Why Acting Matters

122 Pages·2015·0.97 MB·English

by  David Thomson

why acting matters
David Thomson
Why Acting Matters
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-
Publication Data Thomson, David,
1941–. Why acting matters / David
Thomson.
pages cm—(Why X matters)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-300-19578-1 (cloth : alk.
paper) 1. Acting. I. Title.
PN2061.T525 2015
792.02’8—dc23
2014029867
A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence

of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also by David Thomson
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (sixth edition, 2014; first edition, as A
Biographical Dictionary of Film, 1975) Moments That Made the Movies
(2013) The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies (2012) Try to Tell the Story:
A Memoir (2009) The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught
America to Love Murder (2009) “Have You Seen … ?”: A Personal
Introduction to 1,000 Films (2008) Nicole Kidman (2006)
The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood (2004) In Nevada: The Land, The
People, God, and Chance (2001) Beneath Mulholland: Thoughts on
Hollywood and Its Ghosts (1998) Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles (1997)
4–2 (1996)
Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick (1993) Silver Light (1990)
Warren Beatty and Desert Eyes: A Life and a Story (1987) Suspects (1985)
America in the Dark: Hollywood and the Gift of Unreality (1978) Wild
Excursions: The Life and Fiction of Laurence Sterne (1972) Hungry as
Hunters (1972)
A Bowl of Eggs (1970)
Movie Man (1967)
For Justin, Heather, Carmine, Julia, and Jim
“Scratch an actor,” said Laurence Olivier, “and you find an actor.” He should
have known, but I don’t think it’s true, or any more true of actors than
politicians, or priests, or teachers, or strippers, or anyone else engaged in acts of
public self-display. What is true, I think, is that if you scratch an actor you will
find a child. Not that actors are inherently less mature than politicians, priests,
etc., but actors must retain a child’s appetite for mimicry, for demanding
attention, and above all for playing. They must see with a child’s heart, innocent
of judgement.
RICHARD EYRE, Utopia and Other Places
They were waiting to go on, and I heard them say: “Where did you have lunch
today, old boy?—Oh, Rules. Where did you?—The Savoy Grill. What did you
have?—The rognons de veau was superb.—And claret?— Yes, a great glass of
claret.” … I like that, because there’s so much bullshit about preparing for your
part. These were actors who just knew that when you got on the stage, you acted.
When it started, and not before.
HAROLD PINTER, observing John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson in his play No
Man’s Land
contents
act I Towards the End of the Day
act II Twilight
act III A Moment Later
act IV That Night
Epilogue
Notes
Acknowledgments
ACT I
Towards the End of the Day