Lynn Stalmaster

Lynn Stalmaster was an American casting director.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, his family later moved to Los Angeles and he attended Beverly Hills High School and UCLA, where he earned a master's degree in theater arts. Early in his career, he was an actor in such films as The Steel Helmet (1951), written and directed by Samuel Fuller, and Flying Leathernecks (1951), starring John Wayne.

Stalmaster is credited with casting Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, Christopher Reeve in Superman, and John Travolta for the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, among many others.

Besides being the first casting director to receive an Academy Award, Stalmaster had another notable achievement: on Norman Jewison's 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair (with Steve McQueen), Stalmaster became the first casting director to receive a single-card credit in the titles.

Stalmaster has more than 400 casting credits, among them such classic films as Inherit the Wind (1960), The Great Escape (1963), In the Heat of the Night (1967), They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), Harold and Maude (1971), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), Tootsie (1982), 9 1/2 Weeks (1986), and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990).

His TV credits include My Favorite Martian, The Untouchables, Ben Casey, Hogan's Heroes, Death Valley Days, The Rat Patrol, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Have Gun - Will Travel, Fantasy Island, Three's Company, T.J. Hooker, and Hart to Hart.

Stalmaster died February 12, 2021, in Los Angeles, California. He was 93.