Robert Walden

Over the course of a more than 50-year career in show business, Robert Walden has achieved considerable success as an actor, director, screenwriter and teacher, winning awards and the respect of many leading directors, actors, and creative executives along the way.

He starred in four television series, guest-starred in scores of television shows and movies, and has appeared in more than 40 Hollywood movies working with top directors such as Alan Pakula, Martin Scorcese, Robert Wise, Arthur Hiller and Woody Allen.

A member of the Actors Studio since age 20, he studied privately with industry legends such as Lee and Paula Strasberg, Frank Corsaro and Charles Nelson Reilly among others. The recipient of numerous nominations and awards, Walden has extensive experience teaching acting in many professional and university settings, including The New School of Drama, the Lee Strasburg Institute, The Beverly Hills Playhouse, the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT), and the University of Central Arkansas. His theatrical directing experience includes nine noteworthy productions on Los Angeles and Off-Broadway stages.TEACHING: Adjunct Professor at The New School of Drama (NSD) MFA program (2005-2011). Among the courses Walden taught were: Basic Technique for first-year students; Scene Study, for second and third-year students; On-Camera Audition Class for theater, film and television; Stanislavski 1 for Playwrights & Directors; Scene Study (American and European Classics) for second-year students. Additionally, he team-taught Co-Lab3, noting and shaping graduating class thesis projects, involving Acting, Directing and Playwriting candidates. Moreover, he created a thesis course wherein graduating students worked in depth, during their final year, on a character in an agreed upon play of their choosing – bringing in scenes fully developed with set, lighting, wardrobe for presentation on main stage.During his tenure at NSD, Walden developed a special course, Directing the American Actor – for ESRA, International, the leading French Cinema School. Forty-five students came from France to New York City to make short films -- associated with NSD students. Then, after 12 sessions, they shot and presented their film for grades.In 2011-13, Walden was a Distinguished Guest Artist/Adjunct Professor at the University of Central Arkansas, where he showed actors and directors how to stage and block scenes for theater and film.During his time in Arkansas, Walden also served as the Artistic Director of two Film Forums at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute. He recruited Award-winning screenwriters, directors, producers, documentarians and acting coaches from New York and Los Angeles, for these four- day intensives, where they taught, lectured, served on panels and networked with attendees.

He has also taught at the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT), in San Francisco; The Lee Strasberg Institute; The Beverly Hills Playhouse (for the late Milton Katselas); and guest lectured at Florida State University and NYU Film School. He has conducted seminars at St. Edwards University and at the University of Texas, in Austin. Walden also teaches and coaches privately and has consulted on major studio films.

EDUCATION and TRAINING:
A native New Yorker, Walden attended the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, then graduated from City College of New York (CCNY), with a BA in Comparative Literature. While still an undergrad, he studied with Lee Strasberg (and his wife, Paula), Frank Corsaro, and Charles Nelson Reilly at the H-B Studios. Upon graduation, he became the youngest male member accepted into The Actors Studio. Walden considers the acting, drama and musical teachers with whom he studied, to be among the finest in the world: David Craig, Jane Romano and Charles Reilly (musical theater presentation); Joan Darling; Sandra Seacat; Stephen Strimpell; and Lonny Chapman. And for many years, he was a member of director Milton Katselas’ Master Class, as an actor, director and teacher.

STAGE:
Off-Broadway, and at major regional theaters, including: The Mark Taper and Ahmanson (Los Angeles), ACT (San Francisco), Old Globe (San Diego), Cincinnati Playhouse, and Arena Stage (D.C.) He appeared in Curtains at The Ahmanson – 2006; The American Clock, The Writing on the Wall, at the H-B Playwrights Theater, NYC. And as Willy Loman in Death of A Salesman at the critically acclaimed Arkansas Rep in 2013. At Austin’s Zach Theatre, he played J. Edgar Hoover in All The Way.

FILMS:
Over 40 films, including Oscar winners, The Hospital, and All the President’s Men. He’s been directed by: Martin Scorcese, Alan Pakula, Woody Allen, Robert Wise, George C. Scott, Roger Corman, Arthur Hiller, Milton Katselas, and many more.

TELEVISION:
Starred in four television series, two of which ran five years: “Lou Grant,” from 1977-1982 (as Joe Rossi), and “Brothers,” (as Joe Waters, on the first sitcom for cable – Showtime), from 1984-1989. For three seasons, he and Rita Moreno played Fran Drescher’s parents in TV Land’s “Happily Divorced,”, from 2011-2014. He was nominated for three EMMYS and two Cable ACE Awards. Walden has guest-starred in scores of television shows and TV movies – among them “Law & Order and West Wing.” This year, he completed a role in Love & Death, David Kelley’s seven-part limited series for HBO Max, shot in Austin, TX., to be aired this coming fall.

DIRECTING:
He directed six stage productions in Los Angeles. The first, Dylan, had a cast of 26 actors. Competing with over 1,000 productions, Dylan won seven Dramalogues including Best Director for Walden; LA Critics Circle (Best Actor, Actress, Production, and Best Director nomination for Walden); and three LA Weekly nominations.
In LA, he also directed: Danny and the Deep Blue Sea; The Quarrel; After Crystal Night; A Cheap Date with Harvey Miller; and Gregory, Gregory, the latter two, one-man shows.
In NYC he directed productions of: Girl In Heat, at the Michael Weller Theater, and Collected Stories, at the Actors Studio. Also, the NY Premiere of The Quarrel, at the DR2 Theater, in Union Square. As a member of the DGA and the WGA, he’s directed both three-camera as well as one camera TV, and written for both as well. “Silk Stalkings,” and multiple “Brothers” episodes.

WRITING:
He has written scripts for TV shows including: “The Twilight Zone”; “Who’s the Boss;” “Brothers;” “Beauty and the Beast.” Two screenplays were optioned. He also has some twenty pieces published in various newspapers and magazines including Washington Post, San Francisco Examiner, New York Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Back Stage, etc.)

ACTING AWARDS & NOMINATIONS:
· Three EMMY nominations for “Lou Grant.” (Best Supporting Actor)
· Two CABLE ACE nominations for “Brothers.” (Best Actor)
· DRAMALOGUE – Best Actor -- Mr. Rickey Calls A Meeting (Pasadena Playhouse).

DIRECTING AWARDS & NOMINATIONS:
· LOS ANGELES CRITIC’S CIRCLE – nominated for Dylan (Best Director);
· WON -- Best Production, Best Actor, Best Actress.
· LA WEEKLY – Three nominations for Dylan– Best Production; Best Actor; Best Actress.
· DRAMALOGUE AWARDS – Dylan -- Best Director; Best Production; Best Actor, Best Actress; Costumes; Sound and Lighting.

SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS:
Mr. Walden has been a Judge for the International Emmys for many years.
The US Humane Society’s Award of Special Recognition (for helping advance ‘dog fighting’
becoming a felony.