Don Oscar Becque

Don Oscar Becque was a dancer and actor who had lessons with Miss Todd in her New York City studio in the late 1920s. The dates of his birth and death have not been found. A small collection of Becque’s papers is housed in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division Archive of the New York City Public Library for the Performing Arts. Among the many high points of his career, the materials noted that “… his most influential teacher was Mabel Elsworth Todd.”

A Master of Arts degree thesis written by Martha F. Murphey in 1977 indicated that when she studied acting with Becque for five years in Dallas, Texas, he called his approach the “Becque-Todd Method.

The Becque-Todd Method can be seen as a way of giving the actor the command of his instrument… and it is a method that utilizes the psycho-physical approach rather than leaving physical training solely in the realm of exercises of one sort or another…. It is also a technique that can be continued throughout life, with or without a teacher or group. It is, therefore, the combination of the detailed mechanical analysis of structure and movement dynamics, the use of the psycho-physiological approach to learning new motor habits, and the emphasis on awareness of self as a means of developing these new patterns of behavior that distinguishes the Becque-Todd Method (Murphy, Experimental 25.)

Beth Scupham, another actor and former student of Becque, worked with him in the early 1970s in New York. She spoke of Becque with great affection and said many actors were interested in this work during that period. She confirmed that alcohol abuse derailed his professional activities and efforts to write a book about his method. Still, she added that his acting students continued using many aspects of Becque’s teaching. Research into the history of acting pedagogy may be a fruitful avenue for further research into his interpretation of Todd’s work.

— Pamela Matt (2023)

Bibliography for Don Oscar Becque

Long, Maggie and Laura Slezak Karas. “Guide to the Don Oscar Becque Papers, 1920-1983.” The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, August 2011. Print.

Murphy, Martha F. “An experimental course in movement preparation for beginning performers.” Thesis. Denton, TX: North Texas State University. 1977. Print.