A
Marilyn Monroe Signed Check, Payable to Acting Coach Michael Chekhov
Completed fully in Marilyn's own hand, a bank check dated November 1, 1954
made payable to her acting coach, Michael Chekhov.
Mikhail
Aleksandrovich Chekhov, born August 29, 1891 in Moscow – dies September 30,
1955 in Beverly Hills. Chekhov was an Academy Award-nominated
Russian-American actor, director, author, and developer of his own acting
technique used by actors such as Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe, Yul Brynner,
and Robert Stack. He is widely regarded to be one of the greatest actors of
the 20th century, with Stanislavsky himself constantly referring to Chekhov
as his most brilliant student.
Much of what Chekhov explored was the question of how to access the
unconscious creative self through indirect non-analytical means. Chekhov
also taught a range of movement dynamics such as molding, floating, flying,
and radiating which actors could use to find a physical core of a character.
His techniques, though seemingly external, were meant to lead the actor to a
rich internal life. In spite of his brilliance as an actor and his first
hand experience in the development of the Moscow Art Theatre’s
groundbreaking work, Chekhov as a teacher was overshadowed by his American
counterparts in the 1940s and 1950s and their branching interpretations of
Stanislavski's work.
Modern teachers in New York have extended Chekhov's work with "Archetype
Work for Actors" and "Dream Work for Actors."
Chekhov's description of his acting technique, On the Technique of Acting,
was published in 1942; an abridged version appeared under the title, To the
Actor. The English translation of his autobiography The Path of the Actor
was edited by Andrei Kirillov and Bella Merlin, and was published by
Routledge in 2005, marking the 50th anniversary of his death on September
30, 1955.
Michael Chekhov Filmography
