Coral Gables Historical Archive
The Times
Thursday, March 9, 1961, page 73 (of 84)
The page
The text of this pageRead by computer from the scan, so some words may be wrong. The page picture is the original.
I ASK MYSELF. . .
BY SIR CEDRIC HARDWICKE Are actors inevitably egotists? Inevitably. As George Bernard Shaw said of a celebrated stage star, "The trouble with him is that he's in love with his wife, and an actor can afford only to be in love with himself." What differences do you see between Broadway and Piccadilly? I regard England as my wife and America as my mistress. How do you feel about sex? Nostalgically. Does your title affect your social life? A knighthood inflates the cost of living beyond all belief. I suffer from what might be termed sir-tax. I consider myself a square at the Round Table. Should a young man today become an actor? No. There is too much competition. He should go into politics, where there is none. Do you agree that too many modern actors are inaudible? No. Boosted sounds on television and stereophonic movies create lazy listening. Why pin all the blame on actors? Can you provide an example of unwilling audience-involvement? Shaw found fault at rehearsal with the last-act explosion of "Heartbreak House" and demanded a bigger bang. The stage manager assured him that on opening night there would be a bang to remember and accordingly warned the rest of the cast to that effect. When the cue came up, Edith Evans spoke the line, then prudently covered her face with her hands. Nothing happened. The audience was halfway out of the theater when a sudden, thunderous crash brought the ceiling down and sent two playgoers to the hospital. Shaw, for once, seemed satisfied. What do you think of psychoanalysis in the theater today? It's not new. Hamlet could have been a crazy mixed-up kid, maladjusted, emotionally unstable, and living in a broken home. What is your advice to young actresses? Watch cats! What is your advice to young actors? Try it on the dog. A dog reacts splendidly. Please him, frighten him, and anger him. What is your opinion of television? Like the polite curate in a celebrated Punch cartoon, who was asked by his rector, "How is your egg?" "Good in parts," he replied. Do you watch yourself on television? Not if I can avoid it, but an old movie of mine before bedtime works better than Seconal. How are the best acting effects created? Mostly by accident. Tree, whose memory was so undependable that he had a team of prompters concealed about the stage, once played a blind man. On opening night, his fingers snapped constantly to signal the nearest prompter that help was needed. Yet Tree was unanimously praised for giving an inspired characterization, with its nervous twitch of the fingers and the attitude of strained listening, which the critics found to be typical of those unfortunate beings who cannot see. Did you ever have a similar experience? When I cut a finger just before going on at the Birmingham Rep. A hastily applied plaster kept that finger as stiff as a board throughout my performance. The critics, however, took it as an inspired bit of invention- which they agreed quite made me an unusual and inspired actor. What is the most moving moment you remember in the theater? Seeing Ellen Terry when she was close to eighty years old play the trial scene of "The Merchant Of Venice." As she approached Portia's "quality of mercy" speech, her face went suddenly bleak and lost. She struggled vainly for a moment, then moved down to the footlights. "I am a very silly old lady," she said, "I cannot remember what I have to say." Almost to a man, the audience shouted the lines and cheered as she smiled her thanks and returned to her place. She played the rest of the scene to an enthralled audience. Continued After 50 years of being interviewed, famous actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke fires the questions- and answers them, too Excerpted from "A Victorian In Orbit," by Cedric Hardwicke as told by James Brough. © 1961 by Sir Cedric Hardwicke PHOTOGRAPHS BY BURR JERGER
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