20th Century Film & Theater Personalities

The 20th century was a dynamic period which saw unprecedented growth and development in several fields, one of the major ones being entertainment. The dawn of the century witnessed a period of great change within the theatrical culture especially in Europe and North America. The artistic reputation of theater improved in the era with the development of new theatrical forms including modernism, Expressionism, and Impressionism. Russian playwrights Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Ostrovsky and Leo Tolstoy were the key proponents of realism while in America theater practitioners like Lee Strasberg and Harold Edgar Clurman co-founded the New York City's Group Theatre. Films emerged as a new medium of entertainment in the early 20th century, with the likes of Georges Méliès making pioneering innovations to the art of filmmaking. The rapid growth of the film industry across globe saw the emergence of great personalities like Cecil Blount DeMille, Alfred Hitchcock, Gary Cooper, Gloria Swanson, Claudette Colbert, and Charlton Heston. Both the theater and film industries continued to develop and evolve over the following decades, giving birth to superstars of the recent times like Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen, and Susan Sarandon. This section provides you information about the life and works of famous film & theater personalities of the 20th century.