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Legacy Oral History Online Collection

Dean Goodman

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Dean Goodman (1920-2006) had a full career as an actor, critic, teacher, director, producer, and author with a major impact nationally and regionally in both live and radio theater. Moving to San Francisco in 1955, Goodman taught drama at San Francisco State College, acted with the Actors Workshop, the American Conservatory Theatre, the Berkeley Repertory, and in many independent Equity and Equity waiver shows. He appeared in musicals with such 60-s stars as Robert Goulet, Pernell Roberts, Ann Blyth, Pearl Bailey, Leslie Uggams, among others.

Goodman also wrote and directed plays and novels. He was a historian of Bay Area theater and a weekly columnist for Hollywood’s Drama-Logue. His political work helped to change racial segregation of theaters in the Washington D.C. area. In 1987, director Francis Ford Coppola chose Dean Goodman for the role of Mr. Bennington in his Tucker, The Man and His Dreams

In 1943, Goodman married Marlene Dietrich's daughter, Maria Sieber. His memoir, Maria, Marlene, and Me, describes their brief marriage.

Audio Clip and Transcript 

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