RIP Mel Gussow

[bronze_ribbons]

From his NYT obituary:

In a lecture, called "The Role of the Critic," Mr. Gussow told an anecdote about an actor who played the doctor who appears only very briefly in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Mr. Gussow said the actor described the play this way: "It's about this doctor who takes this crazy lady off to an asylum." It taught him much, he said, about what it means to be a player, of any sort, in the theater.

"For an actor or a playwright, even a critic," Mr. Gussow concluded, "one must always believe that what one does is important."

Comments

from Socrates

[(Anonymous)]

No, it just shows the narcissism of actors. Good or bad, they all have to have it to be truly great.

I'm a fair-to-middlin' actor. My big ego comes from other things, but I ain't got the right strain of narcissism to make it with any sort of success in acting. I should know. I'm one hell of an acting coach. :)

"It's about this doctor . . . " my ass. It's about Stanley and poor Blanche and . . . my favorite . . . STELLLAAA!! STELLLLAA!!! STELLAAA!!!

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

Interesting -- how would you characterize "the right strain of narcissism"? I'm a terrible actress, and one day late in college it finally dawned on me that I wasn't actually interested in inhabiting anyone else's skin.

from Socrates, who ain't registerin' for this Big Brother Live Journal thing

[(Anonymous)]

Well, I think I'd call it the strain of narcissism that many of my most beloved people in life have -- they perform for attention much of the time, make themselves more visible and public than they probably need to, are gregarious and friendly though personally very hard on themselves and tend toward manic depression though not usually the clinical full-blown version, and they are charming and sweet as a rule, though it can get a little exhausting just to be around them. But I do love them, and I have a "thing" for them, actually.

How's that for sounding judgemental about a strain of people I love? Am I narcissistic to do so?

Re: from Socrates

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I don't happen to think arrogance is necessarily a bad thing (that is, when coupled with the chops and the drive to produce good work), so I don't see the qualities you describe as negative. As for your ability to dissect them as "judgmental," you're a coach -- you're supposed to be able to pick apart this stuff, vrai?

I know what you mean about exhausting, though -- I went to a seminar two weeks ago on what makes a good salesperson, and the words "relentless" and "ruthless" both came to mind (possibly because the guy kept using the phrase "shoot the dogs" in terms of firing bad salespeople, which in turn reminded me of your sweetie's rant 5-6 years ago about being fed up with mediocre actors).