Background
Magner, Martin was born on March 5, 1900 in Stettin, Germany. Son of Max. and Zerlina (Silberstein) Magner. came to the United States, 1939, naturalized, 1945.
Magner, Martin was born on March 5, 1900 in Stettin, Germany. Son of Max. and Zerlina (Silberstein) Magner. came to the United States, 1939, naturalized, 1945.
He acted in the Hamburg Chamber Theatre from the age of 18 and replaced the general director of the company when he left for fear of the Nazis, despite his protest that he was himself Jewish. Four years later, on March 21, 1933, after being ordered to fire the company"s remaining Jews, he fled to Vienna. Foreign the following three years he worked there, in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland), and in Prague, where he directed operas.
He declined.
Foreign a while he taught at Northwestern University and again directed opera. In the 1940s he moved to radio and then in 1943 to television, working as a producer and director for 25 years, first for National Broadcasting Company and then from 1950 to 1965 for Columbia Broadcasting System in New New York His work included pioneering shows like Studio One, The Goldbergs, Lamp Unto My Feet, and Robert Montgomery Presents, and he hired a young Studs Terkel.
After having to retire when he reached the age of 65, he moved to California and returned to theatre.
He became the artistic director of the Inglewood Playhouse and started the New Theatre Incorporated. with Hope Summers. He made a practice of celebrating his birthday by directing a challenging play: for his 98th, Friedrich Dürrenmatt"s Play Strindberg and for his 99th, the West Coast premiere of Thomas Hurlimann"s The Envoy.
He preferred classics. Other examples were Georg Büchner"s Woyzeck, Ben Jonson"s Volpone, Jean Paul Sartre"s The Condemned of Altona, Somerset Maugham"s The Sacred Flame, and Athol Fugard"s Blood Knot.
He often used multi-racial casts.
Magner enjoyed mountain climbing. He died of cancer in Los Los Angeles
Member Directors Guild American.
Married Marion Palfi, June 6, 1951.