Photo below: Dean Stockwell doing a play. In the 1970s. Movie career more or less dried up. He did theatre, television roles when he could get them – and finally gave up on acting – couldn’t make a living – he got married (for the second time) – got his real estate license – he was living in New Mexica – and whaddya know, that’s when movie roles started picking up for him again. That was in the early 1980s. But at the time of him taking the bow below? He’s in the wilderness. It’s not off-Broadway. It’s not off-OFF-Broadway. It’s basically just ‘OFF’.<\/p>\n
But Stockwell has said, “Acting is my work – it’s what I do. Even when it makes me miserable, I’m happy.”<\/p>\n
Something about actors taking bows always kinda gets me right here<\/i>. There’s such honor in it. Even if the venue is not so spectacular. Especially<\/i> if the venue is not so spectacular. To me, there’s such honor in that photo – in the crappy set, the smiles, the ritual of bowing. I find it really moving.<\/p>\n
I never get tired of quoting Tennesee Williams:<\/p>\n
Make voyages! — Attempt them! — there’s nothing else.<\/p>\n
If you only keep your focus on the result, you will have a very sorry time of it. Not that we are wrong to enjoy success, to yearn for success. But still. In that photo below. It is not about the glory. It’s about the work. He was, once upon a time, the #1 child star in America. We know the sad endings of many of those kids. And that’s what gets me about such a photo – his fellow cast members standing back to clap for him, his smile, his in-the-moment pleasure …<\/p>\n
There is dignity in it. People who don’t understand us show-trash feel sorry for folks like Mickey Rooney doing summer stock. They see that and think, ‘Oh what a shame. He was such a big star once.’ They feel sorry for Teri Garr doing local commercials. Feel sorry for Dean Stockwell doing a short run of a play in a theatre in Nevada. But if it is about the work … and – if it is ONLY about the work – then there is nothing to feel sorry for at all. Perhaps Mickey Rooney has some moments of self-pity – and I know that Dean Stockwell sure did (“why the hell can I not get work? What is going ON?”) – but there’s only one thing to do – and that is: KEEP. GOING. If you’re an actor, then BE an actor. You’re lucky if you get a big wide platform … but if that platform is taken away from you … do you still want to do it? Then DO it.<\/p>\n
Stella Adler, great acting teacher, once said, “It isn’t that important to know who you are. It’s important to know what you DO. And then do it like Hercules.”<\/p>\n
So the photo below, to me, is a triumph, in all its second-rate thrown-together quality.<\/p>\n
It’s about the journey. The “voyage”. If you can “make” the voyage, great! … but the REAL point of it all is the “attempt”. Whatever that looks like. It is not up to US to choose what our voyage looks like. Just ATTEMPT the voyage. “There’s nothing else!”<\/p>\n
And I need to be in that zone now. I need it more than anything.<\/p>\n
Needin’ a happy place and so I found it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Photo below: Dean Stockwell doing a play. In the 1970s. Movie career more or less dried up. He did theatre, television roles when he could get them – and finally gave up on acting – couldn’t make a living – … Continue reading