Best. Actress. Ever. < /doireallyneedtoaddasarcasmtag >
Posted on 04/05/2005 6:39:00 AM PDT by pissant
Veteran actress Lauren Bacall has once again hit out at her fellow stars, this time branding them of "minuscule talent", and for looking too skinny. She told Radio Times magazine that actresses "only think of stardom" and sacrifice everything for fame.
Bacall said her marriages to actors Humphrey Bogart and Jason Robards effectively stunted her career.
"I put my career in second place throughout both my marriages and it suffered," she said.
She added: "I don't regret it. You make choices. If you want a good marriage, you must pay attention to that.
"If you want to be independent, go ahead. You can't have it all.
"Today, women with minuscule talent are willing to sacrifice everything for their careers."
Actors today go into TV, which I don't consider has a lot to do with acting
Bacall, 80, caused controversy in 2004 when she was quoted as saying her Birth co-star Nicole Kidman was not worthy of the tag "legend".
But she denies it was meant as an insult to her acting abilities.
"I said I didn't understand why she had to be labelled when she has her whole career in front of her," Bacall said.
Bacall said today's crop of stars lacked talent.
"Actors today go into TV, which I don't consider has a lot to do with acting.
"I have a terrible time distinguishing one from another. Girls wear their hair the same, and are much too anorexic-looking."
She added: "We live in an age of mediocrity. Stars today are not the same stature as Bogie (Humphrey Bogart), Jimmy Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart."
Bacall saved barbed praise for Hugh Grant, calling him "charming, marvellous. Not a great actor but he doesn't have to be."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Best. Actress. Ever. < /doireallyneedtoaddasarcasmtag >
Only when she's playing opposite Neve Campbell, right?
I've been on a Bogart kick for 2 months now. Key West and The Maltese Falcon over and over. Play them in the shop while repairing cars. Yes, "I like a man who doesn't say when."
She's right there. Who today measures up to the actors mentioned? Certainly not Cruise, Pitt, Clooney, or Depp......
Saw To Have and Have Not recently. Yum!
You could put all those you mentioned together and still not make half the man of Jimmy Stewart!
We are way to quick to call current actors and actresses legends. Legends are people like Alfred Hitchcock, Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charlton Heston, John Wayne.
Our contemporary people have not earned the title of Legend yet.
It is like calling all our contemporary female singers DIVA's
They haven't earned it either.
I can't even think of any legends in the making, Divas or actors!
No argument there - but there is still something somewhat unattractive about an aging actress dishing out the dirt on her fellow actresses a la Davis, Crawford etc. It just doesn't play well IMHO.
No one in their thirties, at least. Buncha met-ro-seck-shuls, if ya ask me. ;)
One could do a whole lot worse than working on cars and playing Bogart movies - love the Sydney Greenstreet quote.
One of my other favorites is in Casablanca after Rick sells the cafe to Ferrari. Rick says just remember you owe Rick's 200 cartons of cigarettes. Greenstreet sits back, smacks his lips and says "I shall remember to pay them.....to myself".
It just doesn't get any better than that.
The only one I can think of who is even close is Tom Hanks.
Maybe when Clive Owen becomes James Bond he'll emerge as a legitimate male lead.
Nor can I.
These days, ediocrity doesn't just encompass acting, it carries over into music, software, automobile design and building, construction, and well, just about every facet of society. Sad, but true.
indeed
.....She's right. We could use some more Lauren Bacalls.....
If you went to the store to by an actor or an actress, when you got home and opened the bag you would find nothing.
The Holllywood types are all figments of the public relations mills.
I think you mean Key Largo. I just recently saw it for the first time. A really good movie. One of those that seems to lock into your brain and sticks with you. I saw it on one of the cable channels but now want to get it on DVD.
Acting is acting. They're playing a part. Maybe what she should have said was that she doesn't consider TV 'good' acting.
But who really cares? They're all actors. All they do is pretend to be somebody else.
I do not understand this perverse fascination with Hollywood.
look at the pic in the post above. That's the reason for my "fascination"!
That would be closer to 'fantasizing'. A copy of Playboy would work just as well for that.
My question is about the general publics fascination with anything celebrity, which is mostly Hollywood.
I mean, there's hundreds of fans cheering for Jacko when he arrives to court to stand trial for child molestation, for Christ sakes.
I consider that a 'perverse fascination'.
Watch To Have and Have Not. You'll then understand....
I doubt that watching a movie will answer my question.
I just saw the movie aviator. The two female leads were not Americans. It struck me that no American actresses exist who can play roles of any meat or maturity.
Actually, I think Lauren Bacall's whole point is that you have to reach the age of those guys to even begin to be considered a legend.
Did you see Jack Nicholson in "Anger Management"? Definitely not his usual role, but terribly funny. He was great.
I would say that Russell Crowe could eventually be a legend, if he doesn't shoot himself in the foot first.
Reese is a cutie. Saw Legally Blonde (about 40 mins of it anyway) on the tube the other night. She was funny!
"It struck me that no American actresses exist who can play roles of any meat or maturity."
This is also a problem with American (male) actors. A recent New York Times article discussed the lack of he-men types, many of whom have to be imported from Australia (eg: Russell Crowe). It has a lot to do with the decline of generations and perhaps the feminization of the culture. Even the closeted gay actors of yesteryear were more virile. Most of the American guys on the screen seem like little more than pretty boys.
I blame it on no real life experiences.
After a Turner Classic Movie starring Walter Pidgeon a few days ago, the commentator said that the "leading man" who attracted the fan mail in those days was in his late 30's, 40's and up. He pointed out that a teenage or twenty-something actor like the big male stars of today would usually play only a supporting role in classic-era films. It made me feel sorry for the young actors who are praised today - which of them will be has-beens by 30? --and sorry for moviegoers who don't get to see much actual good acting in current films or TV!
Me: "I'd like to ride today's actresses (well, this one!).
My lord, that is a good shot.
"Just put your lips together ........... and blow"
Kiefer Sutherland got interested in rodeoing while filming Cowboy Way. He made friends with a cowboy that taught him to rope. They placed 7th or 9th in world steer roping competition. He had a ranch in Calif but lost his feed crop to rain. He sold his ranch and headed back to Hollywood but he kept his quarter horse. He goes to rodeos as he still has friends there. Not all actors are empty ego driven snobs. Most but not all.
True. Rock Hudson and Monty Clift were considerably more macho than Cruise and Pitt.
I would, literally, be balled and chained to Denise Richards and would be forced to watch the famous threesome scene in Wild Things in a dungy basement.
That's just great. Glad to hear that some of those Hollywood pukes can be 'regular' guys.
But once again, that's not my point. I don't understand the fanatical idol worship that some of the general public displays towards celebrities.
I have no idea. They certainly aren't the "ideal". I think their morals, in most cases, are a turn off. After that, their attitudes. Maybe it's fueled by the gossip shows in part. I wouldn't trade places with any of them but there are a few I'd like to smack!
Glad to hear that some of those Hollywood pukes can be 'regular' guys.
I wish more were like Sutherland. No entourage. Just behaves like everyone else.
That's what I'm getting at.
I can't imagine any man paying $2,000 an hour for sleazy hookers when they got a beautiful woman sitting right at home.
I don't understand it either, but I guess that's just some people's nature.
If you were making $20 million a picture and got people waiting on you hand and feet, wouldn't you act a little conceited?
Eastwood is getting there. IMHO.
Montgomery Clift was gay?
A fine actor, its a shame he never recovered mentally or physically from his car accident.
He was electric--brilliant--in "Judgment at Nuremberg."
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