Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 – 14 January 2004) was a three-time Tony Award winning German-born American actress. She originated the role of Martha in the 1963 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee (who called her "a profoundly truthful actress"). Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part because of her association with Paul Robeson, and this curtailed film opportunities, focusing her perforce on New York theatre. She later became a highly influential acting teacher at New York's Herbert Berghof Studio and authored the best-selling acting text Respect for Acting. She was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.

Life and career

Early life

Born in Göttingen, Germany, Hagen and her family emigrated to the United States in 1924, when her father received a position at Cornell University.Port of New York, passenger list of the S.S. Luetzow, September 4, 1924, sheet 41. She was raised in Madison, Wisconsin. She appeared in productions of the University of Wisconsin High School and in summer stock productions of the Wisconsin Players. She studied acting briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1936.Port of New York, passenger list of the S.S. Westernland, December 24, 1936, sheet 165. After spending one semester at the University of Wisconsin, where her father was the head of the department of art history, she left for New York City in 1937."Lady Invincible", Wisconsin Academy Review, vol. 46, issue 4, Fall 2000. Her first professional role was as Ophelia opposite Eva Le Gallienne in the title role of Hamlet in Dennis, Massachusetts, in 1937.