Actors at Work: Conversations

This is not just another one of those "interview books." It is an interesting revelation of the things performers endure, transend and celebrate, as they develop their careers. An incredible group of A-List talent shares its experience in a very frank, and revealing manner. They talk of failure as well as success, of people who were mentors and those who were obstacles, of situations which were discouraging as well as those which help them move forward. They reveal ego as well as humility. Anxiety as well confidence. This book is interesting, entertaining and informative for any reader interested in the background of performers. Actors at every level will gain something from these pages. The insight shared is a treat and a treasure, filled with down-to-Earth lessons.

Marian Seldes is so old (or should I say, experienced) that she remembers the acting of Katherine Cornell, Judith Anderson, the school of acting she aspired to as a teenager in New York when she was first starting out; then along came Sanford Meissner and a different sort of acting school that knocked all of her ideas about how to proceed out the window--till they came crawling back as she, Seldes, began creating her own marvelous combinatory web of both styles, the elegance of the past and the electric presence of postwar Method Acting sense theory. Billy Crudup at the opposite end of the pole is so young that when he went to see his first play, Dustin Hoffman in DEATH OF A SALESMAN, Hoffman at 41 seemed older than time, easily ancient enough to play beatup, withered old Willy Loman (remember how controversial a choice it was to cast Hoffman in the part at the time!) The interviewers in ACTORS AT WORK show a wonderful touch; they're always there, fielding questions, prompting the reluctant to speak more freely, they're catching the humor of the replies and volleying it right back, and yet they're not afraid to probe into unexpected areas of experience. I like the way that they often ask the actor to step back into childhood and describe what first lured him or her into the theater; or perhaps, as they ask Dianne Wiest, when you knew you wanted to become an actor, "Did your childhood support that in any way?" Now, that's the sort of question a prosecutor might not ask, for you're usually supposed to "know"what the witness will say before you ask the question. But most of the time the actors here jump right in and engage with Tichler and Kaplan. This book features what has got to be the longest interview I'm sure that Frances (SIX FEET UNDER) Conroy will ever be asked to grant! I'm a little puzzled about her prominence here; her name even pops up in questions T and K ask other actors, but maybe she's a client or something, or maybe she's the hidden master of acting on stage in New York, whereas, I just don't feel it from watching her on TV or in the movies. Are any of them a little vain? Yes, maybe, and their names are both Kevin, (oh, and one is called Mandy), but hey, they're stars, they deserve to be able to show off a bit from time to time. And yes, there are tons of insights into acting here; not only acting, but keeping it together; gathering up one's courage; combining political action with art; surviving the inevitable lean years when you become last year's critical darling, this year's who's that, I forget. For the most part the actors involved come off as real people, with human frailties but also something of the poet to all of them, it's a fine, fine book.