DENTON (UNT), Texas -- At age 13, Jack Garfein and his family were taken from their native Czechoslovakia to Auschwitz, a German concentration camp. Two years later, when the camp was liberated by U.S. troops, Garfein was the only member of his immediate family still alive. He eventually made his way to an uncle living in the U.S., and worked his way up on Broadway, where he directed his first hit play at age 25.

Garfein will discuss his experiences in the concentration camps; his work on Broadway and in Hollywood and his Jewish heritage and its impact on his career during a free lecture at the University of North Texas Jan. 30 (Monday).

Presented by UNT's Jewish Studies Program, the lecture, The Life of a Holocaust Survivor and Theatre-Film Artist, begins at 1:30 p.m. in the Golden Eagle Suite of UNT's University Union. The union is located at 1155 Union Circle, one block west of Welch and West Prairie streets. Garfein will answer questions from the audience following the lecture and also sign copies of his 2010 book, Life and Acting – Techniques for the Actor.

After arriving in the U.S. after World War II, Garfein took acting classes at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York City and joined the Actors Studio. After appearing in a few Broadway plays, he made his Broadway debut as a director in 1953. He also produced two plays by Arthur Miller, The Price and The American Clock, and directed many Broadway and off-Broadway productions and the world premiere of Samuel Beckett's Nacht and Traume in Austria. In 1957, he directed the first of three Hollywood films, The Strange One. His other film credits include 1961's Something Wild, for which he co-wrote the screenplay and the 1987 documentary The Journey Back, which chronicles Garfein's return to Auschwitz.

Garfein worked with many notable actors, including James Dean, Ben Gazzara and Marilyn Monroe. He was married to the actress Carroll Baker, whom he directed in Something Wild. 

He is also well known as one of the most experienced teachers of method acting, teaching acting and directing classes in Budapest, London, Los Angeles and Paris for more than 40 years. He became director of the Actor's Studio in Los Angeles in 1967 and created the Harold Clurman Theatre in New York City.

Garfein's lecture is co-sponsored by UNT's Department of Dance and Theatre, the Center for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas, the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and North Texas Hillel. For more information, contact Dr. Richard M. Golden, professor of history and director of the Jewish Studies Program, at 940-369-8933 or Richard.golden@unt.edu, or Nanette Behning, administrative assistant for the Jewish Studies Program, at 940-369-8172 or Nanette.behning@unt.edu.