Actors Talk: Profiles and Stories from the Acting Trade

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: Actors Talk. And Dennis Brown does so much more than merely listen. These are not interviews, they're portraits, carefully etched memories of time spent with some of the 20th Century's most important players. How fortunate he was to have been able to share that time with these gifed people, but how fortunate they were to be recalled in such fond detail by this latter-day Boswell, Mr. Brown. The author has the clarity of vision to be aware of some of these artists' human faults and foibles, yet he also possesses the compassion to forgive them their trespasses and place them in the larger context of their accomplished careers. The actors tell stories about the plays and films on which they've worked, and Mr. Brown tells equally fascinating tales about his encounters with his subjects. Speaking as an inveterate devourer of actors' biographies and interview books, I believe that the highest goal to which they can aspire is to make the reader feel as if he personally knows the performer. In that regard, Dennis Brown's ACTORS TALK is one of the very best of its kind.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: Actors Talk. And Dennis Brown does so much more than merely listen. These are not interviews, they're portraits, carefully etched memories of time spent with some of the 20th Century's most important players. How fortunate he was to have been able to share that time with these gifed people, but how fortunate they were to be recalled in such fond detail by this latter-day Boswell, Mr. Brown. The author has the clarity of vision to be aware of some of these artists' human faults and foibles, yet he also possesses the compassion to forgive them their trespasses and place them in the larger context of their accomplished careers. The actors tell stories about the plays and films on which they've worked, and Mr. Brown tells equally fascinating tales about his encounters with his subjects. Speaking as an inveterate devourer of actors' biographies and interview books, I believe that the highest goal to which they can aspire is to make the reader feel as if he personally knows the performer. In that regard, Dennis Brown's ACTORS TALK is one of the very best of its kind.

Rating:
Summary: Informative reading for students of theatre and cinema.
Review: Actors Talk: Profiles And Stories From The Acting Trade is a collection of interviews conducted with eleven talented, experienced, gifted performers of stage and screen. Men and women who have influenced American popular culture through their roles and performances. They include Lillian Gish, Gregory Peck, Danny Kaye, Sterling Hayden, Barry Bostwick, Jose Ferrer, Stacy Keach, George Rose, Jessica Tandy, Paul Winfield, and Beulah Bondi (the beloved character actress who played Jimmy Stewart's mother seven times). These conversations are illuminating, candid, and reveal moments of vulnerability as well as occasions of theatrical triumph. Some of the conversations stand as testaments to players who are no longer with us, others are markers for actors whose careers continue to expand and transform. Actors Talk captures each of these artist's inimitable and varied experiences, from the audition to the performance and from the failure to the success -- things that hallmarked each of their careers. Actors Talk is highly recommended reading for aspiring actors, fans, and anyone with an interest in the history of American theater on stage or on screen.

Rating:
Summary: A BOOK WORTH LISTENING TO
Review: And the winner is ... this tome, a lively and thoroughly enjoyable look at the careers of some of the past century's most important performers. Author Dennis Brown probes without snooping; he asks the right questions and gets the rights responses. This is not a who-did-what-to-whom, nor it is a kiss-and-tell. What it is is an insightful look into the acting profession, told by the people who populate it. Gish. Peck. Ferrer. Tandy. Kaye. In addition, there are nearly two dozen brief conversations with other thespians -- everyone from Patty Duke to Joan Plowright discussing everything from child actors to auditions. Let them talk. Make sure to listen.