Trivia

Strasberg lost the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of mob financier Hyman Roth in The Godfather Part II (1974) to Robert De Niro's portrayal of Young Vito Corleone in the same film.

According to actor Martin Landau, Strasberg was a hard taskmaster as an acting teacher, but Landau said regardless, Strasberg was always right in pushing an actor to deliver an excellent performance.

As the primary teacher and director of the Actors Studio for more than 30 years, he trained many of the great American actors: Al Pacino, Ben Gazzara, Martin Landau, Eli Wallach, Ellen Burstyn, etc. He never taught Marlon Brando, who made the "method" famous, although Brando did support the Studio and regularly attended its formal and informal functions.

On February 13, 1982, Strasberg made what was both his final filmed appearance, and his final public appearance, at the Night of 100 Stars (1982) benefit for the Actors Fund at Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, in Manhattan, New York City, where, along with protégées Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, he danced in the chorus line with the world renowned The Radio City Rockettes.

In her last will and testament, Marilyn Monroe left Strasberg total control of 75% of her estate, including the licensing of Monroe's image, in gratitude for his mentorship and kindness, both before and after she became a star. Today, Strasberg's widow, Anna Strasberg administers the combined estates, which earn millions of dollars in licensing fees annually, from advertisers or marketers use of Monroe's image, such as the long running J'adore Parfum line, co-starring the deceased Marilyn Monroe and the very much alive Charlize Theron.

He and protégé Al Pacino appeared together in two films: The Godfather Part II (1974) and And Justice for All (1979).

One of the few Jewish actors to portray a Jewish gangster, the character Hyman Roth, in The Godfather Part II (1974). Previously, Jewish actors (James Caan, Abe Vigoda, Eli Wallach) had portrayed Italian mob figures, and Italian actors (Alex Rocco) had portrayed Jewish mob characters.

He was one of the more unlikely people to be honored by the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on account of his strong link to New York City. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6757 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on November 27, 1977.

When he passed away on February 17, 1982, he left an estate valued at $1.5 million, before inclusion of his 75% interest in the Estate of Marilyn Monroe.

In 1909, at age 7, he emigrated with his family to the United States, although he did not become a citizen until 1936.

Lee Strasberg had four children: John Strasberg and Susan Strasberg with second wife Paula Strasberg; Adam Strasberg and David Lee Strasberg with his third, and last, wife Anna Strasberg.

Buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery in the village of Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York, a northern suburb (approximately 20 miles north of) New York City, where he is buried in a plot with his second wife, Paula Strasberg, who predeceased Lee by her early death at about 57 years old, in 1966. Westchester Hills is a Jewish cemetery, and many well-known entertainers and performers are interred there.

Lee Strasberg's oldest son, John Strasberg, like his father, also teaches at the Actors' Studio in Manhattan, New York City, but is not the managing director or administrator, as Lee was. Lee's roles as both managing director and administrator of the Actors' Studio are now filled by an incredible six people! Ellen Burstyn, Harvey Keitel, and Al Pacino serve as co-Presidents of the whole studio, both east, in Manhattan, and west, in West Hollywood, California, and co-Artistic Directors in Manhattan, while Mark Rydell and Martin Landau serve as co-Artistic Directors in West Hollywood. The administrator, now known as the Executive Director is (as of 2015) filled by a professional, full time administrator, Deborah Dixon.

October 27-28, 1999: Christie's auctioned the bulk of Marilyn Monroe's personal effects. In Monroe's last will and testament, she expressed a desire that Strasberg would "distribute (these) among my friends, colleagues and those to whom I am devoted." Having largely not accomplished distribution of Monroe's personal belongings to friends, etc., upon Strasberg's death, possession of Monroe's personal effects passed from Strasberg to his last wife, Anna Strasberg, who had never met Monroe. The Christie's auction of Monroe's possessions netted $12.3 million. Ironically, five years earlier, Anna Strasberg had declared that she would never sell Monroe's personal items after successfully suing Millington Conroy (nephew of Marilyn Monroe's business manager, Inez Conroy Melson) and Odyssey Auctions in 1994, preventing the sale of items which had been improperly withheld from Lee Strasberg by Monroe's former business manager, Inez Melson. Julien's staged a second auction of Monroe's personal effects in 2005.

Legendary acting coach/director/actor, best known in the twenty-first century for three things: 1) his many decades as managing director and teacher at the Actor's Studio in Manhattan, New York City; 2) his most famous acting role, Hyman Roth, alongside one of his most famous students, Al Pacino; and 3) as primary heir and administrator of the estate of Marilyn Monroe, another of his most famous students (now administered by Lee Strasberg's wife/widow, Anna Strasberg.

Son of an innkeeper.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 766-768. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (1998).

Lee Strasberg is also featured, together with his wife Paula Strasberg and their children John Strasberg and Susan Strasberg in an online exhibition created by Italian actor Giovanni Morassutti on Google Arts & Culture in 2020.

Mentioned in She-Wolf in Hollywood: The Story of Maria Ouspenskaya (2024) as one of Ouspenskaya's acting students.