Departures of note

Alan Mandell was a Canadian-American classical actor who became one of the foremost interpreters of Samuel Beckett's work. He began his career in the early 1950s as artistic director of Theater '49 in Toronto before joining the San Francisco Actor's Workshop in 1954, where his collaboration with Jules Irving and Herbert Blau helped transform the company into one of the first regional theaters in the United States. His portrayal of Lucky in a production of Waiting for Godot staged at San Quentin Prison so moved the inmates that it led to the creation of the San Quentin Drama Workshop, the first extended prison theater program in the country. He later served as company manager of the Repertory Theatre at Lincoln Center and worked with the Los Angeles Actors' Theatre, which became the Los Angeles Theatre Centre. Beyond the stage, Mandell appeared in films including Illegally Yours, Shortbus, the Coen brothers' A Serious Man, and Velvet Buzzsaw, and made television guest appearances on series such as Great Performances, Cannon, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Grey's Anatomy. He was born Albert Mandell in Toronto on December 27, 1927, and legally changed his name in 1968.