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- “Art is theft, art is armed robbery, art is not pleasing your mother.” — Janet Malcolm
- “I’m one of those people who thinks you can have a happy life and still be an artist.” — Shelley Duvall
- “There’s a difference between writing about something and living through it. I did both.” — poet/novelist Margaret Walker
- “I believe what Camus says. When the curtain rings down, your job is done.” — Warren Oates
- Physical Media Booklet Essay podcast interview
- “My voice isn’t an instrument I can just hang up on a hook.” — Audra McDonald
- “You can’t be on top all the time. It isn’t natural.” — Olivia de Havilland
- “If I don’t feel it, I can’t play it.” — James Cotton
- “I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.” — Lena Horne
- “But man has always succeeded in rising again.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
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- sheila on June 28, 1914: “But if ever a man went anywhere of his own free will, Franz Ferdinand went to Sarajevo.”
- sheila on “All I actually wanted was for my work to be useful.”–Claudius Afolabi Siffre
- sheila on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on “I just love telling stories. That’s what we do and it’s a good business to be in, especially if you know you have talent.” –Jensen Ackles
- kirinleaf on Supernatural re-watch, Season 5
- Pat on “I just love telling stories. That’s what we do and it’s a good business to be in, especially if you know you have talent.” –Jensen Ackles
- Kelly C Sedinger on June 28, 1914: “But if ever a man went anywhere of his own free will, Franz Ferdinand went to Sarajevo.”
- Clary on “All I actually wanted was for my work to be useful.”–Claudius Afolabi Siffre
- Dan on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on R.I.P. Eric Dane: Alex remembers him
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- LongTimeReaderMargot on R.I.P. Eric Dane: Alex remembers him
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Twelfth Night: or, What You Will
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Twelfth Night: or, What You Will
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Category Archives: Actors
“Character roles definitely age better than your ingenues. You don’t get to keep doing that.” — Catherine O’Hara
It’s a sad day. It is Catherine O’Hara’s birthday. What a tragic loss. Unexpected. I am glad I so appreciated her – and venerated her, really – while she was still with us. There was nobody – NOBODY – like … Continue reading
“I just love telling stories. That’s what we do and it’s a good business to be in, especially if you know you have talent.” –Jensen Ackles
It’s his birthday today. I’ve written so much about him. My Supernatural re-caps are filled with tributes/explorations to his talent. He has no flaws as an actor. This is so rare. He can do anything. And he is lucky to … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, On This Day, Television
Tagged Jensen Ackles, newsletter, Supernatural
221 Comments
“I, along with the critics, have never taken myself very seriously.” — Elizabeth Taylor
It’s her birthday today. I wrote a big piece on my Substack about National Velvet/A Place in the Sun/Suddenly Last Summer/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof/Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and General Hospital. Naturally there is more to discuss – … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged A Place in the Sun, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Elizabeth Taylor, National Velvet
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“Imagination! Imagination! I put it first years ago, when I was asked what qualities I thought necessary for success on the stage.” –Ellen Terry
“It is only in comedy that people seem to know what I am driving at!” — Ellen Terry It’s her birthday. In 1907, great English actress Ellen Terry (approaching her 50th year onstage) appeared in George Bernard Shaw’s satirical Captain … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Ellen Terry, George Bernard Shaw, Henry Irving, William Shakespeare
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“I’m really confident. I had a perfect childhood. I had perfect parents and grandparents. They just love me, simply. So I have no fears.” — Mélanie Laurent
Today is the birthday of French actress and director Mélanie Laurent. Probably most American audiences (and international audiences, outside of France) were first introduced to the extraordinary Mélanie Laurent in her perfoƒrmance as the revolutionary Shoshanna in Inglourious Basterds. Laurent … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged France, Mélanie Laurent, Quentin Tarantino, women directors
10 Comments
“If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work.” — Alan Rickman
It’s his birthday today. When Alan Rickman died, I paid tribute to him for Rogerebert.com, including my memory of seeing him in the unforgettable Broadway production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives, opposite Lindsay Duncan. I still have the poster. I … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day, Theatre
9 Comments
R.I.P. Eric Dane: Alex remembers him
Old-timers will remember the Adventures of Alex and Sheila, shared on my blog and on Alex’s Live Journal. We have gone through a lot (much of it of our own making). We have had automobile mishaps, we drove through the … Continue reading
It’s Ron Eldard’s Birthday: the first famous person I interviewed
Here’s the story of the first famous person I interviewed – an actor I had admired for a long time: Mr. Ron Eldard. I saw the excellent Roadie at the Tribeca Film Festival. Eldard plays a roadie fired from his … Continue reading
“I also like to play roles where the women are a little crazy. I just have a feel for crazy people.” – Lili Taylor
“If someone puts up $100 million on a movie, they’re gonna be concerned about whether they’ll get it back. So they’re not gonna make a movie about three girls, you know?” — Lili Taylor It’s her birthday today. Like most … Continue reading