"To this day, when I say that I went to the American Academy, people are very impressed. The reputation of the school has always been fantastic," says Don Rickles. The octogenarian comedian, known for his combative, interactive standup routines, attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in the late 1940s, when the famed acting conservatory, located in New York and Los Angeles, was already past its half-century mark. Last month the institution, dubbed by some the "Cradle to the Stars," celebrated its 125th anniversary. Back Stage spoke to a few AADA alumni to commemorate this milestone.

"How I got into the American Academy was a mystery to me, but my mother and father said go audition, and sure enough they accepted me," says Rickles. "I spent a lot of time in the Carnegie Bar across the street, talking about acting with Jason Robards and Tom Poston. We were the three musketeers in those days. Anne Bancroft was in our class, and Grace Kelly was in the class behind us. At the time, I was a struggling actor and a lousy comedian. I was always going overboard on everything I did in class. But there was a great director named Phil Loeb, and he always said, 'Don, don't you dare lose your energy, because that is your strength.' So to make a long story short, today, after 50 years, I'm headlining all kinds of theaters and nightclubs--and the energy has been part of it." Rickles is currently working on the movie "Toy Story III."

The Lyceum Theatre School of Acting, as the academy was originally called, was founded in 1884 in New York by Franklin Haven Sargent, a Harvard University speech professor. In the following years, the school was renamed the New York School of Acting and was shaped by several theater luminaries of the day, including playwright-clergyman Henry DeMille (grandfather of choreographer Agnes and father of moviemakers Cecil B. and William) and director David Belasco. DeMille is credited with giving the institution its current name in 1889. That same year, Belasco directed the first American staging of Sophocles' "Electra" (in a translation from the Greek by DeMille) at the Lyceum Theater, which was the school's home until it moved to Carnegie Hall in 1896. The academy's goal was to provide "a broad and practical education" to those who wished to make acting their profession, and its original curriculum was based on the teachings of Francois Delsarte. A few years later, Life Study was introduced, and then the teachings of Stanislavsky and other masters. Prior to this, actors were trained primarily through stock companies. By 1896, Sargent was quoted as saying, "I take pride in the fact that nearly every one of the many schools established in the main cities throughout the country is under the direction of either a graduate or a former teacher."

"It really has...