Born Jacques Haussmann in Bucharest, Romania, John Houseman was an actor, stage director producer, scriptwriter and playwright. 

In 1937, already an established figure on Broadway, Houseman and Orson Welles founded the Mercury Theater, and the two of them produced and directed plays and radio specials. At the same time, Houseman was a teacher at Vassar, and produced Welles’ never completed first film, “Too Much Johnson,” (1938). Houseman then played a pivotal role in ushering “Citizen Kane,” (1941), to the big screen. In particular, he developed the original story with Herman Mankiewicz. 

After a notorious falling out with Welles, Houseman went on to become a Vice President of David O. Selznick Productions. In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Houseman quit his job and became the head of the overseas radio division of the OWI. With the war over, Houseman continued producing films in Hollywood, and produced and directed plays and television specials in New York. Seven Houseman productions won Oscars, and twenty were nominated. 

Added to his list of credits, Houseman became the artistic director of the touring repertory group the Acting Company, appeared as a character actor in films throughout the 70’s and 80’s, even winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in “The Paper Chase,” (1973), and wrote two autobiographies, “Run-Through,” (1972) and “Front and Center,” (1979). He may still be remembered for his line in a series of Smith Barney commercials, “We make money the old-fashioned way, we eaaarrrn it!”