“I think the purpose of the actor is to illuminate the human condition. When you go to a film and you see a good actor, it's because you identify with them—you know what they're feeling—and a good actor draws, I believe, from their own experience. And when it's true for him, it's true for you. If a director imposes a performance or you try to mimic somebody, it can be funny or brilliant, but it isn't moving.”

On acting, interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWftZbSG-lY with Skip E. Lowe (1989)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I think the purpose of the actor is to illuminate the human condition. When you go to a film and you see a good actor, …" by Shelley Winters?

Shelley Winters4

actress 1920–2006

Related quotes

“…as an actor, trying to do the best you can on a film, you think, do I say thank you or fuck you?”

Alfre Woodard (1952) American film, stage, and television actress

On how, in one project that she worked on, other actors were given more takes than Woodard in “In Praise of the One-Scene Performance: An Interview with Alfre Woodard” https://www.popmatters.com/176250-in-praise-of-the-one-scene-performance-an-interview-with-alfre-wooda-2495711026.html in Pop Matters (2013 Nov 7)

“I think the worst thing that can happen to a good actor is fame. The limelight is a tricky place, because you can't believe what's going on around you. You stop observing. You stop perceiving. You stop extending yourself, and you become isolated. Our duty as actors is to remain compassionate and curious. Fame complicates all that.”

Vera Farmiga (1973) American actress

As quoted in " A Film of One's Own http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/magazine/03actesses.html" by Lynn Hirschberg at The New York Times (September 3, 2006)

“I remember watching Gene Hackman, or Robert Duvall. To just see them as actors. You think of them as these icons. But you see them mess up their lines, flub their lines, whatever, you just see the human being. But then when they're "in" it's totally about playing pretend. The game of it.”

Ray Liotta (1954) American actor

As quoted in "Tribeca Film Festival Interview: Ray Liotta Takes a Rare Comedic Turn in Snowmen" by Cynthia Ellis at Huffington Post (26 April 2010) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cynthia-ellis/tribeca-film-festival-int_b_551768.html

“I think a lot of directors, they come out of film school, they don't know anything about acting. Or they're writers that don't know anything about the process. And I think they're afraid sometimes to talk to actors and be honest with actors.”

Matt Dillon (1964) American actor

Betsy Pickle (June 1, 1997) "Redefining Himself, On and Off-Camera", The Knoxville News-Sentinel, p. T4.

“"Film star," "movie star" — whatever they want to try to call you is limiting, in the sense that I think an actor has to be able to play characters. To separate these things — you know: "leading man," "action hero," "character actor," stuff like that — I guess if I want to be close to anything, it would be a character actor, which is what I think an actor should be. So any of that "movie star" stuff, I just don't buy it. It just doesn't make sense to me.”

Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician

Quoted in "'Johnny Depp - From Hell' special," http://www.johnnydeppfan.com/interviews/From%20Hell%20Special.htm ITV (January 2002)

“There was a great director who directed a picture that I wrote who barred me from the set— quite appropriately— and said, “I’m sorry, Jim. When you’re directing, you don’t need to know everything. You need the illusion that you do.” And, you know, and I WOULD be there— behind him trying to signal the actors in, you know, in a way I wasn’t even aware of.”

James L. Brooks (1940) American director, producer and screenwriter

In the documentary Dreams on Spec

“Hitchcock: You know that I think all actors are cattle?
George Raft: Yes, I know—but I'm no actor.”

Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) British filmmaker

On the set of The House Across the Bay; as quoted in "The New Yorker" http://www.mediafire.com/view/t6bdmd0wg1hvd8m/%20.png by Leonard Lyons, in The Washington Post (26 July 1940).

“It's hard to be creative and it's also hard not to think what you do is creative or hard not to be called creative because everybody is always talking about that and individuality. Everybody's always creative. And it is so funny when you say things aren't, like the shoe I would draw for an advertisement was called a 'creation', but the drawing of it was not... There are millions of actors. They're all pretty good. And how many painters are there? Millions of painters and all pretty good. How can you say one style is better then another. You ought to be able to be an Abstract-expressionist next week, or a Pop artist, or a realist, without feeling you're given up something.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

Source: 1963 - 1967, What Is Pop Art? Interviews with Eight Painters, Part 1 (1963), pp. 116-19

“I love acting because it’s my heart. I love playing characters. When I get on the set, something snaps in me, something different. It’s what I was meant to do. I love working with other actors, I love working with directors, and I love creating something. From the DP [director of photography] to the director and the actors—and even down to the catering—you know, it’s just a family.”

Tara Reid (1975) American actress

Tara Reid Is Not a Loser https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wd47d5/tara-reid-is-not-a-loser-954 (August 30 2014)

“I have never had great expectations of my performance or of a film. I try not to think about the outcome. If you look that far ahead, it sort of taints your choices as an actor. I try as hard as I can to believe that no one is ever going to see it and that it's not even a movie. Then you can allow yourself to bare more. Then, once a project is done, I tend to forget about it until it comes out.”

Heath Ledger (1979–2008) Australian actor

Interview remarks quoted by Honie Stevens, "Squaring the Ledger" https://archive.is/20121206021747/www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22763328-5006011,00.html, The Daily Telegraph, November 18, 2007.

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Shelley Winters4

Related quotes

Related topics