll (TV Series)
1965 The Greatest Story Ever Told
1964 Kiss Me, Stupid
1964 Slattery’s People (TV Series)
1964 Profiles in Courage
1964 Lady in a Cage
1955-1964 Gunsmoke (TV Series)
1963-1964 The Greatest Show on Earth (TV Series)
1963 The Richard Boone Show (TV Series)
1963 Irma la Douce (uncredited)
1960-1963 The Untouchables (TV Series)
1963 A Child Is Waiting
1962 Two for the Seesaw
1962 Pressure Point
1962 Don’t Call Me Charlie (TV Series)
1961-1962 The New Breed (TV Series)
1959-1962 The Detectives (TV Series)
1959-1962 Hennesey (TV Series)
1961 The Children’s Hour (uncredited)
1960-1961 Peter Loves Mary (TV Series)
1961 Harrigan and Son (TV Series)
1957-1961 Zane Grey Theater (TV Series)
1961 Gunslinger (TV Series)
1960 The Westerner (TV Series)
1960 The Law and Mr. Jones (TV Series)
1960 Guestward Ho! (TV Series)
1960 Tate (TV Series) (4 episodes)
1960 Inherit the Wind (uncredited)
1959-1960 Black Saddle (TV Series)
1959-1960 Law of the Plainsman (TV Series)
1959-1960 Johnny Ringo (TV Series)
1959 The Adventures of Hiram Holliday (TV Series)
1959 The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna (TV Series)
1959 The Betty Hutton Show (TV Series)
1959 Pork Chop Hill
1959 The Third Man (TV Series)
1959 Tokyo After Dark (uncredited)
1957-1959 Whirlybirds (TV Series)
1958-1959 U.S. Marshal (TV Series)
1958 Half Human
1958 I Want to Live!
1958 When Hell Broke Loose
1958 The Texan (TV Series)
1958 The Rifleman (TV Series)
1958 Kings Go Forth (uncredited)
1957-1958 Have Gun – Will Travel (TV Series)
1957-1958 The Court of Last Resort (TV Series)
1957-1958 The Sheriff of Cochise (TV Series)
1957 The Pied Piper of Hamelin (TV Movie) (uncredited)
1957 The Walter Winchell File (TV Series)
1957 Those Whiting Girls (TV Series)
1957 Black Patch
1957 Trooper Hook
1957 Hot Rod Rumble
1957 The O. Henry Playhouse (TV Series)
1957 Official Detective (TV Series)
1956 Johnny Concho
1956 Screaming Eagles
1956 Please Murder Me!
1955-1956 Dr. Hudson’s Secret Journal (TV Series)
1955 Matinee Theatre (TV Series) (1956-1957)
1954-1955 The Lone Wolf (TV Series)
1950 Big Town (TV Series)