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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2020 0:20:13 GMT
Have we mentioned Lee Grant? She is such a great actress - and what an interesting career! - Broadway, then winning Best Actress at Cannes with her first (and tiny) film role, blacklisted, becoming a critical & industry darling in her 40s, then transitioning into directing. Just watched her hilarious performance in 1970's The Landlord - have you seen this film, pacinoyes? I'm so glad that Grant's Oscar nomination has kept it in the history books forever - it's such an underrated gem. Diana Sands!!! Grant's and Beau Bridges' mother/son chemistry is really quite extraordinary:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 23, 2020 0:40:41 GMT
Have we mentioned Lee Grant? She is such a great actress - and what an interesting career! - Broadway, then winning Best Actress at Cannes with her first (and tiny) film role, blacklisted, becoming a critical & industry darling in her 40s, then transitioning into directing. Just watched her hilarious performance in 1970's The Landlord - have you seen this film, pacinoyes ? I'm so glad that Grant's Oscar nomination has kept it in the history books forever - it's such an underrated gem. Diana Sands!!! Grant's and Beau Bridges' mother/son chemistry is really quite extraordinary: Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat mention! I really like The Landlord very much and I love her in Shampoo which to me is a major American comedy. She's a unique and fascinating story - Oscar and Emmy winner and like you said branched out to directing. I could (and should) start adding names of people who turned to the theater to survive when blacklisted like she had to. That's a whole other tale - how New York set itself apart from Hollywood by keeping writers, actors, directors employed. In some ways I think it affected both film and stage for years - the blacklist had many ripple effects.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2020 0:48:05 GMT
Have we mentioned Lee Grant? She is such a great actress - and what an interesting career! - Broadway, then winning Best Actress at Cannes with her first (and tiny) film role, blacklisted, becoming a critical & industry darling in her 40s, then transitioning into directing. Just watched her hilarious performance in 1970's The Landlord - have you seen this film, pacinoyes ? I'm so glad that Grant's Oscar nomination has kept it in the history books forever - it's such an underrated gem. Diana Sands!!! Grant's and Beau Bridges' mother/son chemistry is really quite extraordinary: Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat mention! I really like The Landlord very much and I love her in Shampoo which to me is a major American comedy. She's a unique and fascinating story - Oscar and Emmy winner and like you said branched out to directing. I could (and should) start adding names of people who turned to the theater to survive when blacklisted like she had to. That's a whole other tale - how New York set itself apart from Hollywood by keeping writers, actors, directors employed. In some ways I think it affected both film and stage for years - the blacklist had many ripple effects. And I highly recommend the filmed version of The Seagull starring Grant as Arkadina (among a host of other great American actors!). A sexy, commanding performance from Grant. Perhaps my favorite iteration of this incredible character. Curious if you've ever gotten the chance to see it? - there are not enough adjectives to detail the love I have for it.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 23, 2020 1:24:31 GMT
I have seen it (from my Frank Langella obsessive career overview phase a few years back - everybody get ready for me to compare Hopkins to Langella in The Father later this year! ) Thank you for the full link - I will actually try to watch it in the next week or so if I can - it could use a re-watch .......I remember it being surprisingly good I thought and deftly balanced and not stiff (often a problem with Chekhov) - especially Grant who stole the show and Danner who was lovely here. All those Americans doing Chekhov - unlike the Lumet version too
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 26, 2020 20:50:25 GMT
Donald Pleasence - not mentioned yet, and I just found out he was Tony nom'd Best Actor for each of his last four Broadway plays btwn '62-'72. With over 200 IMDb credits (rumor is he never turned down a role) - his filmography looks messy and overflowed with crappy movies, but there are highly popular points too - Halloweens, Blofield, classics like The Great Escape, etc. With significantly less appeal than the major horror icons of the UK he rubbed shoulders with - Cushing, Lee - he seemed to gravitate to smaller roles and less likable characters.... or to the stage (at least for a while). A lot of his best work is underseen - The Caretaker, Wedding in White, Raw Meat - but my two favs are Cul-de-sac and Wake in Fright. While he had a tendency for broadness, I think he meshed that quality into his roles quite well - the undermined detective, strict war vet father, drunkard, villain, etc - there's a knowing posturing. He could also skillfully jump between types of roles - academics, raggedly vulnerable types, the unblinking menace. As for TV, I've seen his Twilight Zone and, better, his Columbo ep - but maybe I'm missing another standout work there?
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 27, 2020 13:30:52 GMT
She's been "sort of" covered but Meryl Streep is the default GOAT in US actresses from film alone - but she hasn't just done film either - a two-time Emmy winner for her acting, a one-time Tony nominee. Usually when Streep returns to the stage it's off-Broadway, for The Public Theater which gave her, a start. In practicality she hasn't had a true run on Broadway run in 40+ years. Streep - has more Oscar nominations in one medium alone - film (21) - than many of the GOATS both male AND female have combined across all three in Triple Crown nods. But Streep also shows how careful you have to be - there has to be pressure to return to Broadway, no one doubts she could do it, but is it "worth it"? When she goes on TV it's opposite big stars (Angels in America, Big Little Lies 2) and stage may need to be too. If someone could get Streep on Broadway one more time ........well it'd be like getting Day-Lewis out of retirement or something like that.......it's a casting coup everyone awaits. From the 2001 production of The Seagull with Kevin Kline directed by Mike Nichols:
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 2, 2020 15:18:26 GMT
Look, you'll notice certain actors repeat here a lot and that's because there's not many contenders for "best" really. There's only 4 Triple Crown winning men........and living contenders who aren't Triple Crown winners are rare - Duvall, Kline and a few others. So from time to time I'll post "news" too and here is something - finally! - that ties into one of the best and one of the biggest projects. Mark Rylance, just mentioned for his birthday, today gets mentioned for a likely return to a triumphant role (see the comment stephen made on Wolf Hall) A role that he missed out on the Emmy/SAG/Golden Globe for but that he could easily have won for too (Rylance lost to different actors each time) - and if this works out and he wins, there's his triple crown. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/02/publishing-event-of-a-lifetime-hilary-mantel-cromwell-wolf-hall-mirror-and-the-lightRylance in Wolf Hall:
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2020 3:56:04 GMT
Have we mentioned Diahann Carroll? Tony winner, Oscar nominee, and an icon/pioneer of television.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 10, 2020 11:35:38 GMT
Paul Muni - multiple Academy Award nominee 4 to 6 times depending on the "official" count, Oscar winner and a Tony winner broke so many Hollywood rules, he was like a one man Daniel Day-Lewis, Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier and Kevin Spacey. Muni mostly left Hollywood to concentrate on theater (like Spacey sort of tried to), went to TV before Olivier, was the first overtly ethic looking actor years before Hoffman and immersed himself into roles like DDL (or Brando, De Niro, whichever actor you prefer). Considered a great actor in his day - he was later reassessed negatively in many ways by critics, incorrectly labeled as lacking internal dimensions and playing too broadly. His last movie role - The Last Angry Man - can in some ways rival John Wayne in The Shootist or Joe Pesci in The Irishman - without the genre trappings, its still a great goodbye to film performance. Muni never won the Emmy - he easily could have - and if he had he'd have pulled off the Triple Crown with the least amount of combined total work.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 17, 2020 12:24:36 GMT
Anthony Hopkins has been covered a lot - he's not just a "great" he's a capital "G" Great - the post-Olivier UK all-time great in all mediums much in the same way Pacino is for the US - but I wanted to go back and look at something specific to him. The idea of his legacy and how he salvaged it - apparently. Up until just a few months ago, it looked like Hopkins had been "overtaken" by his closest living acting rival in some ways and a co-star who imo stole his thunder in both TV's The Dresser and also in his stage version of King Lear - Ian McKellen. But then The Good Liar happened where McKellen imo was clearly outacted by Helen Mirren........Cats happened to McKellen......and for Hopkins The Two Popes and The Father happened - his Lear may be lesser than McKellen's but it was still his and he rolls along in Westworld on TV. An Oscar nomination for one role in 2019, a likely one for The Father in 2020 - maybe a win? - regardless, he suddenly has reaffirmed his stature and at 80+ likely permanently. You can never tell about actors careers or where they'll eventually end up........see also Tom Hanks and Christopher Plummer. Hopkins and Olivia Colman in the upcoming The Father:
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 20, 2020 9:13:13 GMT
Zoe Caldwell passed away Feb 19th at age 86. We may not know her here much but she may be Australia's greatest in a only a pure stage way in the somewhat same manner that those that argue for Mark Rylance is.......she was a theater force of nature - 4 times a Tony winner for some tough and famous roles (Medea and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie). Very limited film (Purple Rose of Cairo, Birth) and TV work however but 4 Tony's and that complex stage resume overall goes a long way for a non-US actress especially. RIP
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 23, 2020 15:11:22 GMT
In a few days, I'm going to do a big profile on the undisputed (unless someone wants to dispute it? ) GOAT in all 3 mediums - and he is basically responsible for this thread, mentioned in the first post, Laurence Olivier. Maybe look at some actors young and old and how they relate to Lord Laurence. Not a contender for the "best" actor - but an actor who is making inroads on 2 of the 3 mediums and playing a big film role this year (or next?) that Olivier made very famous - Rebecca - Armie Hammer. Hammer not only has Rebecca, he has his 2nd Broadaway starring role coming up soon in Tracy Letts' The Minutes. Already he's starred in 2 BP nominees - some actors work their whole career to have that - and The Minutes may contend for Best Play even too. Hammer is only 33 - and has already done a lot of work on his resume. Hammer hasn't done much on TV but with Rebecca, The Minutes, his film successes in The Social Network and Call Me By Your Name - he may have a brighter future than we initially thought. Not just another pretty face(s), Hammer in The Social Network:
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 24, 2020 10:44:05 GMT
Continuing "the Olivier" theme after Armie Hammer yesterday - Claire Foy and Matt Smith - both in there 30s who in some ways evoke Olivier and Vivian Leigh. Foy and Smith aren't romantically linked afaik (Olivier and Leigh were married) but they have co-starred in a big TV show, The Crown and and a big play too, Lungs. Olivier and Leigh of course co-starred in several films and memorably onstage (most notably Ophelia to his Hamlet) in their 30s. Foy/Smith in Lungs and below them Leigh/Olivier in Hamlet:
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 24, 2020 21:51:12 GMT
Searched here for Damian Lewis who hasn't been mentioned yet?? I know pacinoyes loves some of his work, stephen too? Just watched the two trailers for his new movies and they both look pretty blah, he's barely in one of them it seems. So I've been looking him up.... 24y/o, he's quoted saying "I say yes, yes and yes to Broadway." Well, that he does, playing Laertes in the Ralph Fiennes-headlined Hamlet in '95; small role but he gets some critics praise - "deftly played" "intense" "fiery." Pacinoyes saw this play, if I recall? Then, a slow, spotty looking career - idk if he's ever had a great or stand-out movie perf outside of Keane from '04, an extremely sad, immediate-feeling, buzzing perf. Otherwise it's mostly TV highlights, Band of Brothers, Life (NBC crime-drama), and then the 2010s - Homeland (Emmy win), Wolf Hall (Emmy nom), & Billions - three very different parts and though they cover every year of the decade, he also found time to perform three plays in the UK - The Misanthrope (Molière), and two for the West End - American Buffalo (Mamet) opposite John Goodman, and The Goat Or Who Is Sylvia (Albee) opposite Sophie Okonedo. I haven't seen the plays or most of those shows, but I've seen enough to know he's talented - and that he can skillfully play disturbed and on edge or, to pivot, slick and somewhat charismatic. He just turned 49y/o - where do we see his career going? Will he return to Broadway this decade? Find a string of strong parts in prestige ensembles after OUATIH? Will he play a villain in a Marvel series? It's kinda feels up in the air right now where he'll go...
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Post by stephen on Feb 24, 2020 22:03:35 GMT
I do love me some Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers and Life were my shit, and he's great on Billions), and I am curious to see how he's gonna pull off playing Rob Ford of all people.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 24, 2020 22:39:19 GMT
Love him in Keane which I think is the best performance of mental illness by a male actor..........ever? (or at least that comes to mind). That performance is top 10 best of decade level stuff to me and to me he topped Peter Greene, Russell Crowe and Ralph Fiennes who all played the same condition prior to him.
Sometimes after he became famous he adopted that "I'm big-time/have major actor swagger" thing where he overacts like he has far more substantial leeway than he really does - that works if you're say Ben Kingsley and have earned it but that's hard to sell otherwise. You can really see this in his TV show "Life" where he's inspired and exhausting at the same time..... though he's always interesting at least and to me a quirky, interesting (and fun) actor even when he does that.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 25, 2020 15:38:18 GMT
Next up on the "Olivier influence" thing we've been doing lately is actors whose reputation precedes them and how you "present yourself" often leads to great acclaim. Olivier always had that "great actor" anchor around his neck and he never shied away from embracing it when he wanted to flex his position - he was quite different from Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud and James Mason in the way he acted on off screen/stage. In this way Glenda Jackson a Tripe Crown winner that we've talked about before most mimics Olivier - she triumphed in all 3 mediums, she walked away from acting for many years, returned to it without missing a beat - her reputation proceeds her in every way. Like Olivier, she didn't have to cultivate it like say Day-Lewis did (who is closer to Scofield than Olivier) and unlike Maggie Smith she seems far more out of reach even though their work is similar. It's the "Olivier-effect" being major because you're acting major at all times: Jackson onstage as "King Lear" :
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 26, 2020 10:53:55 GMT
So far in the "Olivier" influence thread I highlighted Armie Hammer and Glenda Jackson as people who borrowed some aspects of him in roles and in how they presented themselves. Next up is a GOAT female contender - US at least - talked about a lot but never in this particular way - Glenn Close. One of Olivier's strengths is what many would call a weakness - his ability and it is ability - to go full OTT - or be a "ham". To me those things are distinct - OTT is Gary Oldman at his most brilliant at times and a "ham" is Richard Gere at his worst. Olivier transformed it into a high "wtf is he doing?" Art - later in his career especially and several greats follow him down this "caricature" path including Hopkins, Pacino, Irons, Kingsley ......and I'm guessing this year Close will too in Hillbilly Elegy. In fact, you could picture Olivier playing the head of the Close family even - and to be a caricature is a PLUS for many actors too - they have to be definitive enough to draw the caricature at all in the first place. It's hard to judge that work too - but you're far more likely to judge it well because of who is playing it - another sort of "trick" of acting and how we respond to it. Close going full white trash in Hillbilly Elegy - it's a compliment! - later this year:
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 27, 2020 9:16:37 GMT
The " Laurence Olivier" week continues by looking at Olivier in movies and how misunderstood he is - and like all actors who break the mold not always fully considered too. People will tell you he was a stage actor who did Shakespeare but that grossly misrepresents his work in film. 6 of his 10 Oscar nominations were for non-Shakespearean roles at all. He also completely reinvented himself after 1955 and daringly too - returning just one more time to a Shakespeare film (1965's Oscar nominated for Othello). At 10 nominations there is no guarantee in 2020 that any male will even equal that total - he trailed Nicholson only at 12 - which is quite a feat in itself - he was never as "in" with Hollywood as Nicholson for one thing. His Shakespeare roles are often treated like the "same" thing when he actually showed a great range across each of them. Of course he was much more important than just that award or any award could have been. But even at that metric he was astonishing - 9 Emmy nods, 5 wins - no Tony but on London stage many historic triumphs. Just by the numbers alone he's hard to argue as the GOAT across the 3 mediums. Olivier checking that his Oscar is real and not made of candy:
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 27, 2020 21:19:56 GMT
Quick - what's the best screen Macbeth? Well, one we never got to see was - Olivier's Macbeth - considered one of his greatest stage triumphs it is the one big Shakespearean role he never filmed and the big disappointment of his career. Planned to be shot with his wife Vivien Leigh (who co-starred on stage with him) the financing fell through and Pauline Kael cited Olivier's failure to make a film of what was considered one of his greatest performances, to be emblematic of the perversity of Hollywood. Read all about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth_(unfinished_film)A new Macbeth shoots this year - just like Rebecca mentioned earlier - with Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington for Joel Coen. Below Olivier and Leigh on stage in Macbeth:
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 28, 2020 12:01:13 GMT
One of the stupid things people say is that some actors are more "relevant" than others - usually that just means "make more money" but in 2020 no actor would seem more relevant or of the moment at least than Laurence Olivier. This week we covered Glenda Jackson, Armie Hammer, Glenn Close, Denzel Washington all in modern connection to him or the same exact roles and today we wrap it up with his contemporary US equivalent Al Pacino. Pacino this year in Amazon's somewhat entertaining/somewhat a dumpster fire - "Hunters" evoked THREE Olivier performances - and he's played a lot of his roles (see also Richard III, Merchant of Venice etc.) - his turn in "Hunters" evokes Marathon Man, Boys From Brazil and Clash of the Titans - if you've seen the show you will get 1 and 2 easily. But Clash of the Titans also applies because to many people that was the first time they ever saw Olivier in anything and like Hunters it is very much a comic book too - not literally but in feel and style. The same way Star Wars and later MCU opened up a new audience of movie lovers to actors who didn't know them before (like Brando in Superman too) Clash/Hunters kept these two all-time great, 70+ year olds in front of cameras - even if it was sort of like watching weightlifters bench press toothpicks. How relevant - a toga party in 1981! 2 years earlier he had done a similar trick too- Van Helsing In Dracula later played by his UK heir to the throne - Anthony Hopkins.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 3, 2020 10:54:29 GMT
With the passing of James Lipton - today we cover a school/movement rather than a person - something people in the US could claim as part of their "national acting history" - a version in some ways of The National Theater in the UK - The Actors Studio. The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in in New York City. It was founded on October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford and Robert Lewis. (see link below). For over 70 years this school has encouraged and cultivated acting (and other crafts) - for many years now, its Presidents are Ellen Burstyn, Al Pacino and Alec Baldwin (who recently took over from Harvey Keitel). The number of people who have attended the school or studied at some point there is overwhelming but there was a time when an entire generation of actors had some connection to The Actors Studio and its acting guru Lee Strasberg. Marilyn Monroe and Paul Newman at the Studio, in the 50s, being the best looking girl and boy in the class, naturally: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actors_Studio
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 4, 2020 13:43:59 GMT
Sort of stealing this idea - and it's a good one - from stephen and his post about audiences only knowing Glenda Jackson - from film work since plays "disappear" we can't see them unless we are there when performed - what's the Triple Crown "matter"? That of course is true and gets into an interesting side issue - do film actors ever get close to the same bump from TV or Theater - I would argue "Yes" in some cases for TV, Kidman in BLL 1, Duvall in Lonesome Dove etc. but what Triple Crown threat gets the advantage of theater in their resume - rather than it not mattering to most? ...........and when does the Triple Crown matter to start placing actors "above" Oscar winners anyway?Well, that maybe happens if it's an addendum to other great work - a GOAT film actor who did theater too - Glenn Close etc. - but even more it helps people in reverse of that - Mark Rylance and Kenneth Branagh etc.- people who have carved their niche in theater very famously first and had their name established in that way before the film/TV success. That's the dirty little secret with the Triple Crown after all - Mark Rylance is obviously great - but a lot of his rep is people think he's great because well maybe they just heard that. Kenneth Branagh in The Entertainer on stage - he's a theater actor dontchaknow:
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Post by Mattsby on Mar 6, 2020 19:32:01 GMT
I was going to post about her on the under-appreciated actor thread but I think she's got the stuff to be included here, plus fits right in with the Olivier influence. Recruited to the Old Vic repertory by Olivier and Ralph Richardson at 17y/o, Margaret Leighton bloomed under them and would become a major theater actress, it seems. When the Old Vic made its Broadway debut in 1946, who did Life Magazine put on their cover: 4x Tony nominee, 2x winner in Best Actress for Separate Tables '57, and Night of the Iguana '62 (oppose Bette Davis, amazing pic of them in spoilers below). She won an Emmy in 1970 for Hamlet playing Gertrude. And was Oscar nodded Supp Actress in 1971 for The Go Between (its only nomination, odd enough). She passed away in 1976 at 53y/o, much too young. I actually discovered her only recently in Under Capricorn '49 as the scheming maid where she's really good - and then soon after saw From Beyond the Grave '73 where she's wildly hilarious - I still can't believe it's the same actress. She has some deeply moving moments in The Holly and The Ivy '52 (playing Ralph Richardson's daughter, the same year she played his loving wife in Home At Seven). The Go Between isn't a perf that stays with you but on rewatch she is actually quite good and subtle as the controlling matriarch. As for TV, from what I've seen she's especially great in Alfred Hitchcock Presents "Tea Time" which is like a micro female Sleuth, she packs a lot of humor and vanity and hurt in just 20 mins.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 10, 2020 7:39:32 GMT
Max Von Sydow - Not merely a monumental film presence he also did all mediums - TV famously in Citizen X and Game of Thrones, and met Ingmar Bergman THROUGH theater even. Great quote from his IMDB page: "The theater is more a medium for an actor than the cinema is. You are totally responsible for what you do on the stage; in a film, someone else can come in and edit you and do something totally different to what you had in mind originally, and they can cut you out, play around with the scenes or the chronology of the story. This happens always-more or less-in the cinema. On the stage, you deliver a performance and that is your responsibility. So filmmaking is much more a director's medium than it is an actor's."With Triple Crown winner Anne Bancroft in Broadway's Duet For One - Von Sydow later filmed this as a movie - and this play was directed by William Friedkin too:
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