To act or not to act

There are two kinds of actors, as far as I am concerned. There is the kind who is immediately recognizable and is employed because of this. Audiences go to see John Wayne be John Wayne as a cowboy, preferably. He did a couple of movies wearing a suit, but that was just not right. The war movies worked because everybody was making war movies when there was a war on. That is still the case. “The Longest Day” had John Wayne as paratrooper General Jumpin’ Jim Gavin. OK, I’ll buy that. I think Ryan O’Neill was an army engineer. Yow.My point is that all they have to do is be themselves. Compare this to Rod Steger, Robert Shaw or our own beloved Meryl Streep. These are ACTORS. They disappear into their roles. Johnny Depp falls about halfway between the two. His persona changes dramatically from role to role, but you pretty much know who he is the moment he appears on screen. To my way of thinking, the highest compliment is for someone, not familiar with who is in the movie, to be surprised at the end when the cast is revealed. Rod Steiger in “Doctor Zhivago” is unrecognizable and as Napoleon in “Waterloo” he is a dead ringer for the dead emperor. Robert Shaw as the crusty shark hunter in “Jaws” is a far cry from the evil SMERSH assassin in “From Russia With Love” where he stalks suave Sean Connery, who, by the way, is Sean Connery. Sometimes you need to lose the accent. Ms. Streep, of course, was incredible as Maggie Thatcher. Some say a physical resemblance, however slight, is cheating, but I disagree. I am still waiting for a response to my application as a Brad Pitt body double. I also do my own stunts. Not the ones they need for the picture, necessarily.• • •Speaking of stunts, how about those actors that do their own stunts? I watched an interview with Peter O’Toole from a few years ago in which he talked about learning to ride a camel, which, it turns out, is not all that easy as you are very high up, like roof height, if you happen to lose your seat. Omar Shariff, according to Peter, was terrified of falling off in the scene in “Lawrence of Arabia” in which they charged into Akaba, what with a couple hundred horses charging along behind them. He tied himself on. I have no complaint with that. He did the scene. The truly brave are the ones that act in spite of fear. This makes me potentially one of the bravest people I know. Scary, huh?As I said, Hollywood, I do my OWN stunts. Want to see me stand on one finger?Bill Abrams, ACTOR, plays himself in Pine Plains.