1 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: I'm Alec Baldwin and you were listening to Here's the Thing. 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: Jeffrey Horn is one of the greatest acting teachers ever 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: to grace his craft. His classes at least Strasburg's Acting School, 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: just off Union Square, my alma mater, have made him 5 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: a legend, but he once achieved fame of a much 6 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: broader sweep, scoring a lead role in David Lean's war 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: epic set in the jungles of Burma Bridge on the 8 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: River Quai. You're lovely, Lovely, that was, and he was 9 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: twenty five years old. Then he seemed to disappear. Horn 10 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: had a few roles in the sixties, but didn't resurface 11 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: as a notable actor until the seventies in New York. 12 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,639 Speaker 1: Several why wives and children later, and having survived an 13 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: addictionary crisis, ass Horn's career relaunched. Lee Strasburg, one of 14 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: the three founders of method acting in the United States, 15 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: asked him to teach some classes. Horn taught me at 16 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: n y U in nineteen seventy nine. He had traveled 17 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: a long way from a corseted and isolated childhood. You 18 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: were raised in Argentina, born in Argentina, moved to Cuba. 19 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: When I was five, I came to the stage to school. 20 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: I got kicked out. It was an oil exact. My 21 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: dad worked for a Sandra company which is now ex 22 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,479 Speaker 1: He had a good job. Were you close to your 23 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: parents when you were young. I'm a mama's boy. AM 24 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: more like my mother, and my father was more of 25 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: a go getter. When I was young, tyrants, we were 26 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: invited to lunch at Earn, a sending ways house and Havana. 27 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: We went out to lunch there, my father, my mother 28 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: and I and we had lunch. Oh this is good, 29 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: you'll love is He taught me how to drink out 30 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: of about the Spanish gored them thing good, good thing 31 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: for a future alcoholic right. And my father was always 32 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:10,520 Speaker 1: talking about be a man. You gotta be a man. 33 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: And I remember looking at my father and looking at 34 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: him and I said, wait a minute, there's only one 35 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: man in his room? Hemingway, was it? Yeah? Actually I 36 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: got I was out in his home and catch him 37 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: with my mother and his widow, and she showed me 38 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: where he shot himself, right the spot. Terrible. What a 39 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: man he was, though, what a straordinary. You would love 40 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: to Cuba to go to school boarding school a boarding school. 41 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: Did you go to Millbrook School for boys and you 42 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: were there by yourself? Your parents overseas they were in Cuba. 43 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: I felt like a complete alien up here. I remember 44 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: the first time I met someone that I could talk 45 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: to and I liked, and I put my arm around 46 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: him like that. Ah, we don't do that in America. 47 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: In Cuba, you did that with your friends. You walked 48 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: with your friends with your arm around each other. That 49 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:57,679 Speaker 1: was in the wrong school. Did your mom come visit 50 00:02:57,720 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: you when you were there? No, she came once, and 51 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,520 Speaker 1: everbody in the school got an award but me and 52 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: then I got kicked out just before graduating. Your parents 53 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: stayed there? How much longer they stayed there? No, My 54 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,679 Speaker 1: father moved to Venezuela with a different job. My mother remarried. 55 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: They both remarried within three weeks. It sounds grand, but 56 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,359 Speaker 1: it was sort of difficult to stepfather were staying at 57 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: the Gotham Hotel, which is on Fifth Avenue and street. Uh, 58 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: it's something else. I forget the peninsula and my father 59 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: and my mother. My stepmother was staying at the St. 60 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: Regis across Fifth Avenue, and we went back and forth. 61 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:34,639 Speaker 1: My ci and I for the whole long weekend, and 62 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: I want to write a short story about it. You know, 63 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: it's it's just sounds too rich. It was my wife 64 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: keeps saying rich, You're so you were so rich because 65 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: she grew up poor in Alabama. And then I went 66 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: to Stanford University, which was because I had a connection. 67 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: You know who my first audition was with in New 68 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: York because of a contact was Kazan. My first audition, 69 00:03:57,680 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: you see, my career was that wasn't different than yours. 70 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: It was Causetne who told me to study with Lee. 71 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: I was an ignorant Twitter. It was for tea and 72 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: sympathy for the road show, for the road company to 73 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: get the job. No No. I read for fifteen seconds 74 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: and he said, that's fine. You have a nice something. 75 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: He said something pleasant to me, and he said, you 76 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: need a good acting teacher. You know. It was I 77 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: felt like a boy always, and so when I was 78 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: playing a boy, I was okay. But if I was 79 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: suddenly I had to be a man with the wife 80 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:24,840 Speaker 1: and kids, and I don't know how to do that. 81 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,720 Speaker 1: Even though I might be married the kids. It was 82 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:33,480 Speaker 1: very alien, which is maybe why some of those marriages 83 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: didn't work out so well. But in that heyday of 84 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,159 Speaker 1: your film career, in these massive directors you worked with, 85 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: you felt awkward and clumsy and pathetic. And the first 86 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: part when I was on live TV in the first days, 87 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 1: those are great days. At fifty six, before I got 88 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: any good jobs. I did Billy But on television. I 89 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: played Billy but the Boy live on TV. George roy 90 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,919 Speaker 1: Hill directed. It was terrific, with Luther Adler and Joseph 91 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 1: Wiseman and a wonderful cast of pe. Well, that was fun. 92 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 1: I did feel free. Then what do you think made 93 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: Kausanne Kasinne? What was different about him? I auditioned for 94 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: Cazanne that first time. Then I auditioned for him again 95 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: for Splendor in the Grass with Jane Fonda Warren Beatty's part, 96 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: and we'd read the scene and we were okay. So 97 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: he said, well, let's try something. He put his arm 98 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: around me, and even though he was not big man, 99 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: he seemed a giant. And I always thought that he 100 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: was like this Greek guy who smelled of olive oil. 101 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:32,720 Speaker 1: I don't know, he smells a strong smell from him. 102 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: And he said something to me, you probably have to 103 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: cut this but he said, you know in the scene 104 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: and said this when you're talking. He said, it's it's 105 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:45,279 Speaker 1: like somebody's fucked your mother. And I don't know why 106 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:47,159 Speaker 1: it happened, but it was if he had pressed a 107 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: button inside me. And I gave really a good audis 108 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: and I didn't get the part. Warren got it. Bill 109 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,720 Speaker 1: walked in with Warhut right after. If he did my audition, 110 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: but it felt better. That audition felt as good as 111 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:00,479 Speaker 1: anything else I ever did in acting. And that's what 112 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: it was like. Incidentally, years later, I figured something out 113 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 1: that it's not that he knew me so well that 114 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 1: he picked the right thing to say to me to 115 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:13,560 Speaker 1: get me going. He was talking personally about himself and 116 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: his mother. We loved it was lending that to you, 117 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,559 Speaker 1: and it happened to work. He complained about Marlin because 118 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: Marlin would hear three words and walk away from him, 119 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:25,279 Speaker 1: and he said, God, it would drive me crazy. He 120 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: just walk away. I was saying something, and I realized 121 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,279 Speaker 1: that's all he needed was those three words. He didn't 122 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: need a long speech. Okay, So all right, So at 123 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,359 Speaker 1: Lee Strasbourg five, I said, Lee, I've been studying with 124 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: you for a year kind of auditioned for the actor's studio. 125 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:41,840 Speaker 1: He said, you can, but you're not ready. That's how 126 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: he talked. After two years, I said, link an audition 127 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: for the actor's studio. He said, what's senior doing? And 128 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: I told him. He said good. So the part was 129 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 1: tea and sympathy. I don't know if you remember that play. 130 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: There's a boy in prep school who feels different. He's 131 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: accused of being gay. He's not gay, he's just different. 132 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: He's a little more sensitive than the other ones and 133 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:00,080 Speaker 1: so forth, and he gets kicked out of board in 134 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: school for whatever it was. Guess what. Jeffrey went to 135 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: boarding school, felt different, He came from Cuba, got kicked 136 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: out of boarding school. It was a good part for me, 137 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: and I got in my first audition. Harvey content took 138 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: six auditions. He's a much better actor than I do, 139 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,320 Speaker 1: much better action different. I know he's much better than 140 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: I ever was. I think I can't even imagine you, 141 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: if I may say so, Master Bainy against the side 142 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: of the car as an evil detective in Bad Luten. 143 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 1: There's things that Harvey does. This he does that very well, 144 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: empowered him. And there's other things you do well anyway. 145 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: So I got in because I was right for it, 146 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:36,120 Speaker 1: and I understood it, and I got it and I 147 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:39,000 Speaker 1: was moved by it. That was the peak of my career, 148 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: twenty three years old. Everything went downhill after that. I 149 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: played your lawyer one day on the soap opera and 150 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 1: I say, he's my goddamn student and I'm playing his 151 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: lawyer and have three lines. But look at your Your 152 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: life in my life very different. You grew up on 153 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: Long Island. I grew up in Cuba. You went on 154 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: a soap opera. You worked at NBC. That's where you 155 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: did the soap, wasn't it. I remember somebody told me. 156 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: He said I was great. He knew everybody in this building. 157 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 1: He knew how to push himself. What happened to me 158 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: was just the opposite. I was able to live at 159 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: my mother's apartment, my mother and stuff. They lived on 160 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: Fifth Avenue, so that's where I lived in New York. 161 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 1: So I started not really hardship, and I got a 162 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: lead on a television show. Rod Stigger was my father 163 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: and I was his son. That was my first job, 164 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: a lead, and then I was doing these leading roles 165 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: on television. Before you made a movie. How long was it? 166 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: I didn't make a movie six I was in TV 167 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:31,840 Speaker 1: for six years, and and so I went from there 168 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:37,079 Speaker 1: to a movie, to a Broadway play to the big movie. 169 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: So I didn't have to do six years of terrible television. 170 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:43,679 Speaker 1: You said, this is not what I want to do. 171 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: I don't want to be on not Slanding the rest 172 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,079 Speaker 1: of my life. But anyway, that's a lot. Seven years 173 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: or six years. Well, that was the beginning of some 174 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 1: weird choices for me, because I was offered a television film, 175 00:08:55,720 --> 00:09:00,679 Speaker 1: Fatal Vision, that Joe McGuinness book about Jeffrey McDonald jffintal 176 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: murder case. I went into a bar on Eighth Avenue 177 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:05,839 Speaker 1: and knocked down two huge shots of whiskey before I 178 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: want to do that interview, and I fucking nailed it. 179 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: I nailed it, and I got that part, and then 180 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: I turned it down. And I try to say to people, 181 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 1: you know what you gotta do when you have a career, 182 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:20,200 Speaker 1: As you reach a point where you make peace with 183 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: those decisions that you made, you make peace with them. 184 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:25,959 Speaker 1: You know where I am now, right where I want 185 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:27,839 Speaker 1: to be. I got married to a wonderful woman. I 186 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: got four great kids, I work when I need to work. 187 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 1: Everything's going pretty well. That thing about drinking I sent. 188 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 1: I auditioned for Period of Adjustment in London at the 189 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:43,840 Speaker 1: Royal Court Theater and I went into a bar have too. 190 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: I made the best. Oh it was good. I got 191 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:49,440 Speaker 1: the part, and then British Equity didn't let me work 192 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: because I tried to do it another time after that. 193 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: It didn't work. It just worked once. I mean, I 194 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:56,040 Speaker 1: drank a lot, but I didn't that In my book, 195 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,120 Speaker 1: I wrote all about my own situation. And now I 196 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,560 Speaker 1: think to myself with Trump, if I was drinking now, 197 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:04,680 Speaker 1: oh my god, oh my god, you and I would 198 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: be in that bar on sixe when I watching the 199 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: ball game. We wouldn't go anywhere. Let's face it, Drinking 200 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: is fun, you know, That's why we do it. I mean, 201 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:12,679 Speaker 1: I drank a lot. Do you think that affected your career? 202 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: Defect affected my life so much that that affected my career. 203 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:21,599 Speaker 1: My life is so. I have a son who is 204 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: a drug addict, and he says, it's fun. You forget 205 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: you don't, don't forget that it's fun for a period 206 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: until it's not fun. And when it was not fun 207 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: anymore than I stopped. Thank God, I was able to stop. 208 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:36,320 Speaker 1: Some people can't. Um I want to ask you, you know. 209 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: For me, one of the most memorable moments in my 210 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:40,680 Speaker 1: life was when I did the movie The Aviator, because 211 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: it was my first time working with Marty and I 212 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:44,439 Speaker 1: always dreamed about working with the greatest directors and I 213 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 1: didn't have that chance. I remember that was a problem 214 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:49,880 Speaker 1: that I could I had to fight to get over, 215 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: which was I almost couldn't concentrate on my work as 216 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,199 Speaker 1: I was so intimidated to be on a set with Marty. 217 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: But you're there, and you're gonna be that next guy. 218 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: Everybody thinks you're so handsome when you know, up to 219 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: do Bridge on the River, requiring you with Lean. God, 220 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:06,920 Speaker 1: you're with a god making a film. Were you ready? 221 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: I was so frightened. I was so terrified Lean was 222 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 1: he was. He was not an actor's director like Kazan 223 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,520 Speaker 1: or like some of them are wonderful with actors, but 224 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: he was so sensitive to people. He was always moving 225 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:25,079 Speaker 1: things around. And I asked David about it, and he said, oh, oh, 226 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: I don't want to make the actors self conscious. So 227 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: I'll take a glass and I'll move it three inches 228 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: to the left and they'll think, oh, I guess I'm okay, 229 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: the glass is fine. I'm okay. And it was a 230 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 1: little technique that he worked out to make people feel comfortable. 231 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,120 Speaker 1: But when I had lines, I remember I was sick 232 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: to my stomach the first day and I had to 233 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: throw up. It was so panic stricken because it was 234 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 1: all action at first, getting the bridge and training, the 235 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: stuff and all that stuff. I was fine doing throwing 236 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: people in a box with doing that, I could do that. 237 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: But River Choir was in the early sixties, seven fifty seven. 238 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: But I'm assuming even then and someone like Lean had 239 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: his own financial edicts that in order to make the 240 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 1: movie he wanted to make, he needed a star. Yea. 241 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:09,920 Speaker 1: So Holden was the was the ace in the hole? 242 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,679 Speaker 1: Carry Grant they talked about they wanted, but they wanted 243 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: to star in one of these roles. Or they had 244 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 1: Guinness who was a movie star, but not the same acount. 245 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: Jack Hawkins was actually a bigger star in England at 246 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 1: the time, bigger than Guinness. But Holden is the ace 247 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,200 Speaker 1: in the hole in the movie start him. Was he 248 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: the same with Holden as he was? Did he treat 249 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 1: everybody like a company, or did he treat his star 250 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 1: just saying he was the same. Just did you become 251 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:34,679 Speaker 1: pals with any of those guys? Alec Guinness was very 252 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: nice and Jack Hawkins was a big snob, which was 253 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: really peculiar. Who would have thought that, like a like 254 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: a like a tough guy, like an English tough guy, 255 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: not like a gangster tough guy, but like a man. 256 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: He was kind of a snobbld Have you met this? 257 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:51,280 Speaker 1: He was a boy. He was thirty eight. He was 258 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:53,959 Speaker 1: only thirty eight, he looked much older, thirty eight year 259 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:55,960 Speaker 1: old boy. He was a boy he had He would 260 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: get bored and so he'd throw firecrackers in the dining room. 261 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 1: I mean, just like a one of my favorites, worship well. 262 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: He was lovely. He was always very friendly and very 263 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:08,200 Speaker 1: helpful and nerve in his body on camera so relaxed. 264 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:14,679 Speaker 1: What was he like? Yeah, it was rough, but he 265 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: when I went to Japan afterwards and he took me 266 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: to a Geisha house. He treated me to a dinner 267 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: at a Gisha house, a very classy, very lovely, lovely place. 268 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: No sex, but proper and in fact, even in the 269 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: middle of the dinner he got up and danced. He 270 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 1: was eighty. I think at the time he did some 271 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,680 Speaker 1: Japanese dance. I remember all these things if I see 272 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: the movie, I remember all the sensory things. I remember 273 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:39,319 Speaker 1: what the smell in the air was. I remember the trees, 274 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:41,559 Speaker 1: I remember the water, I remember where there was how 275 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:46,200 Speaker 1: hot it was. I don't think much about the movie itself, 276 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 1: but the companionship, the friends you make. Oh and I 277 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:51,680 Speaker 1: had a girlfriend on the movie too. She one of 278 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:54,920 Speaker 1: the tie girls. That was great. She was lovely. What 279 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:56,840 Speaker 1: a great thing in your life. You got to make 280 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: that movie with one of the greatest story to be 281 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: The Jungle with Lean your career. When people take the 282 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,079 Speaker 1: time to examine your career, you're in that beautiful fold 283 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:09,040 Speaker 1: in live TV and films where you know you're the 284 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: next James Dean. Okay, so you know my career was 285 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 1: a disaster, right. I peaked at twenty three and I 286 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:17,559 Speaker 1: went down. You know after that. It's like Matthew Modine 287 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 1: when he does his Full Metal Jacket diary and he 288 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,040 Speaker 1: writes a lot about working with Cooper con Full Metal Jacket, 289 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: which I love because you can tell he just soaked 290 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: it up and loved every minute of it. Knew I 291 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: may never have it the school again as long as 292 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: I live, you know, So it's funny when you think 293 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: of that. My first thought when you were talking about 294 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:33,920 Speaker 1: how great it must have been in the jungle. I 295 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: saw David Lean in Venice one time, the Italian fourth 296 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 1: of July. We are an a gondola with bread and 297 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 1: cheese and a huge thing of wine, and actually I 298 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: brought that and it was absolutely lovely. He and his wife. 299 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: And did I have a wife? Then? I think maybe 300 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:53,960 Speaker 1: there were four of us and apply because at the 301 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:57,000 Speaker 1: conclusion of your biographical material that our producer forwarded to me, 302 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: sources differ on wives and children. He's either been married 303 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: four or five times and has eight or nine children. 304 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 1: We're gonna give you the opportunity now to clarify. How 305 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: many times have you been married? Well, I've had for 306 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 1: marriages and two long term relationships which I call marriages. 307 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:17,480 Speaker 1: So it makes six four legal men marriages. And how 308 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: many children do you have? I have three daughters that 309 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 1: are my daughters, and I have six adopted kids. Wait 310 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: a minute, that's nine. Yeah, you have nine. Two of 311 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: them have died, only seven left a nine children all together? 312 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: You like kids? Where your wives like no act I 313 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 1: did always like kids. I like kids. Yeah, And do 314 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: you know the Dark of the Dark of the Stairs 315 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: Lesa the young boy. He's Jewish, he doesn't fit in. 316 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: He's at a military school and he's going to go 317 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:56,160 Speaker 1: to a party and he goes there and he's dancing 318 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: with the daughter of the hostess and she comes and 319 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:00,560 Speaker 1: pulls her daughter away. My son, daughter is not going 320 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:03,560 Speaker 1: to dance with any dirty jew. And he goes back 321 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: to his hotel that night and he jumps out the 322 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 1: window and kills himself. And Bill Lynch in a little 323 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: essay about the play, he said he had no sure connections. 324 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: Bill Nch was the nicest man. And I thought that 325 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:15,880 Speaker 1: was so interesting and moving. And I thought about it 326 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: a lot, because Bill Innch out in California, drove his 327 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: car into the garage one day, left the gas on 328 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: because he had no sure connections. In spite of all 329 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: his success, all his place, he was so alone out there. Yeah. 330 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: I only met him a little bit in California, actually, 331 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 1: where he shouldn't have gone to live, where he e 332 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: been prior to New York. In New York, you should 333 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 1: have been, And why did you never move out there. 334 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: I did move to California. How long thirteen long years? 335 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 1: I said that for a long time. Why did you 336 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: come back here? I wanted to act? And he did. 337 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: Jeffrey horn packed up his Hollywood apartment and moved back 338 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: to New York in nineteen seventy five. Another great artist 339 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: who had a second act is Mickey Rourke. But first 340 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: came a brutal into mission. Nothing fell on my plate. 341 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:04,439 Speaker 1: There was no work coming in because I was waiting 342 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,640 Speaker 1: for you know, Jimino or Copland. It didn't happen. So 343 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,159 Speaker 1: if it didn't happen, what happened was this piece of 344 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,159 Speaker 1: ship fell on my plate, and they offered me a 345 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: boatload of money, and like a whore, I took the 346 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 1: four million or whatever it was and bought a big 347 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:26,719 Speaker 1: fucking Elvis Presley house that I couldn't afford. And I 348 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: remember doing this film and hating myself every day. My 349 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:36,200 Speaker 1: full interview with Mickey Rourke is in our archives that 350 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:59,399 Speaker 1: Here's the Thing, Dot Org. This is Alec Baldwin, and 351 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,840 Speaker 1: you were listening to Here's the Thing. We left Jeffrey 352 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:07,440 Speaker 1: Horn in he had moved back to New York after 353 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,440 Speaker 1: his career flamed out. In Hollywood. That ended up being 354 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,119 Speaker 1: his next lucky break. I had a revival of my 355 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: career in my forties. I came back to New York. 356 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: I did some plays off Broadway. I was in a 357 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,200 Speaker 1: musical Mary. We rolled along. When did the idea come 358 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:25,439 Speaker 1: that you were going to teach acting? I was asked 359 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:28,600 Speaker 1: by who at least do you recall what the year? 360 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:35,119 Speaker 1: That was a decade um. I always liked teaching. I 361 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: always taught something. I taught yoga for a while, gardening. 362 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: I taught horseback riding because I had all these kids 363 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: around and I would do that. And I was working 364 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,640 Speaker 1: a lot at the Actors Studio during scenes a lot 365 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,239 Speaker 1: and Lisa, I'm into a play there and he said, oh, 366 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:56,640 Speaker 1: he wrudgingly said, all right, try one class. I never 367 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 1: worked Monday night, since I always taught at Monday night class. 368 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 1: That was my beginning. And then n y U and 369 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,120 Speaker 1: that's when you were there seventy nine. I don't even 370 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 1: teaching for a year. God knows what miserable stuff I 371 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:07,240 Speaker 1: told you. I didn't know what the hell I was 372 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: Do's what made me famous. I've lived on every word 373 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:13,120 Speaker 1: of her. I didn't know what to do, and I 374 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,480 Speaker 1: was crying during a sense memory exercise. You poked me 375 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:17,960 Speaker 1: in the stomach and you said, I want you to 376 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: work on your insides as much as you're outside. It's funny. 377 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:23,680 Speaker 1: I remember that too. You told me that Milton could 378 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: sell us said the same thing to you. Well, Milton 379 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:27,400 Speaker 1: could sell us walked when when I was with you, 380 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:30,920 Speaker 1: I was skinny, and when seven nine, I was lean, 381 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:32,679 Speaker 1: And then when I got with him, I met him 382 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:37,359 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty three, eighty four. But I'll never know you. 383 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: The first thing you do when you're a poor kid 384 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:40,720 Speaker 1: and you make a lot of money is you start 385 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:43,439 Speaker 1: to eat whatever you want to eat. And uh, and 386 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: you don't hesitate. You know what I mean. I'm like, well, 387 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 1: I discovered sushi when I moved to l a and 388 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: and I haven't turned back since. But I'll never could 389 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: sell us walked up to me. He never said one 390 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:55,159 Speaker 1: thing to me the whole time. And he walked up 391 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:57,640 Speaker 1: behind me, and he whispered in my ear. He said, 392 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: lose eight pounds eight. We were specific. He was a 393 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:05,439 Speaker 1: genius about about that kind of estimation. But when you 394 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 1: began teaching, how's it changed for you over the course 395 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: of that I feel liberated. It used to be what 396 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 1: and what is it now? I'm not very confident, never 397 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: have been. And I felt anxious all the time, and 398 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,000 Speaker 1: I'm worried that I wasn't doing it right and that 399 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: I wasn't helping. And maybe five years, maybe longer, I 400 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,960 Speaker 1: suddenly felt liberated. I felt like I gotta be myself. 401 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: I think really for the first time my life teaching, 402 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:31,720 Speaker 1: I never felt that as an actor, I could be myself, 403 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,880 Speaker 1: which is what you always had from the beginning. How 404 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,679 Speaker 1: have the students changed to come into these spaces that 405 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:40,720 Speaker 1: you teach them? It is the same the students. There's 406 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,199 Speaker 1: more diversity now, they're getting much more hip, They're much 407 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:47,679 Speaker 1: more knowledgeable about stuff the world. It's a little sometimes 408 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:51,240 Speaker 1: a little too political. They're like wary about what you say. 409 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: You're like, I can't you should be able to say that, 410 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 1: you can say this, you can't say that. I know 411 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: there's some things probably they were massively offensive fifty years 412 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:00,119 Speaker 1: ago or forty years ago and I started teaching, but 413 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,920 Speaker 1: that we can't say now. But I think sometimes I 414 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:05,959 Speaker 1: gets a little excid, like they're looking for something. I 415 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: mentioned suicide one time in class and a girl said, 416 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 1: trigger and her friend said, oh, that's right trigger, and 417 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,199 Speaker 1: I thought that's stupid, and I got really upset and 418 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:18,760 Speaker 1: I said, my eldest son committed suicide. I can't talk 419 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: about that. Well, it might hurt someone. Does the institution 420 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: tell you that you have to honor that? When they 421 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:29,240 Speaker 1: say that, not yet, why don't you just get up 422 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: and leave? That's it perfect. There was a girl in 423 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:33,840 Speaker 1: class who obviously had some issue about a scene because 424 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: it hadn't involved sexual assault, and she said, I think 425 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: I'll sit this one out, and she left the class 426 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:42,800 Speaker 1: right fine, and she works very well, she's very good, 427 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:45,159 Speaker 1: she's very talented, says she said. I can't deal with 428 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,879 Speaker 1: that now. The thing I noticed, and I don't expect 429 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 1: you to agree or whatever, but I did interested to 430 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:54,080 Speaker 1: get your thoughts. Is that when I would teach school 431 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,000 Speaker 1: and I would guess at n y you, I'd walk 432 00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 1: into a class for a day and I'd give my 433 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,640 Speaker 1: thought about whatever. And then I did the full semester, 434 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: which was very interesting, and we had eleven pairs for 435 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:10,359 Speaker 1: a scene study and we had people come. What I 436 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 1: realized was that now in the modern world, there are 437 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: young people who come to acting school who have the 438 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,119 Speaker 1: cumbs and the s A T s to go to 439 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:22,400 Speaker 1: law school or medical school, the Creme de la creme academically, 440 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:25,439 Speaker 1: and they're coming here to study acting. But a lot 441 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,120 Speaker 1: of them aren't very talented. They're not very talented. They'd 442 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:31,160 Speaker 1: be better lawyers, right. And I said to this school, 443 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 1: I said, they're all very smart. I said, I'm in 444 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: a room full of really smart people who aren't very 445 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 1: adventurous actors or artists. And I said, what I would 446 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:40,440 Speaker 1: encourage you to do? And they and you could see 447 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: them twitching, and say, you need to take two slots, 448 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 1: one man, one woman, and lower it to a certain 449 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 1: floor like nothing below a three, oh nothing below a 450 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,639 Speaker 1: specific s a T. But tear out two coupons and 451 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,119 Speaker 1: invite people in her you think are just purely talented, 452 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:56,840 Speaker 1: that you think gave an audition that just blew you away. 453 00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:58,920 Speaker 1: And it's not just for their it's for the benefit 454 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: of the other kids to see what good is and 455 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:05,400 Speaker 1: who can take direction, because in the studio at Strasbourg 456 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 1: where I went, when I studied with you, it's a 457 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:09,920 Speaker 1: lot more, you know, less result oriented, and so which 458 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,720 Speaker 1: is good. I'll never forget. Um. There was a guy 459 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: I won't name his name. I'm so tempted to, but 460 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: he does Oberon in the class, and when he's done, 461 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,399 Speaker 1: the teachers are stands there and stares at him, and 462 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:25,359 Speaker 1: she literally looks over her shoulder at the rest of 463 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:30,600 Speaker 1: the class, like there it is. He's just fantastic. I 464 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,119 Speaker 1: saw him twenty five years later. He's a conductor on 465 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 1: the subway and amazing. I'm not mocking that. I'm just 466 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 1: saying he's not. What happens in the classroom and what 467 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:41,440 Speaker 1: happens in the outside world is a very very different 468 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,360 Speaker 1: thing for me. The kinds of people that are going 469 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,400 Speaker 1: into the business they want to be famous. I didn't 470 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,160 Speaker 1: really get that that much when I was. It's changed 471 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:51,960 Speaker 1: a lot. And you know, and of course, back in 472 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,199 Speaker 1: fifty four when I was in my first class, I 473 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 1: didn't know anything like Nicholas was in the class. Um 474 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:02,040 Speaker 1: Elanagan was in my class. Um. Everybody in the class 475 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:06,280 Speaker 1: worked professionally. There were fewer actors and more jobs, and 476 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 1: a lot of them were really good and had really long, 477 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: wonderful careers. I think that's changed, that's changed a lot. 478 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: Why do you stay here? Why? Why? Oh my god, 479 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 1: I don't want to go anywhere. I have sure connections. 480 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 1: Now I have this job, a great job. I'd love 481 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:22,120 Speaker 1: going to work every day. I only work three days 482 00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 1: a week, such as nice because I am eighty five. 483 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: Those a long days, eight hour days, and then gray 484 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:28,680 Speaker 1: I feel great. I have four days off a week. 485 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:31,159 Speaker 1: I have a wife who's great. She reads to me 486 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,800 Speaker 1: at nighttime. Every night. We read Anna Karen and I. 487 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 1: We read Warren Peace, We read wonderful books. She's what 488 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:42,199 Speaker 1: created this Shakespeare company out of her imagination. And so 489 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 1: I get the director of Shakespeare play every year. We're 490 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,720 Speaker 1: doing Hamlet this year. When in June, we have an 491 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:49,000 Speaker 1: apartment that I love. We had a cat that we love, 492 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,920 Speaker 1: both of us, a wonderful cat. But the cat died recently, 493 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 1: and so suddenly you feel a little bit diminished. You 494 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: have have four sure things and now I only have three. 495 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 1: Have you ever been tempted to teach somewhere else? Strasburg 496 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 1: works for you based on what what's the belief? Uh? 497 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:12,159 Speaker 1: I think that the hurts we have in childhood, and 498 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,919 Speaker 1: the hurts we never get over the wounds of the 499 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:18,640 Speaker 1: spirit that never heal. Tennessee Williams writes about it beautifully. 500 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 1: So I can't say it as beautifully as he says it. 501 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:22,880 Speaker 1: No matter how famous, no matter how rich, no matter 502 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,239 Speaker 1: how successful, it never goes away. Martin Brando is as 503 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,439 Speaker 1: hurt the day he died as he was when he 504 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:33,440 Speaker 1: was a child with a brutal father. Um Strasburg stressed 505 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,719 Speaker 1: childhood memory emotion. If you get in touch with the 506 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,640 Speaker 1: hurt of your childhood through memory, the emotion will be there. 507 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: When I would teach acting, i'd hire a piano player, 508 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:44,919 Speaker 1: so I have a guy who was local that come 509 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:46,560 Speaker 1: and play the piano, and we'd have a range of 510 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 1: this very basic song you'd sing, climb every mountain, the 511 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:52,959 Speaker 1: sun will come out tomorrow. And I made them get up. 512 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: I made him sing, and I said, if you can't 513 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 1: do this, you can't act. You gotta pull your pants 514 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,679 Speaker 1: down here. You're you're you're not a singer. So what 515 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,280 Speaker 1: I always remember this that Maury Yeston, who wrote nine, 516 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:07,520 Speaker 1: was at a party. I was at a benefit for 517 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:09,720 Speaker 1: like the Roundabout or something, and there was Nathan Lane 518 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:11,560 Speaker 1: and this one and that one, and they're all talking 519 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,160 Speaker 1: about Broadway musical Tonight. Don't sing And Maury Yeston said 520 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: to me, he said, you don't sing I said, I 521 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:18,160 Speaker 1: really don't sing, and I wish I did. I can't sing. 522 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,360 Speaker 1: I really can't. I don't have the equipment. And he said, 523 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:23,520 Speaker 1: you know, Dustin Hoffman said the same thing to me. 524 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:27,679 Speaker 1: And I said, to Dustin, sing the star Spangled Banner 525 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 1: in the style of Jimmy Duranty and dust and said, 526 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 1: oh see, can you see? He said, now I want 527 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:42,119 Speaker 1: you to sing Happy Birthday in the style of Louis 528 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: Armstrong Happy. He said, you see, you're on key, and 529 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:50,040 Speaker 1: you can sing when you're imitating somebody else because you 530 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,320 Speaker 1: don't have your own style, because we have to find 531 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: your style, and you're gonna wind up doing an impersonation 532 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 1: of someone that doesn't exist to actually, which is the 533 00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: style we're going to create for you to sing. I 534 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:01,560 Speaker 1: thought that was fascinating what he said that about singing. 535 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:04,119 Speaker 1: You know, my my wife we did bus stop. I 536 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:06,680 Speaker 1: directed bus Stop. There's wonderful part for her. She was 537 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,200 Speaker 1: very good. But she can't sing at all. She sings 538 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,440 Speaker 1: one note a hundred times. It's the same note. It 539 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,719 Speaker 1: doesn't go up, doesn't go down, doesn't go faster than 540 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: go slower. I cannot do it now. Maybe someone could 541 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,119 Speaker 1: get it. No, She even went to a singing coach. Nothing. Nothing. 542 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 1: Do you think everybody can act? I think I think 543 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,200 Speaker 1: some people have a Meryl Streep as a wonderful actress, right, 544 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: and she can do almost everything, but not everything. Yes, 545 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: Marlon Brando, David Lean offered him the part of the Buddha. 546 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: I'll make a movie with you the Buddha. He said, 547 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,280 Speaker 1: I'm not right for the part. He knew himself. Well, 548 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:44,640 Speaker 1: I don't think it was just laziness on his part 549 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 1: that he said, I'm not right for it. I don't 550 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 1: want to go to India. Jack Nicholson is a wonderful actor. 551 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: He can't do everything. This girl in my class just 552 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,640 Speaker 1: yesterday she worked on two scenes and the first one 553 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 1: she was so terrible it was just painful to watch. 554 00:27:57,560 --> 00:27:59,119 Speaker 1: And then she did another one and she was just 555 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,960 Speaker 1: couldn't have been better to the right part. You have 556 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,960 Speaker 1: to find something you connect to and then eventually, uh, 557 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 1: you keep putting it out there. I really believe this, 558 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:11,960 Speaker 1: and this is very you know, kind of metaphysical maybe, 559 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:13,359 Speaker 1: but you keep putting it out there, It's going to 560 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 1: come back to you. Do you feel the same way. 561 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,399 Speaker 1: So I remember with Gregory Peck my second wife was 562 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:21,920 Speaker 1: in a to Kill a Mockingberg. She played the girl 563 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: that accused the black Eye of rape, Mayell Violet, And 564 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: that was my second wife. Your second wife played Mayella? Yes, yes, yes, yeah. 565 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:33,439 Speaker 1: Where did you meet with the studio? We were on 566 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:35,359 Speaker 1: the same TV show and then we both remembers of 567 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:41,600 Speaker 1: the studio and then whatever whatever marriage? Yeah that I 568 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: think I was still married, but never mind. Anyway. Gregory Peck, 569 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:47,640 Speaker 1: who I just meant to say hello, I shook his hand, 570 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:50,240 Speaker 1: who was actually the most beautiful man I've ever seen 571 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 1: in my life. He and his wife. I walked into 572 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 1: an elevator and they were standing there. I think I 573 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,760 Speaker 1: stood there with my mouth opened like an idiot. I 574 00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:58,880 Speaker 1: felt like I was this big and they were these giants. 575 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: He said when he was eighty, I should have taken 576 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: more risks. And then just yesterday I read this in class. 577 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: One of my students sent it to me. It's a 578 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 1: the Actors, something that Kazan wrote, and one of those things, 579 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 1: don't be timid. That's the thing that I don't like 580 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:16,240 Speaker 1: it when people say if you're shy, you can't be 581 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: an actor. Well, I don't think that's true. I think 582 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 1: I remember meeting Robert de Niro. He was famous, but 583 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,040 Speaker 1: he was not in his element. He was at a 584 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: party and he felt awkward, and he seemed really shy, 585 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: painfully shy. So does that mean he can't be an actor? 586 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,560 Speaker 1: If anybody had said that, no, Bobby, forget it, to 587 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: forget to do something else. You're too shy. I think 588 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:37,720 Speaker 1: that's why I like Strasburg is that there's no rule 589 00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,040 Speaker 1: about how you're supposed to be well in my career, 590 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:41,960 Speaker 1: and I don't like that word, but I'll use it 591 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,000 Speaker 1: anyway because it's handy in my career. There's two people 592 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:47,000 Speaker 1: who I studied acting with who said things to me 593 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 1: that were pivotal. One was Elaine Aiken, who, when I 594 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,320 Speaker 1: went to meet her with her privately gets a little 595 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: bit of coaching. I did about a five or six 596 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 1: sessions with her about street Car street Car. I remember 597 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:02,120 Speaker 1: when we did the play, I had an instinct like, oh, 598 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: I want to not just work with Gregory who is directing. 599 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:05,880 Speaker 1: I wanted to go to get a little private thing, 600 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:08,040 Speaker 1: to get a little jump on it. And we're there 601 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:13,520 Speaker 1: in her apartment on Central Park West, and she said 602 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:15,920 Speaker 1: to me, when we've reached a juncture, in the scene 603 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:19,080 Speaker 1: and she said to me, she said, baby, this part. 604 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,720 Speaker 1: You know, he's an animal. He just wanted he wants something, 605 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:24,600 Speaker 1: he just takes it. He's going to go right through 606 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: who's ever in his way. She goes, and really, you're 607 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:30,440 Speaker 1: either sexy or you're not. There's nothing we can work 608 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:32,800 Speaker 1: on there. You've either got that or you don't. And 609 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:34,360 Speaker 1: then of course you who said I want you to 610 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,880 Speaker 1: work on your insides as much as you're outside. I 611 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,440 Speaker 1: saw you, of course in street car whatever it is 612 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:42,479 Speaker 1: that she how she coached you work because you were 613 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: very sexy and I know it all to you, and 614 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:48,719 Speaker 1: you were very funny. You were very funny. Is there 615 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:50,480 Speaker 1: any part you want to do? I kept thinking of 616 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:52,440 Speaker 1: what part should Ale do that he hasn't done well? 617 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:54,240 Speaker 1: I think to myself, you know, obviously, I think about 618 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:58,160 Speaker 1: my age. I have an unshakable interest in trying to 619 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: master After the fall by Miller Coud, that take on 620 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: his marriage to Monroe is what's in the relationship between 621 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 1: a man and a woman and that attraction we have 622 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:10,880 Speaker 1: to the wrong woman, and a woman's gonna kill us 623 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,040 Speaker 1: if we if we hang on there, we're gonna go 624 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:14,920 Speaker 1: down with her. We're gonna sink on that ship with her. 625 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:17,280 Speaker 1: I was intrigued by that. Maybe not so much anymore 626 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:19,920 Speaker 1: because I'm very happily married, but when I was coupling 627 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 1: with the wrong person, almost addictively, I was obsessed with 628 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,440 Speaker 1: that piece and then the other pieces. Iguana. I just love. 629 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 1: I just love when they roll that old man out 630 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:32,880 Speaker 1: there and he says the poem and he drops dead. 631 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 1: I just want to play that ornery, alcoholic, fornicating madman. 632 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:42,200 Speaker 1: I want to play Shannon. Yeah, but the problems. It's 633 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,200 Speaker 1: a great but the problem is that then the Williams Cannon. 634 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: Everybody plays Shannon. You play Chance, you play Stanley, you 635 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: play Brick, you play all the young parts, and then 636 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,440 Speaker 1: there's nothing until Shannon, and then after Shannon, there's only 637 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:56,400 Speaker 1: the last Top is your big daddy, right, So I 638 00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:58,959 Speaker 1: mean every guy in my age plays Shannon's. I've kind 639 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:00,200 Speaker 1: of backed off of it, but I'd like to do 640 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: it one day. One day. You want to direct me 641 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 1: and Shannon. That's a hard play. I don't know. I 642 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 1: you know, I only work with my students. Well you, 643 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 1: as a former student, I could direct you. Everybody that 644 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: I worked with that I directed that I've taught, and 645 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:20,440 Speaker 1: so I don't have to. I don't have to cater 646 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,720 Speaker 1: to anybody. Sometimes actors, even though they've never done a 647 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 1: job in their lives, you can have to cater to 648 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,239 Speaker 1: them a little bit, but it'd be hard from you. 649 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: I do you know? You know who? Very I don't see. 650 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,080 Speaker 1: He was the Shakespeare guru at the Public and now 651 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:38,720 Speaker 1: he's in Santiago artistic director, and he was coaching some 652 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:42,760 Speaker 1: very well known actors in his technique verse technique, and 653 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:45,800 Speaker 1: he's really very good. He's extrauditt and knowledgeable about verse. 654 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:49,160 Speaker 1: And they were arguing with him because they were more 655 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,360 Speaker 1: famous than he was, and I thought, fuck that. I 656 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 1: don't need that. I don't want to do that. I 657 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:55,200 Speaker 1: want to get an argument with anybody. Not that I 658 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 1: think you would argue or be a pain, but I'm 659 00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: thinking of other people that i've known, because actors are 660 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,120 Speaker 1: always insecure when they go into a job, aren't they. 661 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,360 Speaker 1: And they, yes, they are always and they and they 662 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 1: need someone to let them know they're gonna be okay. 663 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:12,320 Speaker 1: You know, you're smart, you're insightful, but you're kind, and 664 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,000 Speaker 1: I feel that's essential. I'm not going to name names, 665 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:16,960 Speaker 1: but remember teachers there at Strasbourg, Who you do the scene? 666 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: They go, why did you bother? My mother was nice, 667 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,800 Speaker 1: so I learned that she was kind. Thank you for 668 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:25,720 Speaker 1: doing this with me. Thanks very What a nice thing 669 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:32,640 Speaker 1: to do. Jeffrey Horn from lonely child to movie star 670 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:37,920 Speaker 1: to obscurity and a spectacular second act. As you heard 671 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:41,240 Speaker 1: his teaching isn't his only gift to New York theater. 672 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,920 Speaker 1: The theater company he started with his wife, Billy Anderson 673 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: is called Shakespeare Downtown. Tickets are free. They rely on 674 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 1: donations at Shakespeare Downtown dot org. The Hamlet we discussed 675 00:33:55,080 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 1: opens June and runs through I'm Alec Baldwin and you're 676 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:02,960 Speaker 1: listening to Here's the Thing