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why acting matters Yale

University

Press

New Haven and

London David

Thomson

Why

Acting

Matters “Why X Matters” Published with assistance from the foundation and the yX logo are established in memory of Henry Weldon Barnes registered trademarks of the Class of 1882, Yale College. of Yale University. Yale University Press books may be purchased in Copyright © quantity for educational, business, or promotional 2015 by David use. For information, please e-mail [email protected] Thomson. (U.S. office) or [email protected] (U.K. office).

All rights reserved. Set in Times Roman and Adobe Garamond types by This book may not Integrated Publishing Solutions. be reproduced, Printed in the United States of America. in whole or in part, including Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data illustrations, in any Thomson, David, 1941–. Why acting matters / David form (beyond that Thomson. copying permitted by pages cm—(Why X matters) Sections 107 and 108 Includes bibliographical references. of the U.S. Copy- ISBN 978-0-300-19578-1 (cloth : alk. right Law and except paper) 1. Acting. I. Title. by reviewers for the PN2061.T525 2015 public press), without 792.0298—dc23 written permission 2014029867 from the publishers. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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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 : How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder (2009) “Have You Seen . . . ?”: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films (2008) (2006) The Whole Equation: A History of (2004) In Nevada: The Land, The People, God, and Chance (2001) Beneath Mulholland: Thoughts on Hollywood and Its Ghosts (1998) Rosebud: The Story of (1997) 4–2 (1996) Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick (1993) Silver Light (1990) 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) This page intentionally left blank For Justin, Heather, Carmine, Julia, and Jim “Scratch an actor,” said , “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 any- one 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 atten- tion, 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 Sa- voy 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. , observing and Ralph Richardson in his play No Man’s Land