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where the actor isn't acting

S

skippercollector

I hope I can explain myself properly.
Every once in a while I will see a scene in which I believe the actor isn't acting--that he or she is actually saying or feeling something in real life and the actor doesn't attempt to hide it.
These are some examples:
In Quantum Leap, "The Leap Home," Sam leaps into himself as a teenager on his family farm in Indiana in 1969. He tells his younger sister Katie that the Beatles will break up in a few months. Katie asks Sam what happens to John, her favorite Beatle. Al the hologram says in a deep, cracking voice, "Don't tell her, Sam." By the expression on Al's (Dean Stockwell's) face and the tone of his voice, it's obvious that it's not just Al but Dean who is upset by the conversation.
In another Quantum Leap episode, "Catch a Falling Star," Sam is an actor is a community theater troupe which is putting on Man of La Mancha. This episode blew me away the first time I saw it, and left me with the music from the play in my head for days. It's always been my favorite episode of the series. In the segments where Sam and Al and the other characters are performing their parts, the looks of joy on their faces are genuine. They are all clearly enjoying themselves!
I have seen sitcom episodes in which one of the actors is laughing and by his expression, the laughter is real and not staged. Most recently I noticed it as I watched a DVD set of The Partridge Family. Dave Madden's expressions following some of Danny Bonaduce's one-liners are impossible to ignore. Madden is trying very hard not to laugh in real life.
I just watched the episode of I Dream of Jeannie in which she will become the queen of Basenji. Tony tells her he never wants to see her again. Jeannie's voice as she responds, "Goodbye, Master," is almost heartbreaking. Her voice is very deep and on the verge of cracking. I felt as if it were Barbara Eden who was upset by these horrid comments, not just Jeannie.
 
All I can say is----Harvey Korman, when working w/ Tim Conway!

cd
 
Or Dean martin working with virtually everybody.

Or Red Skelton.

Or Der Bingle und Ski Nose.
 
From Jane Fonda's description of her father at home, he wasn't acting playing Shirley Temple's father in Fort Apache.
 
When Arthur Godfrey fired Julius LaRosa on the air. I wouldn't call Godfrey an actor, but he sure reminded me of the Andy Griffith movie character "Lonesome Rhodes."

Truth be known the firing of LaRosa, according to some television historians, was the start of Godfrey's decline in popularity with the general public. After he canned LaRosa, Godfrey then went on a 'firing spree'; getting rid of a number of people.
 
Mark_Giardina said:
When Arthur Godfrey fired Julius LaRosa on the air. I wouldn't call Godfrey an actor, but he sure reminded me of the Andy Griffith movie character "Lonesome Rhodes."

Truth be known the firing of LaRosa, according to some television historians, was the start of Godfrey's decline in popularity with the general public. After he canned LaRosa, Godfrey then went on a 'firing spree'; getting rid of a number of people.
Click to expand...

Godfrey continued his morning show on radio until 1973 and it remained a money maker for CBS. In addition to LaRosa and Godfrey's health problems, which forced him off the air for an extended period, Godfrey was over-exposed. He did a morning show, a prime-time one hour variety show and Talent Scouts - plus other odds and ends. He was also a major pain in ass, which is what got him fired from Candid Camera.

But we owe Godfrey a lot. He invented...

The all night radio show.
The morning drive personality radio show.
The couch and desk talk-variety show.

He was king of all media before Howard Stern was born. And he probably was the most effective commercial spokesperson - EVER.

Reportedly, Andy Griffith's character in "A Face in the Crowd" was based on Will Rogers as much as Godfrey.
 
Reportedly, Andy Griffith's character in "A Face in the Crowd" was based on Will Rogers as much as Godfrey.

An also a precursor to another Arkansan, Bill Clinton :D
 
desertv said:
Reportedly, Andy Griffith's character in "A Face in the Crowd" was based on Will Rogers as much as Godfrey.

An also a precursor to another Arkansan, Bill Clinton :D
Click to expand...

Not funny. ???
 
The Britcom 'Are You Being Served?' occasionally had musical numbers, which allowed for character-breaking. One episode featured an elaborate Greek wedding dance, which continued as the credits rolled, with cast and audience members clapping along. Also, the final episode,'The Pop Star' gave 60s rock singer Mike Berry (Mr Spooner) a chance to sing 'Chanson D'Amour'. The cast ended up singing it in sped-up 'Chipmunk' voices, but as the credits rolled, they finished the song in their natural voices.
 
Mark_Giardina said:
When Arthur Godfrey fired Julius LaRosa on the air.
Click to expand...
...since that happened on CBS Radio, not CBS-TV, it doesn't apply here. And LaRosa had been trying to get out of his contract anyway; it was CBS President Frank Stanton who had told Godfrey that, since he'd offered LaRosa the job during a live broadcast in the first place, Godfrey may as well fire him on the air too...
 
Ultimajock said:
Mark_Giardina said:
When Arthur Godfrey fired Julius LaRosa on the air.
Click to expand...
...since that happened on CBS Radio, not CBS-TV, it doesn't apply here. And LaRosa had been trying to get out of his contract anyway; it was CBS President Frank Stanton who had told Godfrey that, since he'd offered LaRosa the job during a live broadcast in the first place, Godfrey may as well fire him on the air too...
Click to expand...

All true but the point is this was still the start of Godfrey's slide on TV. He did continue on radio but he was never a power in TV again. And Stanton didn't tell him to start firing all the other people he fired shortly after. Godfrey no longer had a nice guy image.

Frank Stanton gave Godfrey bad advice. Stanton's background was in research and he had a head for business, but he clearly was not a showman. That was Paley's role (when Paley's ego did not get in the way).
 
I have watched a couple episodes of Mary Tyler Moore recently that featured Lisa Gerritsen (Phyllis' daughter) in scenes with Ed Asner (Lou Grant). She had this smile on her face that never left in every scene she did with him. You could tell she really liked him and enjoyed working with him. Or was a great actress.
 
Two notable examples of young child actors not 'completely' acting: 5-year-old Kehia Knight Pulliam as Rudy in the early days of 'The Cosby Show'; and Angela Cartwright, about 6 years old, when she joined 'Make Room for Daddy'. Both girls often broke out in grins, or looked offstage for directions, during scenes, and Cartwright became famous for her bashful grin that almost always followed any scene where she was supposed to be 'mad' at somebody!
 
Now that I remember, as the post above got me thinking.....

As much as I love to watch Gracie Allen in "Burns & Allen" reruns, she *always* had this look like she was looking for cue cards to complete her line(s), and it especially showed during the later-episodes' vaudeville routines.

She never showed the strongest emotions---like fear, when Sheldon Leonard as a gangster pulled out a gun (she simply took it from him and urged him not to play with things like that), or true anger----there sure were times when any other woman would be fuming, I'd think, if the plotlines were real life!

Still, she was an absolute peach to watch. (I am sure that she was better suited for the earlier radio shows, where nobody could view her emotions.)

cd
 
Part of Gracie's character was her 'befuddlement', sort of like Betty White as Rose on 'The Golden Girls'...although Rose had more 'sensible' moments than Gracie!
Gracie most likely was relying more on cue cards toward the end of her career, as she had doubts about wanting to continue; even before she quit, George had to talk her out of retiring before each of their last few seasons, until she made up her mind to quit in 1958. Reading cue cards in and of itself was nothing new; and, at least Gracie didn't develop stage fright, as Mary Livingston(Benny) did in the latter years of Jack's radio show, when daughter Joan took her place on occasion.
 
About 75% of the lines on a Burns and Allen show were Gracie's,
and they had to be delivered exactly right or the joke would be
ruined. So it wouldn't surprise me if Gracie made use of cue cards.

One time Desi Arnaz saved himself after blowing a line. It was in the
episode where the couple from Cuba who gave Ricky Ricardo his break
come to New York, and Ricky is going to have them on his show at the
Tropicana. Before that, he invites them up to meet Lucy. Now Lucy
doesn't speak Spanish, and the Cubans don't speak English, so Ricky has
to act as translator. At one point, he begins talking to the Cubans in English,
catches his mistake and says, "Oh, fine!" followed by that inimitable Desi guffaw.
That really happened; it was not in the script.

And you be the judge: did Lucy really dunk her putty nose in the coffee after
William Holden set fire to it while trying to light her cigarette, or was that planned?
 
FredLeonard said:
Reportedly, Andy Griffith's character in "A Face in the Crowd" was based on Will Rogers as much as Godfrey.
Click to expand...
...and it was an unjust hatchet job on Budd Schulberg's part in both directions...
 
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