John Frey, an Actor, Screenwriter, Director and Teacher Whose Work Bridged Continents, Dies at 62.

His award-winning film and theater career is a testament to his deep New York roots, and his love of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

John Frey, a Bronx-born actor, screenwriter, theater director and acting teacher who split his career between the New and Old Worlds, passed away on January, 23 in New York of heart failure. He was 62.

A graduate of the prestigious William Esper Studio for actors  in Manhattan – where he eventually became a teacher of the Meisner acting technique from 2019 until his death – Frey went on to a 25-year international career in film, theater and television. His last credit was as an actor and screenwriter for Bruno de Almeida's Cabaret Maxime, a feature film for which he won the Portuguese Society of Authors 2019 best screenplay award.

A release by the William Esper Studio days after Frey's death stated: “An artist pure of heart and generous of spirit has been taken from us far too soon. John was a critically-acclaimed director, award-winning screenwriter and among the most respected acting technique teachers in the world.”

John Frey's early New York theater acting and directing credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, Miss Julie, Of Mice and Men and a Bruce Nauman Retrospective at DIA Center for the Arts, written and directed by Tate Award winner, Mark Wallinger.

It was in the New York City that he first started working with Portuguese filmmaker, Bruno de Almeida – an expatriate director with whom Frey went on to collaborate on several movies over the following two decades, first in On the Run (1999,) followed by The Collection (2005,) The Lovebirds (2009,) The Lecture (2012,) Operation Autumn (2013,)  and Cabaret Maxime (2019.) 

His other film work includes Michael Imperioli's The Hungry Ghosts, 15 Months in May, Call Girl in Slow Motion (Portugal,) The Wake (Denmark,) and Les Taxis Rouge with Jean Reno (France.) Frey's television acting credits include Rescue Me with Dennis Leary and the TV miniseries, Mata Hari, with Rutger Hauer and Gérard Depardieu (Russia.)

In 2009, John Frey moved to Lisbon, Portugal – the capital with which he'd had a deep, personal relationship for many years. He had found his place in Lisbon's twisted, centuries-old, cobblestone alleys, in its inherent cinematic atmosphere and in its bohemian soul. He opened the John Frey Studio for Actors shortly thereafter to great acclaim, where he taught the Meisner technique to a new generation of young, Portuguese actors. In Lisbon, John also founded the Below the Belt Theater Company in 2013, through which he directed and staged several plays including John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, and Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Motherfucker with the Hat.

John Frey's many awards and film recognitions in Europe include The Sophia Award for Best Adapted Screenplay from the Portuguese Academy of Cinema for the film, Operation Autumn; the Best Screenplay Award from the Festival of Independent Cinema of Ourense for the film, The Lovebirds; and the Best Screenplay Award from the Society of Portuguese Authors (SPA) for the film, Cabaret Maxime.

“John Frey fell in love with the Portuguese capital. Here, he became a permanent figure, admired and loved by its artistic community.” commented one of his many Lisbon friends and collaborators. “He was a genuine 'Lisboeta' by adoption...he was a New Yorker who knew the code of Lisbon.”

John Frey returned to his native New York in 2019. At the time of his passing, he was preparing to promote, what turned out to be his last completed project – a screenplay about Herman Melville, the author of arguably the greatest novel ever written, Moby Dick.