This article first appeared at ComicMix.Com, one of our favorite sites. And although at first glance it doesn’t seem to be about writing…believe us when we say it is.
by Mindy Newell
Before you read this column today, go watch Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride or A Guy Named Joe, or Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, or Bad Day At Black Rock, or Adam’s Rib, orJudgment At Nuremberg, orInherit The Wind.
Katherine Hepburn said to Spencer Tracy “you were, really, the greatest movie actor. I say this because I believe it and I’ve heard so many people of standing in our business say it – from Olivier to Lee Strasberg, David Lean, name it. You could do it, and you could do it with that glorious simplicity, that directness.” Elizabeth Taylor said, “His acting seemed almost effortless, it seemed almost as if he wasn’t doing anything, and yet he was doing everything. It came so subtly out of his eyes, every muscle in his face…” Richard Widmark said “It’s what every actor tries to strive for – to make it so simple, so real that anybody in the audience can say, ‘Oh, I could do that.’”
No, really.
