I'd like to take up theowinthrop's question here because there is an interesting point to it.According to Laurence Olivier in his book On Acting the answer should be yes for he claims that his wife Vivien Leigh suffered from the same problem. The funny thing is that Olivier was first asked/due to play Anthony John and furthermore Ronald Colman was a close friend of both Olivier and Leigh.
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I sure can believe it, especially when portraying a complex character such as Othello night after night. Just imagine if he'd been playing Hamlet!!
I killed him for money and for a woman. I didn't get the money... and I didn't get the woman.
I imagine so. Ronald Colman and the brilliant script certainly make it seem plausible.
... Justin
And not to mention he was playing alongside his ex-wife, whom both still love each other very and are great friends. She was playing Desdemona, he Othello, can you imagine, whatever problems that led to their divorce seeped into his conscience and related it with Othello's. No matter how well him and his ex get along, a role, a character that powerful, it's bound to, in some who play it. If I make any sense, I hope I do.
"I promise you, before I die I'll surely come to your doorstep"
I'm quite sure a person can be driven mad by any profession, given extensive preparation, mental isolation, and a sickening devotion to routine as Colman's character found himself with here. While still in my early adulthood, I've only ever stayed at a job for about three full months at a time, and given the right degree of strenuous activity, one can be pushed over the edge at any time really.
The theater's too deep for me. I prefer bicycling.
It's well known actors get drawn into their own publicity, fame and believe it all to be true, a la Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulvard (Norma Desmond, not Swanson).
Actors who have played action heroes or tough guys on film tend to believe they are regarded the same way in real life. There have also been some who think when they show endless attitude in film after film, they have people believing them to really be that way.
All the examples, movies and real, that I can think of focus more on actors believing the fame, not the role they played.
Jean Hagen in Singing In The Rain believed the press reports that she and Gene Kelly were really a couple. Yes, that was a comedy.
For real, Bela Lugosi was buried in his Dracula cape. Did he think he was Dracula?
No, it was his greatest moment of recognition.
Joan Crawford, even without Mommiedearest, had strange ideas about her popularity.
Kirk Douglas says in "The Ragman's Son" that he got so deeply into the Van Gogh character (was the same age as Van Gogh when he killed himself) that he vowed never to get that involved in a character again.
shareRobert Downey Jr would talk to people on the phone with an 'English' accent when he was doing Chaplin, Cybill Shepherd seemed to think she would die at 36, the same age Marilyn Monroe was when she died.
I remember reading that no one could 'revive' Meryl Streep after filming her death scene in Ironweed.
Funny one I can think of is soap actress Melody Scott Thomas filmed a scene where she did alot of crying and as she walked away, camermen and crew were crying, she was so pitiful. She told them as she passed 'its only acting.'
This of course goes to the infamous bit with Olivier and Hoffman in Marathon Man, where Hoffman was starving himself and staying up all night to get into the tortured character, Olivier told him 'why not try acting? Its easier.'
If Olivier or even Michael Caine were to portray Robert E. Lee in a civil war movie, they wouldn't bother maintaining a suh-thuhn accent when they weren't filming.
Alot of this is simply reinforcing the idea that actors are shallow, clean slates with no opinion, ideas or anything.
Remember Winona Ryder when she was arrested for shoplifting and during the case, the insinuation was made about the Polly Klaas murder, that Ryder used it for publicity or something, . . . . and OUTRAGED, Ryder rose from her chair, . . . and said nothing. She had no script, she didn't know what to do.
I beg to differ - the role of Anthony John
was specifically written by the Kanin's for Ronald Colman
not Olivier..I know this for a fact...
thistledown-2: "I beg to differ - the role of Anthony John
was specifically written by the Kanin's for Ronald Colman
not Olivier..I know this for a fact..."
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I can pretty well see what you read, but I'm going to let you clarify. Where on Earth do you see anything in my post that contradicts what you are saying?
I SAID: "Robert Downey Jr would talk to people on the phone with an 'English' accent when he was doing Chaplin, Cybill Shepherd seemed to think she would die at 36, the same age Marilyn Monroe was when she died.
I remember reading that no one could 'revive' Meryl Streep after filming her death scene in Ironweed.
Funny one I can think of is soap actress Melody Scott Thomas filmed a scene where she did alot of crying and as she walked away, camermen and crew were crying, she was so pitiful. She told them as she passed 'its only acting.'
This of course goes to the infamous bit with Olivier and Hoffman in Marathon Man, where Hoffman was starving himself and staying up all night to get into the tortured character, Olivier told him 'why not try acting? Its easier.'
If Olivier or even Michael Caine were to portray Robert E. Lee in a civil war movie, they wouldn't bother maintaining a suh-thuhn accent when they weren't filming.
Alot of this is simply reinforcing the idea that actors are shallow, clean slates with no opinion, ideas or anything.
Remember Winona Ryder when she was arrested for shoplifting and during the case, the insinuation was made about the Polly Klaas murder, that Ryder used it for publicity or something, . . . . and OUTRAGED, Ryder rose from her chair, . . . and said nothing. She had no script, she didn't know what to do."
According to Laurence Olivier in his book On Acting the answer should be yes for he claims that his wife Vivien Leigh suffered from the same problem.
Well playing Blanche DuBois on Broadway really put a toll on her since that character had many of the same neurosis of her own self. In the Kazan film, you can see the remarkable performance preserved for posterity.
The situation in A Double Life while a little exaggerated for dramatic reasons is based on actual occupational hazards faced by actors and thespians. They have to be very sensitive to their emotions and their well-being and that often risks in them going through periods of isolation, emotional fragmentation and above all an intense loneliness. This is even more of a problem with actors in the limelight like Tony John in this film. This film touches on it in theatre. But in film too that causes a lot of problems. Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland especially.
John Cassavetes made Opening Night in the 70s which deals with the same themes and concerns as Tony John's in this film. Only there it's an actress.
Jean Renoir was also interested in that and his The Golden Coach dealt with the themes of performance and theatre and being.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes
On the other hand, Sir Laurence famously told Dustin Hoffman, when the latter was working to "get into" a role: "Why don't you try acting?".
"Sometimes you have to take the bull by the tail, and face the truth." G. Marx
They should definitely try acting. We all know that many actors take the whole "getting into character" practice too far.
share'On the other hand, Sir Laurence famously told Dustin Hoffman, when the latter was working to "get into" a role: "Why don't you try acting?". '
Apparently Dustin Hoffman has qualified this anecdote by saying that Olivier in his younger days would also try dangerous stunts in the theatre in order to make it look real. So his statement was meant to be ironic with wink and a nod.
It's that man again!!
Ask Nikki Grace...
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan