LOS ANGELES — Alan Mandell, an acclaimed classical actor and one of the foremost interpreters of playwright Samuel Beckett's work, died Tuesday at his home in Westwood. He was 98.

Representatives for Mandell's family confirmed his death to The Times.

Mandell started his theater career in the early 1950s as the artistic director of Theater '49 in Toronto.

While visiting his sister, he started to work with the San Francisco Actor's Workshop in 1954. During his time with the theater group, his collaboration with co-founders Jules Irving and Herbert Blau helped transform the workshop into one of the first regional theater companies in the U.S.

"My one-week vacation turned into a 12-year stay," Mandell told The Times in 1992 about what was meant to be a short trip.

During an Actor's Workshop production of Beckett's absurdist play "Waiting for Godot" in San Quentin Prison, his portrayal of Lucky inspired the prisoners and led to the creation of the San Quentin Drama Workshop with inmate Rick Cluchey. The troupe operated from 1958 through 1965, making it the first extended prison theater program in the U.S. launched by prisoners.

John N. Apostol, then supervisor of recreation at San Quentin, told Recreation Magazine in 1963 that the group served a twofold purpose.

"Not only does it provide an excellent creative outlet for the men, along with serving as a leisure-time activity, but the group has proven to be a splendid emotional outlet with marked therapeutic values," he said. "The men learn to work together and accept a responsibility toward the show they are doing and toward one another."

Irving and Blau were later selected to run the Repertory Theatre at Lincoln Center in New York and asked Mandell to come onboard as the company's manager.

He later moved to California to join the Los Angeles Actors' Theatre, which became the Los Angeles Theatre Center, where he served as a consulting director and actor, and helped develop the poetry/literary series.

Mandell was born Albert Mandell in Toronto, on Dec. 27, 1927, to Bella Grossman and Louis Mandell. He officially changed his name in 1968.

He was married to Elizabeth Heller until her death on June 16, 1997. She was 65.

Aside from his stage work, Mandell appeared in several films, where he played understated characters grounded in his work in the theater of the absurd. His credits include Peter Bogdanovich's 1988 rom-com "Illegally Yours," the 1993 action thriller "Midnight Witness," the 2006 comedy "Shortbus," as Rabbi Marshak in the Coen brothers' 2009 film "A Serious Man" and as Vetril Dease in Dan Gilroy's 2019 satirical comedy "Velvet Buzzsaw."

Throughout his career, Mandell also made guest appearances on television, including episodes of the PBS anthology series "Great Performances," CBS' "Cannon," ABC's "The Six Million Dollar Man" and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" — the latter of which was his last TV appearance.

At the tail end of his career, Mandell lent his voice to several serialized podcast productions, including "Romeo and Juliet" in which he voiced Friar Laurence, "Anthem: Homunculus" and "A Voice From Darkness."

Fame from his film and television appearances was never his primary goal. His main ambition was to perform on the stage, a place where he felt most alive, but his dad didn't see it as a job.

"He thought this was some kind of hobby and then you did something serious with your life," Mandell told The Times in 2015. "Obviously, having gone through the Depression, you didn't become an actor. You became a lawyer or doctor, the usual choices of any good Jewish boy."

The famed stage actor, who performed late into his life, didn't shy away from challenging roles. In 2007, at the ripe age of 80, Mandell played a cantankerous, aging Nuremberg judge in a two-character production of "Trying." The role required memorizing lengthy dialogue loaded with dates and names.

"It was agonizing and just felt to learn this is beyond me," Mandell told The Times in 2007. "I was just very fearful of getting out there and not knowing it. I was not happy at all."

In 2012, Mandell joined actor Barry McGovern in his 400th performance as Vladimir in Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" at the Mark Taper Forum. It was the first time the two actors had paired up for a production of the playwright's work.

Michael Arabian was initially intimidated by the thought of directing Mandell, who had previously worked on the play with the author.

"I had to really come to the table with a lot of research, so that I could be very knowledgeable and very clear with my interpretation, and then they could say, 'OK, he knows what he's doing,' " Arabian told The Times.

Mandell described Beckett as a conductor rather than a director. "He didn't sit around talking about who was this character, what life did he have before this. It was about rhythm. It was about language. The pauses were like musical beats," he said.

While preparing to play Gregory Solomon at the age of 89 in the revival of Arthur Miller's "The Price" at the Mark Taper Forum in 2015, the actor thought it might be his final stage performance, but a year later, at the age of 88, he starred in and directed a production of Beckett's "Endgame."

"This is it," he told Los Angeles Magazine. "There are other things I want to do. I'm at a time in my life when I look at my so-called bucket list, and there are places I want to go. I better travel while I'm able to do it. I won't put myself through this again."

In his review, Times theater critic Charles McNulty described the show as "the best rendering of the play I've encountered."

"Having seen it done to perfection, I feel as though I can retire this modern classic from my theatergoing list, though like Mandell I'm wobbly when it comes to saying goodbye to enduring pleasures," he added.

Alongside Mandell, the play also starred 89-year-old James Greene and Charlotte Rae, 90.

"This must be one of the oldest casts in America," Mandell said.

The first time he was involved in a stage production of "Endgame," Mandell rehearsed with Beckett himself and even performed some of the scenes with the playwright.

"Talk about being on the spot," he said. "We did the whole scene, and at the end he said, 'You are going to be very happy.' It doesn't get any better than that."

Mandell is survived by his two children and three grandchildren.

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