The Actor Within: Intimate Conversations with Great Actors

Preface

xiii i Preface Many of the actors profiled in this work are known for some of the most memorable roles ever performed on stage or screen: Karl Malden as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire; Ruby Dee as Ruth in A Raisin in the Sun; Amanda Plummer as Agnes in Agnes of God; and William H. Macy, the bungling Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo. I am grateful to these talented actors for their willingness to allow me into their lives through my probing questions. When I asked why they had chosen to become actors, most began to squirm in their seats. I had inadvertently trespassed into deeply personal territory. For some, acting is their way of overcoming shyness; for others, a way of coping with sad or traumatic experiences; but, for all, a way of giving focus to their lives. All spoke of acting with passion and reverence, as if compelled by some inner force. CCH Pounder considers acting a calling. So does Joe Mantegna, who after his first audition in high school said, ‘‘It was like an electric bolt going through my body. . . . This is where I’m supposed to be!’’ George Segal, now in his seventies, who dedicated himself to acting at the age of sixteen, declares, ‘‘My passion and love for acting has never waned.’’ ‘‘Acting is a spiritual practice,’’ says Ellen Burstyn, ‘‘a journey to uncover the deeper self, access it, and reveal it in front of people.’’ To succeed as an actor, states Bill Pullman, ‘‘You have to believe that acting is an investigation of who you are as a person.’’ Frances Fisher explains, ‘‘The actor’s job is to express the human condition as truthfully as possible by putting a magnifying glass on the things that ring true for all of us.’’ Many actors portrayed here, like veteran Norman Lloyd, see acting as a means to improve the plight of man: ‘‘During the Great Depression, I thought I could make a statement with this actor within about our times and the world around us.’’ For Native American Wes Studi, acting is a way of serving his people: ‘‘Because we lost control of this continent . . . it is now up to us as individuals to do what we can for our people and the earth.’’ In interview after interview, I was told that great acting requires an investment of the self. ‘‘Without that,’’ says Amy Madigan, ‘‘you don’t have any base line, any truth.’’ ‘‘All my characters take on my traits and whatever is going on emotionally in my life,’’ confesses Amber Tamblyn. xiv Preface Recalling one of the most chilling scenes in Carrie, Piper Laurie said, ‘‘I knew I’d have to go to a really raw place inside myself for the scene in which I stab Carrie (Sissy Spacek) with a large knife. . . . Acting is a way for me to speak, to communicate and express myself, even if the words and actions are not my own.’’ Charles Durning, who survived the landing on Omaha Beach and hand-to-hand combat on D-day, explains, ‘‘As an actor, I always think about the war and the tough things that I had to do to stay alive. I bring all of that to my roles.’’ Debra Winger describes roles in which she felt trapped—trapped in someone else’s image of her, trapped in a lifestyle, and trapped in illness. ‘‘I can identify with the feeling of being trapped,’’ she says, ‘‘because it’s part of what it means to be a woman.’’ Some actors identify with their characters to a life-changing degree, as was the case for Lainie Kazan when, as understudy for Barbra Streisand, she took to the stage in Funny Girl. ‘‘I was Fanny Brice!’’ she says. ‘‘I performed my heart out. It was the single most important event of my career.’’ In portraying painter Jackson Pollock, Ed Harris says, ‘‘The experience penetrated the deepest part of me, a√ecting me as a human being and my acting thereafter.’’ Marlee Matlin recalls that her tumultuous onscreen romance with William Hurt in Children of a Lesser God spilled over into her real life long after the film wrapped. Stephen Tobolowsky cautions against taking on violent or unsavory roles: ‘‘You have to be careful about what you do because everything you do a√ects you and you never come all the way back.’’ Actors rely on a number of things in order to perform well: a good script, cast, score, staging, and directing...