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Post by stephen on Jun 29, 2019 15:37:39 GMT
I want to take this time to talk about an actor who should be spoken of in the same breath as John Cazale, an actor who should be top of the list when it comes to "poetic" performers, and whose untimely passing is an understated tragedy in the history of cinema: Raul Julia.
Julia started out something of a theater wunderkind, tackling Shakespeare right out of the gate to high acclaim. Mentored by Orson Bean, Julia was a regular on and off Broadway, where he caught the eye of Joseph Papp, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival, and by the end of his career, he'd racked up an impressive array of the Bard's work, and earned a handful of Tony nods in the process (winning a Drama Desk Award as well). Julia also acted against Meryl Streep during this time, which started out rather fractiously but eventually grew into a tight friendship.
Then Julia moved to Hollywood, and after a couple of lesser turns in obscure fare, he hit it big with a Mack Truck-level turn in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Julia and William Hurt gave powerfully symbiotic performances which informed each other so well, and I genuinely believe they could've swapped roles (as they initially did when they were cast) and both still would've been amazing. They were titanic screen partners who really brought the best out of each other.
Julia followed it up with scene-stealing turns in cinematic and television productions left and right before hitting his most iconic role: Gomez Addams. Meanwhile, he was magnificent in HBO's The Burning Season, which earned him awards and acclaim... and, unfortunately, also exposed his fatal illness, as he was diagnosed with cancer during production.
Despite his failing health, Julia immersed himself in what would be one of his signature roles, and the part that embodied what made Julia such a unique and stellar talent: M. Bison in Street Fighter. A rather poor and hackneyed film overall, Julia's performance is legitimately Oscar-worthy. "But for me, it was Tuesday" is one of the greatest burns in cinematic history.
God only knows what Julia would've done had he survived, but he was most definitely a singular talent.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 29, 2019 16:19:59 GMT
Julia is also a guy who is caught in between in when he was born and when he passed away - it insanely and sadly restricted his career because he essentially only had less than 15 years combined across media - The Burning Season is on the cusp of a TV Boom and he's 54 I think - TV was wide open to him thereafter. When he was young he was constricted by look and ethnicity for example even on stage:
In '79 there was a famous proposed production of Hamlet by Papp with all the great New York actors - Pacino, Streep, Walken, Julia - they even rehearsed it. That never happened but he then played a crazy span of roles very quickly - Nine, Man of La Mancha, Othello, and on film KoTSW, Addams Family etc. So he basically goes from 4th of that proposed Hamlet cast to the most versatile stage actor of them at least all immediately afterwards.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 30, 2019 10:27:26 GMT
Well if Roy Scheider hurt his "career" by staying away from film for 3 years to do stage who is an actor that has done the opposite - like the plot of the movie "Birdman" - had a comeback not on film but on the stage itself? Which leads us to Alan Bates. A guy from that insanely gifted 60s UK generation who at first was the biggest star too - major film roles in Zorba The Greek among others he had success in films later even - Oscar nominated for The Fixer and memorable in The Go Between but Bates was also cruelly mocked - he was much prettier and seemed to use his looks far more than his peers. What Bates then did was to selectively transfer to Broadway - a 2 time BA Tony winner off of only 2 post movie fame appearances (1973 and 2002). Those 2 Tony wins gave him a whole different cache - and you saw his later film successes around them too (An Unmarried Woman, Gosford Park) and he slipped in some acclaimed TV work as well. Bates is that celebrity trick - the pre-George Clooney pretty boy that everyone says they always loved but really didn't - and Bates did it by smartly playing one acting medium against another and winning people over. With Charlotte Rampling in Georgy Girl at the height of movie fame:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 1, 2019 10:44:02 GMT
For some people the cleverness Alan Bates used to manage and sustain his career doesn't always work out for them - regardless of talent - and today's person is very talented - Joan AllenA BA Tony Winner, 3 time Oscar nominee, and Emmy nominee Allen recently starred in a TV show that didn't catch on (The Family) and play revival that did great - but for Elaine May (Kenneth Lonergan's Waverly Gallery) - but not as much for Allen and in film she's been MIA despite great versatility and range. She's 62 now, and a performer of her stature has somehow been squeezed out of her place across mediums. Too old for star roles, too young for Glenda Jackson/Elaine May late career actor triumphs let's hope something comes her way that gives her a chance to dazzle again because she's certainly capable. Allen with Kevin Kline in The Ice Storm :
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Post by Mattsby on Jul 1, 2019 22:51:19 GMT
Not mentioned yet, Tim RothWith over 100 credits... Shockingly only has one Oscar nom and no Emmy love! He was regularly on the London stage in the '80s, some Shakespeare and Jean Genet, and in '04 made his US debut in an off-broadway Sam Shepard. So, lacking here and it's been a while but I don't think I'd be so surprised if he returned eventually in some capacity.... As for TV - impressive one-two punch right at the start, a mad, tense perf in Made in Britain and then Meantime where he's timid, mentally slow, miniaturized. Luckily you could argue his genius Vincent and Theo perf ( pacinoyes favorite) as either TV or Film as it was made as a mini-series and from there cut into a feature per Altman's deal. He's excellent as Van Gogh tested, rivaled, undermined, so possessed by his work and the need to do it - there's a rush of themes and psychosis that all go thru Roth who's extreme, unfiltered, disheveled, suggestive, and affecting. How precise his eyes are during the portraits, to the details... dipping each finger into the powder colors almost mindlessly.... Another TV role, that I watched while it aired, Lie to Me where he's charismatic and plays the intelligence as offhand and effortless. Overall, I love how he can move from high-key and hyperactive (Gridlock'd for one) to pared-down like Funny Games, or pitched somewhere in the middle like Reservoir Dogs. Comedy too - Four Rooms, Rosencratz. He's a smart, loose actor.... that new indie Luce opposite Naomi Watts again comes out in one month! And maybe my fav thing about him, I'm convinced no one, ever, has worked with better filmmakers --- QT, Woody Allen, Coppola, Herzog, Haneke, Altman, Lynch, Frears, Mike Leigh, Agnieszka Holland, John Sayles, Wenders, Tornatore, Greenaway, Burton, Roeg, etc!
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 1, 2019 23:37:39 GMT
Love Tim Roth of course and he also has an insanely high number of performances where his work is conveying a joy within the performance. That of course is one of the things that George C. Scott said you should see in great acting work (and which I mentioned in the case of Huppert's Greta recently).
Well in Reservoir Dogs ("they don't know shit, you're fnckin Baretta, they believed every word"), Pulp Fiction, Rob Roy etc. and some scenes where he has to put on a display in some ways that brings you along - Deceiver or Jumpin At The Boneyard (in which he singlehandedly justifies the movie in this way), or Hateful 8 where he's quite entertaining - yet he never loses the character either and neither do you.
So you in those roles you get an extra level - he's a character acting on two levels (or more even).
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 2, 2019 11:54:10 GMT
When it comes to signature roles - no one had the burden - or burden of history quite like Paul Winfield. Famous for 2 roles especially - one film and one TV - those 2 roles were like a history book of the modern African American experience. Just the 3rd black male nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for Sounder in 1972 - he was nominated with his co-star (the previously covered Cicely Tyson) - an amazing and historic feat. Both lost but it would take 20 years before that scenario would happen again. He then re-teamed with Tyson for another knockout, this time on TV - portraying Martin Luther King to great acclaim but lost the Emmy here too. Paul Winfield never won an Oscar or Tony - but did a lot of fine stage work including Checkmates with Denzel Washington. He would eventually win an Emmy for a guest role on series TV after several nods and had a long and successful career across all mediums - and 2 roles that meant very much to very many. Winfield and Tyson on the set of the Martin Luther King miniseries:
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Post by TerryMontana on Jul 2, 2019 15:21:52 GMT
I missed the opportunity to talk about my favorite Tim Roth earlier but I really love the guy. He can easily act in many different genres and be fantastic in all of them. His work in Pulp Fiction, H8, Rob Roy, Reservoir Dogs and Lie to Me is great plus, The Legend of 1900 is one of my all-time favorite movies.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 3, 2019 13:18:09 GMT
Well, this is embarrassing - 20 pages into this thread and we just now cover Helen Hayes? Her career represented much of the 20th century and she had major success throughout it too. The very first winner of the acting triple crown - a 2 time Oscar and Tony winner and 1 time Emmy winner (and multiple nominee) she occupied a rare space in US acting history. Known as the "First Lady of American Theatre" - her career spanned 80 years across all media and she was in many respects nothing less than acting royalty.
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Post by stephen on Jul 3, 2019 13:59:35 GMT
A word on Paul Winfield: one of the five best narrative voices ever. I used to love City Confidential when he hosted it -- guy had a voice that could soothe and chill you to the bone at the same time.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 4, 2019 11:21:16 GMT
How does one determine who actually gets "acclaim"? Who decides if an actor is "great" - critics, award bodies, the public and when do they stop? Well consider the case of Michael Moriarty - who was widely acclaimed by everyone for a time - he won a Lead Tony and 3 Emmy's - was a major lead on series TV (Law and Order) and did some fine work in film but is somewhat forgotten today - not totally - but relative to the level of awards acclaim he had at least. He worked all 3 mediums with an alarmingly easy ability to switch from one to another. In the 70s you could even argue him in some ways with our biggest US film actors - and that Tony and those Emmy's (Glass Menagerie and Holocaust) carried a whole lot of weight too - his Emmy's even resembled feature film and so did his co-stars - Katherine Hepburn and Meryl Streep. Moriarty still pops up a bit here and there - he's close to 80 now - and his fine TV work especially is ripe for rediscovery to a whole new younger audience who just might wonder - who is this talented guy? From Bang The Drum Slowly with Robert DeNiro:
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Post by stephen on Jul 4, 2019 12:53:12 GMT
I always liked Moriarty -- even though I feel Law & Order didn't truly come into its own until his departure and he was replaced by the inimitable Sam Waterston. Moriarty's one of those classy presences who could always be relied upon to punch up a lackluster project, and I think he's sensational in Holocaust.
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Post by sirjeremy on Jul 5, 2019 6:23:28 GMT
I wanted to highlight two-time Emmy winner and two-time Tony winner, Cynthia Nixon, who has been acting in all three mediums since she was a teenager (she's now 53). She hasn't made a huge impact yet in cinema but she turned in award worthy performances in the first Sex and the City film, James White, and A Quiet Passion. Her versatility is especially evidenced in theatre, where she's appeared on Broadway in plays including The Little Foxes, The Real Thing, Hurly Burly, Rabbit Hole and Wit. She's also one of only 24 people who don't yet have an Oscar, to go with their Grammy, Emmy and Tony awards (others include Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin and Hugh Jackman).
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 5, 2019 12:43:47 GMT
Today an actor I will argue hurt himself by walking away from stage in the 70s and how that eventually lead to him in effect typecasting himself out of movies and TV, James Woods. Woods was Moriarty/Streep's co-star in Holocaust and he used that as a launching pad for a 2 time Oscar nominated film career and a multiple Emmy nominated one as well. In fact he was the king of pre-Golden Age TV - winning 2 Lead Emmy's and also having a memorable turn as Roy Cohn among other work. In 1989 he won his 2nd Emmy over one of the most stacked fields in TV history - Tommy Lee Jones, Duvall, Kingsley, Gielgud. Don't tell me movie stars win Emmy's for just going on TV - it wasn't even true then. But Woods - a very fine actor - damaged his acting arc himself too imo, he was so good at portraying villains (especially) or quirky character roles that he couldn't pivot to anything else seemingly normal or recognizable - actors like exotic roles, but he was ALL exotic, too much so I'd say. TV became a confirmation of it not a rescue from it - and when those roles ran out, he hit a wall. You can't say he didn't do some big things - he clearly did - he starred for Leone, Stone and Scorsese after all - but you can't help thinking there could have been even more for James Woods. From his (first) Emmy winning film Promise with James Garner:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 6, 2019 11:10:41 GMT
Behind every great King there is a great Fool - so today let's focus on my favorite Fool from King Lear or at least the one I first think of as a sort of standard bearer - John Hurt. Hurt was not as active in theater as you might first think but he did some and did several major theater roles on film too. His Fool opposite Olivier's Lear in the televised production imo makes the entire piece work - he is in effect a perfect Fool, and a perfect foil for Olivier. But of course he did many great and distinctive film performances as well - The Elephant Man to Midnight Express - to some personal quirky faves like a heartbreaking turn in Love and Death on Long Island. On TV some very notable productions including examples of his theater acting chops as well in particular he had great TV success as author Quentin Crisp and Caligula in I, Claudius. John Hurt was an amazingly versatile film performer in lead or support who used all his tools most capably - he was a really great voice actor for example - and a bit more theater work would hold him in even higher esteem but much of his work is never the less mostly peerless, regardless. With the great Olivier in King Lear - an acting dynamic duo:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 8, 2019 11:40:23 GMT
Who's the most acclaimed actor/actress on this board?
Well I'd argue, you never, ever hear a bad word uttered about Laura Dern and she represents a schism in 2nd generation actors and children of the industry too.
Dern doesn't have an Oscar (and that may change soon - she does have 2 nods) and does have an Emmy and many nods - she's very deep in TV - but noticeably has almost no stage work. That is often the case when your parents are famous (Bruce Dern/Diane Ladd) where you could be introduced to the industry in less painful, more dynamic ways.
In a way, Dern is an example of "no theater, who cares?" - nothing in her film or TV performances suggests that she couldn't do theater after all - she's an eminent professional - if anything, she'd likely do it fearless even - but it creates an interesting argument if you want to argue it. We won't really know that but you can almost tell the filmed medium award laurels are almost due to start increasing at a rapid pace for her in her 50s now regardless.
She remains an inherently "cool" actress and beloved by a certain almost fanatical alternative niche - the non-glamour girl, heavyweight of dramatic chops, MVP of everything she touches and certainly from the work she's done now over a lot of years, it's not hard to see why she inspires that kind of fan (and filmmaker) devotion.
From Inland Empire, below :
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2019 12:25:07 GMT
pacinoyes - How do you think Kate Winslet would fare onstage? She may well be the most acclaimed actor who's never even attempted it.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 8, 2019 13:27:11 GMT
How do you think Kate Winslet would fare onstage? She may well be the most acclaimed actor who's never even attempted it. I know she did some theater around Titanic time (before?) but her whole reason for it gets into interesting things and I think she's suited to do it with her background too - it gets into some strange side subjects including sexism and whether you have to be a little insane to be truly great - actors in that way are like musicians - no one wants a well adjusted musician............and no one wants a heroin addict as their accountant etc. Winslet I think has re-thought theater because of her life itself - having kids and family and other actresses like say Kidman who I consider a notch below Winslet actually as a film actress has been able to do some theater so it big time gets into the general differences between men and women and who can "have it all". Men for example tend to go into the theater because on some level they are allowed to be anti-social lunatics - not all of them Kevin Kline is a well adjusted married guy ............some others..........John Lithgow ...........Denzel Washington/Tom Hanks........... they are normies like that. But in general - the greatest American and UK actors are drunks or ex-drunks or serial relationship disaster guys which is why they like the theater lifestyle. I posted this a little earlier in this thread and I think it's one of the best clips in this whole thread - Anthony Hopkins talking about what theater cost the GOAT actor (in this thread at least) Laurence Olivier - Hopkins might as well BE Kate Winslet here talking about why he left the theater and it seems sensible and reasonable to me.............where for women like Winslet it would be broached in a far more sexist way right from the start: "Well...........Kidman and Blanchett do it, come on so can you............ you can have everything too Kate!"
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 9, 2019 13:08:28 GMT
Today's topic is luck - and how sometimes it can be a bit cruel. Mentioned but not profiled in this thread and called a GOAT contender from the UK. The problem is that 4 of her general peers (although not generational exactly) have already won the Triple Crown while she has somehow not - Judi Dench. There is no Triple Crown rivals group even close to this competitively and Glenda Jackson, Maggie Smith, (the much younger) Helen Mirren, and Vanessa Redgrave have all achieved it - 3 of them all in Lead (except Redgrave). Dench won an BA Oscar and did much marvelous film work, carries a monumental/legendary stage background including a definite Lady Macbeth - and won a BA Tony too but 3 times has lost the Emmy award. Her reputation covers some huge ground to the extent that she is still mentioned as that greatest level whether she has the hardware - and she has plenty of other awards anyway - or not. An actress of uncommon strength and dignity and when she wants to - a frighteningly cold aspect as well. With Cate Blanchett in Notes From A Scandal :
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 10, 2019 9:58:27 GMT
If Judi Dench has bad luck what then do we make of Kevin Spacey? Unlike Dench's competitive rivals - the US has nothing like that especially for men. There is no living US male actor except Pacino who has the Triple Crown and Spacey had in many ways set up his whole career to do it specifically. Mentioned but not profiled even in the opening post in this thread he floats dangerously close to this topic without being seriously talked about now. Very major film career with 2 Oscars, big-time theater commitment - bigger than anyone in the US even (and a Tony) - and historic in many ways - but without an Emmy - in TV for House of Cards especially. That show changed several things in this streaming world and yet Spacey - so lucky with Oscars and Tonys, - the show's most identifiable figure missed out here and in some other TV work too. Now it remains unclear if he'll ever act in any medium again at 59 - that isn't bad luck exactly rather than it's just bad, a sad waste of a career in general. He has 6 Emmy nominations and a couple of times would have been the favorite to win even. As Richard III below, wearing a crown ............but without "the" crown for now at least:
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Post by TerryMontana on Jul 10, 2019 10:13:31 GMT
I watched him playing Richard III in Greece a few years ago and it was a mesmerizing experience for me.
As an actor I rank him among the very best alive. But he just ruined his career (and life possibly). Many will remember him not as an artist but for the things he's accused of.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 11, 2019 19:27:22 GMT
As a tribute to the late great Rip Torn - let's take a look at him today. Married to GOAT US actress contender Geraldine Page (already covered) - Torn did some major work in all mediums and genres some of it with Page herself. He was mostly known for his sense of humor but in film he road the rail somewhat daringly when he was funny within a psychosis. In film, Coming Apart and Payday were within 3 years of each other and they were idiosyncratic, complex - in some ways tour de force portrayals. He had off-Broadway and Broadway success including a Tony nod for Sweet Bird Of Youth with Page. In TV a landmark - Emmy winning turn in The Larry Sanders Show. Torn was actually a better actor than even his filmography suggests - his temperament (and his drinking) burned a lot of bridges - but he's one of those guys where you can see his mind working in parts and it can be marvelously exciting - drama or comedy - when he was on to something, he was REALLY on to something. With Anne Meara in Broadway's Anna Christie:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 12, 2019 15:45:02 GMT
We've mentioned acting couples before - Torn & Page, Cronyn & Tandy but never covered them in a profile like today : Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. So linked together they received the Kennedy Center Honors together (!) and together had a stage/TV/film career spanning several decades. As individual performers Dee won an Emmy and scored something of a late career coup winning a sort of career achievement SAG for American Gangster - got an Oscar nod too - for a memorable scene. She also took her Broadway turn in A Raisin In The Sun to the film version to much acclaim. Twice used as a couple in films by Spike Lee (Davis even more) for cultural context and significance in his works they also added great weight to not just his films but in everything they appeared in .............particularly together. From Do The Right Thing, below :
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 13, 2019 12:22:40 GMT
Earlier when we covered James Woods I had said there should have been more for him - that goes double for today's person a major Emmy and Oscar winner whose quirks - often unrelated to the work - played an unfortunate game with her career - Faye Dunaway. Big success in film - Bonnie & Clyde, Chinatown, Network. Her film career hit a brick wall with a rather ferocious, go for broke portrayal of Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest. That performance was roundly mocked and worse - imitated - it never had a chance like Scarface did to even get reappraised because females in movies don't have that luxury. It has its defenders too (me for one) but it's hard to get any traction against the negative wave and it resulted in a career spinout that she never really shook off. Some good work in movies subsequently followed but mostly she was relegated to having to explain Mommie Dearest and her temper tantrums and she was constantly trying to constantly regroup. A weird cross-connection started to happen as she herself began to be seen as having the worst aspect of her Network and Mommie Dearest characters in real life. She won an Emmy for an unforgettable turn in Columbo and several times tried for a Glenn Close-type theater career resurgence too although that never caught fire in Terrence McNally's Master Class and currently on stage in a languishing production in Boston in Tea At Five. She has 2/3rds the Triple Crown for Leads and major roles in all three media, and I would argue for a time she had the best face in all the movies not merely for beauty but for the camera itself to capture. With Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde:
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Post by TerryMontana on Jul 13, 2019 12:42:46 GMT
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