John W. Kennedy wrote:   
   > On Sep 17, 1:47 pm, Blair Leatherwood    
   > wrote:   
   >> Joe Chicago wrote:   
   >>> I just listened to Jerry Doyle's 9/10 program, and he asserted --   
   >>> quite seriously -- that Michael O'hare was delusional during his time   
   >>> on Bab 5.  Claims that he would read the script cover to cover   
   >>> (instead of the usual actor's approach of paying attention only to his   
   >>> own lines), and then go to "the producers and the writers" and say   
   >>> "I've got the script; all i need now is the code."  Doyle: "Guy was   
   >>> completely nuts"  and that is why he did not work after the first   
   >>> season.   
   >>> has anybody heard anything like that?  It is notable that IMDB lists   
   >>> almost no work at all for O'Hare after Bab 5.   
   >> Interesting.  However, I do take exception to your statement that actors   
   >> only look at their own lines--bad actors may do that, but not anyone   
   >> with any respect for themselves, the profession, or the writers.   
   >    
   > It depends on the working context. A leading actor on a one-hour   
   > weekly TV series may not have time to spend on other people's lines.   
   > And an older actor doing a major role in a play may have enough   
   > problems learning his own.   
      
   Agreed.  What I was responding to was the statement that the actors'    
   *usual* approach was to look only at their own lines.  There are as many    
   ways of preparation for a role as there are actors.  Pretty much every    
   actor that I know is annoyed if they can't get their hands on the entire    
   script (be it for a play or a movie) so that they can understand their    
   function in the piece (admittedly, pizza delivery guy is probably pretty    
   clear--unless he turns out to be the axe murderer).  There are certainly    
   circumstances in which it's not possible to do the in-depth character    
   analysis to the desired level--when you have time pressures, or the    
   writer/director won't provide anything other than your own part (cf    
   Woody Allen)--in those cases, you do have to trust that the person    
   guiding you through the project knows what they're doing and can    
   communicate additional information when necessary.   
      
   > You need to know your cues, of course, and should have at least a   
   > general notion of what the other actors are saying in scenes you're   
   > in, so you can cover for a cock-up. On the other hand, you may want to   
   > deliberately skip over things your character doesn't know.   
   >    
   >    
   I treat that as part of the character analysis.  When I'm familiar with    
   the script, I can then determine what I do or do not need to know as the    
   character--as the actor, however, I always want to know everything    
   that's going on.   
      
   Blair   
   --- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32   
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