Altina

ZOE CALDWELL

The critically acclaimed actress and director Zoe Caldwell won four Tony Awards for her performances in “Slapstick Tragedy” (1966), “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” (1968), “Medea” (1982), and “Master Class” (1995). Other memorable performances include Ophelia in “Hamlet,” Natasha in “Three Sisters,” Eve in “The Creation of the World and Other Business,” Bianca in “Othello,” and Cleopatra in “Antony and Cleopatra.” Off-Broadway, Caldwell directed “Vita and Virginia” starring Vanessa Redgrave and Eileen Atkins. She also directed a Broadway production of “Othello” with James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer. In 1968 she married Broadway producer Robert Whitehead, who cast her in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"that same year. Altina Schinasi, a childhood friend of Mr. Whitehead, designed the poster for the play.

AMY FINE COLLINS

Journalist and art historian Amy Fine Collins is a Special Correspondent to Vanity Fair, where she has written about design, art, fashion, vintage Hollywood, and society for over a decade. She holds degrees in art history from Swarthmore College and Columbia University. In 1996 she was elected to the International Best-Dressed List Hall of Fame and helps oversee the compilation of Vanity Fair’s annual list. Previously the style editor at both Harper’s Bazaar and House & Garden, Collins is the author of American Impressionism (Smithmark, 1990), Hair Style (HarperCollins, 1997), Simple Isn’t Easy (HarperCollins, 1997), and The God of Driving (Simon & Schuster, 2004).

LAURETTE DE MORO

Laurette De Moro is the daughter of Victoria, Altina's oldest sister. She a luxury travel agent in California She now lives in New Mexico.

RICHARD PINI

Richard Pini taught 20th-century French literature at Amherst before leaving the College to found The Pleasant Street Theater, a small art house in Northampton, Massachusetts. He also taught American literature at the Sorbonne and now lives in the South of France. He is the son of Victoria Schinasi, Altina’s oldest sister.

TERRY SANDERS

Two-time Oscar winner Terry Sanders is a noted filmmaker who has produced and/or directed over 70 dramatic features, theatrical documentaries, television specials, and critically acclaimed portraits of major American artists, writers, and musicians. The youngest son of Altina Schinasi, Terry Sanders’ first professional job—after producing and photographing the Oscar-winning dramatic short story film, A TIME OUT OF WAR (an Academy Award he shared with his brother Denis Sanders) —was to direct the second unit of NIGHT OF THE HUNTER for Charles Laughton, also with his brother Denis. He produced CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, USA and WAR HUNT, the film that introduced Robert Redford starring John Saxon (on the National Board of Review “Ten Best” list). Other credits include: ROSE KENNEDY: A LIFE TO REMEMBER (Oscar nominee, Best Documentary Short, 1991); LILLIAN GISH: THE ACTOR’S LIFE FOR ME; RETURN WITH HONOR; MAYA LIN: A STRONG CLEAR VISION (Oscar winner, Best Feature-length Documentary, 1995, an award he shared with his wife Freida Mock); NEVER GIVE UP: THE 20TH-CENTURY ODYSSEY OF HERBERT ZIPPER (Oscar nominee, Best Documentary Short, 1996); and FIGHTING FOR LIFE. Terry Sanders was educated at Cal Tech and the UCLA Film School. He was co-founder and Associate Dean of the Film School at Cal Arts and has been visiting professor at the UCLA Film School. Sanders is president of the American Film Foundation and a partner in Sanders & Mock Productions.

DENIS SANDERS

Denis Sanders (January 21, 1929 – December 10, 1987), the eldest son of Altina Schinasi, was an American film director, screenwriter and producer who directed the debut performances of Robert Redford, George Hamilton, Sydney Pollack, and Tom Skerritt in the 1962 film WAR HUNT. He won two Academy Awards, the first for Best Short Subject in 1955 for A TIME OUT OF WAR, which served as his master's degree thesis at UCLA and which he co-scripted with his brother Terry Sanders; and the second for Best Documentary in 1970 for CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1968. Other motion picture directorial credits include SHOCK TREATMENT; ELVIS: THAT’S THE WAY IT IS; SOUL TO SOUL; and the cult favorite INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS. He also directed episodes of the TV shows "Naked City," "The Defenders," "The Great Adventure," "Route 66," and "Mannix." During the last years of his life, Denis Sanders taught film at San Diego State University. He had three children, Victoria, Juliette, and Peter.

CHARLES CAREY

With his wife Altina Schinasi, Charles Carey founded Educational Communications in 1958. This non-profit organization engaged in social justice and peace initiatives that resulted in Emmy-nominated and internationally acclaimed environmental productions while assisting local and international communities with some of the world’s most dire issues. Carey worked as researcher at the UCLA Department of Psychology and the Institute of Government and Public Affairs before joining the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica as Communications Specialist. He was Altina Schinasi’s third husband.

LEWIS YABLONSKY

Lewis Yablonsky studied sociology and criminology at Rutgers University and in 1958 at New York University for Ph.D. earned his doctorate. He taught at several prestigious universities, such as Harvard University and Columbia University since 1963 and is a professor of criminology and sociology (now emeritus ) at California State University, Northridge in Los Angeles . He is also a psychotherapist ( psychodrama ).

LENA BECKHAM

A once self-professed drug addict and prostitute, Ms. Beckham entered Synanon, a drug treatment center in Santa Monica, Ca. in the late 50’s. She remained and resided there for twenty years as patient and recovering addict and later became one of their most popular teachers and inspirational examples of the system. She resides in Los Angeles, California.

CAMILLE BILLOPS

Artist and filmmaker Camille Billops has produced and directed six documentaries. Among them, SUZANNE, SUZANNE was chosen by the Museum of Modern Art for its New Directors Series in 1983; FINDING CHRISTA was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992; and A STRING OF PEARLS was selected as “premiere” film for the Planet Africa series by the Toronto Film Festival in 2002. She befriended Altina Schinasi in the late 1950s.

JOE DEBOR

Sculptor Joe DeBor worked as a technical assistant to Altina Schinasi in Washington, D.C. for several years in the mid 1970s. Joe and Altina were close friends.

HILDA WITHERSPOON

Hilda Witherspoon is an abstract expressionist artist with works in museums and collections in the U.S. and abroad. A full time artist since 1973, Hilda Witherspoon has exhibited extensively in the United States and Europe. Her works are in private, public and corporate collections, including St. Mary's Armenian Church and The White House in Washington, DC; Armenian Library and Museum of America in Massachusetts; The Modern Art Museum of Armenia in Erevan, Armenia; The Palace of the Catholicos in Etchmiadzin, Armenia; The Modern Art Museum of Russia in Moscow; The Tula Art Museum in Tula, Russia; and The Jaroslavl Art Museum in Jaroslavl, Russia., Embassy of Morocco in Washington, DC, Embassy of Armenia, Washington, DC.

JIM HATCH

James V. Hatch, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of English and Theatre at the City University of New York and the author of eleven books. His History of African American Theatre, written with Errol G. Hill, was awarded the George Freedly Award of the Theatre Library Association for best book in 2003. Hatch is the recipient of two Barnard Hewitt Awards from the American Society of Theatre Research. With his wife, Camille Billops, he shares the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for FINDING CHRISTA. Jim Hatch and Altina Schinasi met at a UCLA writing class in the late 1950s.

JONATHAN RICHARDS

Jonathan Richards is a novelist, journalist, actor, and cartoonist. His political cartoons appear regularly in The Huffington Post and The Albuquerque Journal North. He is a member of the Online Film Critics Society and contributes film reviews to Pasatiempo, the arts and culture weekly magazine of The Santa Fe New Mexican. In 1983 Jonathan Richards and his wife Claudia Jessup moved next door to Altina Schinasi’s home on the hills of Santa Fe. They remained close friends until her death in 1999.

CLAUDIA JESSUP

Claudia Jessup, Altina Schinasi’s Santa Fe neighbor, is a writer of nonfiction books and magazine articles as well as a successful novelist who publishes under the pseudonym of Meredith Rich. Among her books are Bare Essence and Little Sins. She is married to Jonathan Richards.

TINO MIRANDA

Cuban-born Celestino (Tino) Miranda reached the United States during the Mariel boatlift of 1980. Always attracted to arts and crafts, the extent of his talent was not revealed until he started to work for Altina Schinasi in 1981, after he and his close friend Fernando Mas settled in Washington, D.C. He was Altina’s fourth husband, and, as an accomplished craftsman, he worked with Altina on a wide range of projects during the years they lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he still resides.

FERNANDO MAS

Fernando Mas, a Cuban refugee who arrived in the United States with Celestino Miranda during the Mariel boatlift of 1980,began doing housework for Altina Schinasi in Washington, D.C. and remained her faithful friend and employee until her death in 1999. She was deeply attached to him and helped him get his U.S. citizenship. He followed her and Tino when they moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and still resides there with Tino.