Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women as I Knew Them by Frank Langella

Author:Frank Langella [Langella, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Personal Memoirs, Entertainment & Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780062094476
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2012-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

GEORGE C. SCOTT

Actors are image, often depicting in fantasy the very qualities they wish to possess in life. In the many times I spent in George C. Scott’s company I was struck again and again by this archetypal schism in him.

When I learned of his death, the first memory that came to my mind was of his haunted, childlike face peering at me from three feet away on an airplane. It was the late 1980s and we were seated across from each other going from Los Angeles to New York on MGM Grand—a luxurious airline, now defunct. We were the only passengers in the plane’s living room–like setting and had not seen each other for close to three years. George sat clutching an electronic chessboard and drinking sidecars at 11 a.m. Disappointed that I didn’t play or drink, he began to talk.

Fury is the word most often used to describe the power in George’s work. No one could display rage like him—not even the other great actor of the twentieth century, Marlon Brando. When George turned on that faucet, everyone drowned in the torrent of anger that poured out of him. After accepting an invitation to be directed by him in a play, my first thought had been, “Here’s a guy who’s going to deck me if we disagree.” As it turned out he did, but in a totally unexpected way.

My first meeting with him took place several months before the planned production. I was asked to come by and say hello and talk about which of the two men I’d like to play in Noel Coward’s comedy Design for Living, Otto or Leo. The room was dark and belowground and George was prowling back and forth behind a desk. After a few minutes, it was clear he wanted me to play Otto and in a quiet gentlemanly style I was unprepared for, he let me know that. I wanted to be directed by him and felt either character would suit me. He knew, however, that Otto would suit me better and he was right.

The year was 1984. It was the first day of rehearsal at New York’s Circle in the Square Theatre. George would direct Jill Clayburgh, Raul Julia, and myself as the play’s leading characters. He deposited two packs of Luckies, a six-pack of beer, and a bottle of Scotch on the table at the read-through, and when his stash was gone, rehearsal was over. The hours he did give us, sometimes as little as three in a day, were nevertheless a course in acting worth a small fortune.

There could be no greater teacher in the world on how to play Noel Coward than George C. Scott. With flawless timing and a supreme intelligence, he had little or no time for psychological motivation and less for actors with no technique. He could do any speech brilliantly at once and felt you should be able to as well. While he often resisted the urge to show you how to

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