The legend of Kim Stanley is strongest among actors, especially actors in the Actors Studio world, where her shadow continues to loom. The woman only did 4 films. That’s it. And yet … the myth, the MYTH OF THIS WOMAN.
It was a challenge to write about her for this reason, but also a great gift. Thanks to Film Comment for saying Yes to this – perhaps – very esoteric pitch. Her movies are all easily rent-able, but all of the live television broadcasts I mention are available on Youtube. Watch them.
For Film Comment:
This is a really wonderful essay Sheila and thanks for introducing me to Stanley. I think I’ve only ever seen her in the TLJ/Lange Cat and I look forward to seeing more.
It sounds like she was able to shift with great and immediate facility from/between theatre to camera acting (and to merge them where required). What enabled her to do that, do you think? Presence, aliveness to the moment? Her sense of truth? Precise control over where emotion registers in her body or face? Do you detect much difference between her theatre and camera work? This subject fascinates me.
// It sounds like she was able to shift with great and immediate facility from/between theatre to camera acting (and to merge them where required). What enabled her to do that, do you think? //
I honestly don’t know – there was a magic about her – people speak of her with almost otherworldly awe (as they do about Brando). I think with someone like her it’s hard to even see how much SKILL is required to do what she did.
One of her defining characteristics was that she never ever stopped questioning. Even LONG into a run onstage, she would be discovering things about the character and incorporating it into her performance. (It drove some people crazy. Because it meant then that her co-stars had to adjust THEIR performances, depending on what she was doing. Also that people who saw the play opening night were seeing a “rough draft” as opposed to anything “finished.” Kim Stanley saw acting as a living entity. It WAS life. No difference between life and acting. Brando was the same way. They were able to live fuller deeper lives while acting than when offscreen/off-stage. They were tireless questioners. They never rested on their laurels. There were always deeper places they could go.
// Precise control over where emotion registers in her body or face? //
I think she knew how to do this naturally. She just had a sense of it. Her live television work is interesting – because that’s the closest we can get to seeing what she must have been like onstage. Those productions were filmed like a play. No do-overs. So you can see her at work – and it’s just incredible, Jessie – what she is able to do.
She knew how to fill herself up with emotion. It’s like she had a little flood-gate in her. She did the work necessary to believe in the circumstances, and then just flicked open that flood-gate. and boom, all of her emotions were there.
Acting was difficult for her – but only because she couldn’t fake it. And so when she didn’t feel the inspiration, she quit. When she lost the feelings, she called in sick. It made her a nightmare, that’s for sure. But that was just who she was.
I recommend “Female Brando” (the biography of her) if you want to learn more.
Absolutely no one but you could have written that tribute to Kim Stanley. I don’t know how I landed there but I was a paragraph in and I knew it had to be you. And when I read that quote from Marlon Brando, which does as much for Brando as he does for Stanley, I thought this was some gem you were simply reposting. But no, it’s Apr 3- 2017, and you just keep writing like this. No one writes about performances and actors in the way that you do. It’s the basis of what you respond to in Elvis Presley. A big fat collection of your profiles — I’ll be the first in line to buy that. And thank you for waking me up to Kim Stanley.
Ed – what a nice comment. Thank you so much!! It made my day during a very stressful over-worked week – I thank you!
Sheila
What a gorgeous review of Kim Stanley!
“an actor is a sculptor who carves in snow.”
And also such a great tribute to acting!
I watched (for the first time!) The Goddess the other night.
I felt just completely devastated.
“But finally she lets out a howl of agony that comes from such a deep place you want to turn away.’
It felt like that. I wanted to turn away and couldn’t.
There was something in it so harrowing and relentless. And I think you said “brutal”. Yes. I think she passed Bette Davis in the department of really not caring what anyone thinks! There was something way out here in her performance. I kept watching in this kind of horror for her. It was the real thing, all right. And I could really feel how torturous it would be to be a person like this with this great void inside. Brutal.
Regina –
The Goddess really is so devastating. Unrelenting. No matter WHAT this woman is given, it will never be enough. Those shots of her sitting alone at night, drinking … Ugh.
And the look on her face early on when she finally lets her small-town date have sex with her (it is implied). It’s such a look of … nothingness. Like she has no idea how to effectively say No. This is all the boys like her for. And maybe in the moment it feels good to have that attention, that affection. even though she knows he won’t give her the time of day the next day. It’s sooooo sad, that look on her face.
If you have the time, look up on Youtube “Ben Casey” – the TV show – Stanley’s episode is called “A Cardinal Act of Mercy.” I think it’s her greatest performance.
Sheila, I finally saw The Goddess…..and now I need to run to YouTube and watch EVERY bit of Kim Stanley footage that exists. Such painful viewing, and based on your article, much of her work will fall into this category–painful viewing. Thanks for this beautifully written article, I think it’s turning many on to Stanley’s work.
Susan – Thank you! I’m so glad you saw it!
If you just follow the Youtube trail – it’s a goldmine. The Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for sure – but also the Ben Casey episode – which is one of the greatest performances she ever gave – but especially her live television work because that’s the closest we’ll get to understanding what she must have been like in plays.
Excited for you to see it all!!