Dear Tipsters, Ken wrote: I think that Sellers did a wonderful job of portraying a MidWest US accent.
Comment Glad to read this. And I think if he did a good job with the New York accent in The World of Henry Orient. Stuart ______________________________ "Recti Cultus Pectora Roborant" Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Bishop's University, 2600 rue College, Sherbrooke (Borough of Lennoxville), QC J1M 1Z7, Canada. "Floreat Labore" ______________________________ -----Original Message----- From: Ken Steele [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, August 25, 2013 2:10 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: Alec Guiness....RE: [tips] The Character-Actor Delusion Ken ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kenneth M. Steele, Ph. D. [email protected] Professor Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ On 8/25/2013 1:15 PM, Stuart McKelvie wrote: > Dear Tipsters, > > Mike Palij referred to Alec Guinness as a great character actor and also to > accents (e.g. Sean Connery). > > I agree about Alec Guinness's acting skills, but one thing about him also > disappoints me: his voice. We can also tell that it is him! Either he cannot > disguise it or chooses not to. > > Or is there an example where he does in fact conceal it? Sellers is > marvellous at getting accents right. > > One of my favourite examples is when he plays the American President Merkin > Muffley in Dr. Strangelove. Perhaps your folks south of the border can tell > me if you think he does a good job. > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T2uBeiNXAo > > Sincerely, > > Stuart > > ______________________________ > "Recti Cultus Pectora Roborant" > > Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., > Department of Psychology, > Bishop's University, > 2600 rue College, > Sherbrooke (Borough of Lennoxville), > QC J1M 1Z7, > Canada. > > "Floreat Labore" > ______________________________ > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Palij [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 2:47 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Cc: Michael Palij > Subject: RE: [tips] The Character-Actor Delusion > > On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 10:14:26 -0700, Stuart McKelvie wrote: >> Dear Tipsters, >> >> As has been pointed out in this thread, some actors, particularly >> those who have played nasty characters, have received threats, >> suggesting that people conflate them with their role. And do you >> think that some people might have voted for a certain California >> governor because they thought he was really a tough guy? And what >> about a certain Republican president? However, to some extent, and >> perhaps more so with type casting, people may be selected for roles >> because of what they are like, perhaps on the assumption if you play >> yourself a bit, it will appear more authentic. > > Perhaps but there are different schools of acting that train actors to play > roles based on different criteria, such as "classical acting" > (Alec Guinness and Laurence Olivier are examples) see: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_acting > And "method acting" (Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro are > examples) see: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_acting > There are other approaches as well. In all cases, I believe, the actor > attempts to bring a character to life even if that character is nothing like > the actor in real life (one hopes this is especially true for actors that > portray serial killers ;-). I believe it was Olivier who, when asked a > question by someone who assumed he was a method actor about how he got into > his character (method acting is where the infamous "What's my motivation?" > comes from), he replied that he didn't, he used "acting" instead. > > > NOTE: some directors may cast people with no acting experience into certain > roles because the person's actual personality captures the essence of a > character's personality or style of response. This is rarely done with > characters that have major roles but a notable exception is the movie "The > Jackie Robinson Story" which starred Jackie Robinson as, well, you know. In > these cases, the actor's and the character's personality are essentially the > same. However, even in cases like this, is a person really playing > themselves? Or is their behavior affected by the fact that they are being > observed and playing a role -- what role does the director's and other actors > expectancies play in altering what the actor does? > >> On the other hand, my favourite actor, Peter Sellars, was like a >> chameleon.......he could play so many roles effectively that you >> would often not know it was him unless you knew in advance. > > Alec Guinness is a comparable actor. In the movie "Kind Hearts and Coronets" > he plays 8 different characters including a female; see: > http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041546/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 > And his roles in different films show tremendous range, from Fagin in "Oliver > Twist" to Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars" and so on. > Laurence Olivier is similar but I think that one might see him as a more > "formal" actor because of his Shakespearean roles but one should also keep in > mind the characters he played in "The Entertainer", "Marathon Man", "The Boys > from Brazil", and "Sleuth". > >> And here is a psychological question: if an actor plays the same role >> many times, would the constant practice (and positive feedback if it >> is done >> well) >> start to shape the person in that direction? In other words, given >> the laws of learning, how separate can an actor keep the role and >> their self? > > This is an interesting nature-nurture question about the stability of a > person's personality. Depending upon one's definition of personality, an > actor's personality should remain relatively stable over time (if my reading > of the personality research lit is correct) but the characters that one plays > does not. Does a person's personality change towards the personality of the > character that one plays or does the characters one plays become more like > the actor's personality? > > Consider Sean Connery in the movie "The Hunt for Red October" > where he plays a Russian and speaks Russian with a Scottish accent -- Connery > is playing Connery playing a Russian. Compare this to the actor Kelly > Macdonald, specifically, in her role in the Robert Altman movie "Gosford > Park" where she speaks with a natural Scottish accent (she is Scottish) and > her role as Carla Jean Moss in the Coen brother's "No Country for Old Men" > where she nails the West Texas accent; see: > http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_country_for_old_men/news/1704043/ke > lly_macdonald_on_no_country_for_old_men_the_rt_interview/ > In Macdonald's case, she is clearly acting her roles. > > One final comment: consider the following quote from IMDB about "No Country > for Old Men": > > |When Joel Coen and Ethan Coen approached Javier Bardem about playing > |Chigurh, he said "I don't drive, I speak bad English, and I > hate > |violence." The Coens responded, "That's why we called you." Bardem > |said he took the role because his dream was to be in a Coen Brothers film. > http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv > > Like I said above, it's a good thing actors playing serial killers > don't take on the character's persona. ;-) > > -Mike Palij > New York University > [email protected] > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13510.2cc18398df2e6692fffc29a610cb72e3&n=T&l=tips&o=27322 or send a blank email to leave-27322-13510.2cc18398df2e6692fffc29a610cb7...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=27323 or send a blank email to leave-27323-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
