Anecdotage.com - Method Acting anecdotes. Anecdotes From Yeats to Gates

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Displaying Method Acting Anecdotes: 1158 Found

Likely Toast
"She's not so great," a fellow actress once proclaimed of the legendary Tallulah...

Sober Questions?
Junius Booth was noted for his eccentric nature and penchant for heroin. The age...

Laborious Day
One night, when the director of Peter Pan dismissed the cast after a long...

Hackman's Moustache
When Gene Hackman was cast to play Lex Luthor in Superman (in 1978), he a...

Robert Reed: Strawberry Heaven
Robert Reed, a Shakespearean actor who loved the theater, hated his role (as Mik...

The Skinny on Acting?
Ethel Barrymore once dispensed some actorly advice to a group of her colleagues:...

Smash Hit
A notoriously vain actor named Dustin Farnum once boasted to Oliver Herford that...

Slippery Actor (long)
Late one night on the set of Francis Martin's Tillie and Gus, W. C. Field...

Wise-Muller
In 1959, while Fidel Castro's communist rebels were fighting Fulgencio Batista's...

Ronald Reagan: Uncommon Cents
In Ronald Reagan's first televised budget speech as president, he used a handful...

Curt Response
While filming an action-packed scene one day, famed director Michael Curtiz, a s...

Reds
One day during the production of Reds, the story of Marxist journalist Jo...

Best Side
One day on the set of Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944), Mary Anderson, ...

Sophie's Choice
One day during the production of Sophie's Choice, Meryl Streep was requir...

Jeremy Sumpter's Growth Spurt
When Jeremy Sumpter grew eight inches during the production of P. J. Hogan's ...

David Schwimmer: The Grab
While preparing for their roles in the L.A. production of Turnaround in 2...

Martin Scorsese: Perfect
"I was doing a scene [on Gangs of New York] with Cameron Diaz and she rep...

Midsummer Night's Dream
Shortly after his acclaimed appearance as Bottom in the television adaptation of...

Quiet on the Set
One freezing night during the filming of Velvet Goldmine (1998), co-star...

No Reply?
Ada Rehan once played a heroine in a romantic comedy opposite a nervous young ac...

Cruel Intentions?
Among Reese Witherspoon's most challenging performances was the pivotal breakup ...

Young Samuel L. Jackson: Pl...
Even as a kid, Samuel L. Jackson took acting very seriously - maybe a bit too se...

Ordinary People? (long)
Michael T. Weiss once appeared as a guest on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." I...

Young Henry Irving
Although Henry Irving's productions at London's Lyceum Theatre earned him a knig...

Richard Burton & Wilfrid La...
Shortly before a matinee performance of Peer Gynt at the Old Vic one day,...

Firm Apologies?
George C. Scott was once required to shoot a love scene with a certain voluptuou...

Cannonball Crawl?
Despite having entered his seventh decade, Burt Reynolds was determined to do hi...

Skinner & Shaw
One day in 1935, Cornelia Otis Skinner, enjoying great success in the title role...

George Hamilton: Rolling On
In 1957, George Hamilton arrived in Hollywood with about $90 in his pocket. In o...

American Humane: Animal Actors
"According to the American Humane guidelines, no animal actor should have to wor...

Truly Awful?
In George Stevens' biblical epic The Greatest Story Ever Told, John Wayn...

Young Peter O'Toole
As a young aspiring actor Peter O'Toole was overjoyed to have landed a bit part ...

Camille
"Somewhere in the world," Clara Morris once remarked, "there is an actor - and a...

Dramatic Reading
At a dinner party one evening the great Polish actress Helena Modjeska, famed fo...

Greenwood's Pencil
"In one of the great stage performances of our time Mr Paul Greenwood breathed n...

Impromptu Jump
One day during the production of I Wanted Wings, Ray Milland went up with...

Steps
During the course of a particularly troubled rehearsal, Herbert Beerbohm Tree di...

Noel Coward: Motivation
During a rehearsal one day, Noel Coward was repeatedly interrupted by a young ac...

Mass Consumption?
Prior to a Washington performance of "La Boheme" which Dwight Eisenhower was pla...

oOOoOOoOOoOOoOOps?
On the set of Pearl Harbor, Kate Beckinsale, James King, Catherine Kellne...

Brass Balls (long)
In 2000, Ewen Bremner and his Pearl Harbor co-stars spent a week in a U.S...

Imaginary Lover
"Marie Lloyd, given her first and only job as principal girl at Drury Lane [Thea...

Peter Sellers: Talking to God
Late one night, following a disappointing day wrestling with a troublesome scene...

Bed Man Walking
Sean Penn's bad boy image stemmed in part from his romantic involvement with a s...

Split Decision
For his role as the creature in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Robert De Ni...

Cold Comfort?
While working on the Stephen Frears film Dangerous Liaisons (1988), John ...

Marilyn Bimboe
Notwithstanding conventional wisdom, Marilyn Monroe was a terrible actress. One ...

Staggering Problem
One day during the production of The Captain Hates the Sea (1934), direct...

Scene Stealer (long)
William McGonagall, famed for his mediocrity as a poet, once bought his way into...

Marlon Brando & Superman's ...
Like the actor himself, Marlon Brando's eating binges grew to assume legendary p...

Priceless Jest
During Bela Lugosi's funeral, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre went to view the dec...

Screwball Improv
One day on the set of Howard Hawks' 1938 screwball comedy ...

Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen's eclectic taste (with passions ranging from motorcycles and NASC...

Pierce Brosnan: 00ps
Despite valiant efforts to live up to expectations, Pierce Brosnan was not alway...

W. C. Fields: Little Nipper
W. C. Fields was hardly noted for his love of children. Like Charles Lamb, he wa...

Joe Job?
At the age of fourteen, Al Pacino saw his first professional theater production ...

Method Actor?
One day on the set, director Vincent Sherman was dismayed to find that Errol Fly...

Sandra Bullock: Miss Haps
In March 2001, Sandra Bullock attended the London premiere of Donald Petrie's ...

Godfather of Bellies
So much did Marlon Brando's weight balloon during the production of ...

Bastardization?
George Kaufman once peeked into the theater where the actor William Gaxton was s...

Nice Compliment
In 1965, Christopher Plummer starred opposite Julie Andrews in Robert Wise's scr...

Gamut
Katharine Hepburn's early performance in "The Lake" was not universally well-rec...

Clap of Thunder
"During a rehearsal for Macbeth at Her Majesty's, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tr...

Rachel Nichols: Orgy Lover
"You played an orgy-loving waitress on 'Sex and the City,'" a reporter once remi...

Marilyn Manson: Corrupting ...
During the production of Party Monster, Marilyn Manson asked former child...

Vincent Gallo & the Complex...
In a memorable scene in Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny (2003), Daisy Lem...

Pierce Brosnan: Whoosh!
During the production of Die Another Day, director Lee Tamahori was repor...

The Rock: Kissing Scene
While preparing to shoot an intense semi-nude kissing scene on the set of ...

Michael Cera: Strawberry Lo...
In 2001, 13-year-old Michael Cera landed the role of the horny kid (Chuck) in Ge...

Christopher Meloni: Freakshow
In 2004, Christopher Meloni was cast to play Freakshow in Danny Leiner's "Fast F...

Jude Law: Cool with Nudity?
"I have no problem with nudity," Jude Law once remarked. "My friend Ewan and I a...

Amateur Performance
Although Hamlet would later become one of John Barrymore's most famous roles, th...

Late Rehearsal
During a terrible row at a late rehearsal, John Barrymore told the leading lady ...

Once More, Maurice...
As Maurice Barrymore was being laid to rest, the straps supporting the lowered c...

Carrey On
Jane Leeves (best known for her role as Daphne Moon on "Frasier") first met Jim ...

Von Stoheim's Extravagance
Erich von Stroheim's films are noted for the richness of their characterization ...

Captain Antonio Banderas?
Antonio Banderas (who wanted to become a soccer player but broke his foot at the...

Audentes Fortuna Juvat?
A scene in one of Robert Benchley's movie shorts called for the writer to be str...

Sean Connery & Wesley Snipe...
Sean Connery once shared some actorly advice with Wesley Snipes. "When you're do...

Boob Director
George Lucas, having envisioned Princess Leia (in Star Wars) as a teenage...

Fraternal Jesting?
J. M. Barrie was once approached by an inexperienced cast member who was anxious...

C.. BS?
Although producers had great faith in the dramatic abilities of both Lucille Bal...

Hidden Goblin?
The set of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon seemed at times to be...

Imp of Darkness?
Sarah Bernhardt was once referred to by an American clergyman as "an imp of dark...

Daniel Day-Lewis: Dedication
As an actor, Daniel Day-Lewis often went above and beyond the call of duty. Befo...

Charlize Theron: Lucky Break
When a knee injury forced her to stop dancing, Charlize Theron turned her focus ...

Tarzany Performance
Once, early in his acting career, Johnny Weissmuller played a Hindu villain in a...

Haley Joel Osment at the Os...
"Young Haley Joel Osment was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar [for hi...

No Regrets?
One day, Bull Durham director Ron Shelton lit up a cigar on the set, and ...

Kevin Costner: Directing Joke
One summer evening in 2002, "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien told a joke about Ke...

Luck Of The Draw
In August 1999, Mickey Rourke walked off the set of "Luck Of The Draw." Why? The...

Ingenue
One day Alfred Capus attended a rehearsal during which a certain ingenue (in the...

Numitorius
"John Gilbert was once called upon at short notice to play the role of the heroi...

Cape Fear
Very early in her acting career, Reese Witherspoon auditioned for a role in Mart...

Katharine Hepburn: Playing ...
One day on the set of The Lion in Winter, a reporter noticed that Kathari...

Sothern Breeze?
On April 13, 1865, with the Civil War over, orders were given to end the draft. ...

General Advice?
John McCormack, famed for his performance as the naval officer Pinkerton in Pucc...

Jack Palance: Hired Gun
In 1953, Jack Palance won an Oscar nomination for his role as hired gun-slinger ...

Walter Who?
In 1974, Walter Matthau, slated to make a cameo appearance as a drunk in the fil...

Lonely as a Cloud?
When a fellow actor failed to enter on cue during a performance one evening, Hug...

Evening at the Improv
In one West End production, A. E. Matthews played a pivotal scene which required...

Ina Claire
Some time after her marriage to the romantic silent screen hero John Gilbert, th...

Paul Newman: Newman's Own
In 1998, Paul Newman was overjoyed to see his eponymous line of food products re...

Bump & Grind
One day during the production of MGM's The Cross of Lorraine, Sir Cedric ...

Mickey Rourke Type?
Among the roles advertised by casting agents for Bruce McDonald's action-packed ...

Pearls of Wisdom?
Shortly after the release of Pearl Harbor, Josh Hartnett appeared as a gu...

Nap Time?
In preparation for their roles in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, cast m...

Me Too!
Lili Taylor, who once played the role of Valeris Solanis (the nutty founder of t...

When Harry Met Sally
In a classic scene in Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally, Sally Albright (...

Tantric Sex Blooper
As preparation for his role in American Pie, the film's producers sent Ed...

Intellectual Property
Winston Churchill often dined with friends, dignitaries and celebrities at Chart...

Gina Gershon: Showgirls
Shortly after landing her role in Showgirls, Gina Gershon called her moth...

Harrison Ford: In the Can
One day during the filming of Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark,...

Frugal Falk (long)
In 1960, Peter Falk was offered the role of mafia killer Abe Reles in a low-budg...

Soviet Disunion?
In 1962, with two Oscar nominations and an Emmy in two years, the previously lit...

Brilliant Critique
Shortly after his appearance in Henry V, Kenneth Branagh was approached o...

PSH
While playing a gay "pre-op" transsexual named Rusty in Joel Schumacher's ...

Most Distinguished
Patrick Stewart, a classically-trained actor famed for his performances with the...

Heather Graham: Nixed
So strict were Heather Graham's Catholic mother (a schoolteacher) and father (an...

Mooovie Star?
At the age of 25, Jason Robards, Jr. - among the most frequently Tony-nominated ...

Hurlyburly (long)
One day in 1998 an unexpected visitor appeared on the set of Anthony Drazan's ...

Well-Rounded Actress
On the opening night of one of his plays, Alexandre Dumas was approached by a pr...

Woody Allen Casting Call
"The Woody Allen casting call is something of a legend in the business. It is he...

Jaws: The Revenge
Michael Caine was once asked about his role as 'Hoagie Newcombe' in Joseph Sarge...

Cowed?
One afternoon Jane Cowl attended a matinee performance of Hamlet on Broadway. He...

Crying on Cue
One day on the set of Oliver Twist (1922), young Jackie Coogan was requir...

Kevin Costner: Perfectionist
Even in his early days as a struggling actor, Kevin Costner always marched to th...

Fitting Attire?
During a rehearsal of the revue "Sigh No More" one day, Noel Coward was dismayed...

Classic Kendal
During a rehearsal one day, Dame Madge Kendal asked a manager to bring a kitchen...

Dr. Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn's early career was marked by a series of pictures of such medi...

Actor in Training
John Barrymore once played a father who strongly disapproved of his daughter's f...

Marilyn Monroe: 83 IQ?
Conventional wisdom aside, Marilyn Monroe was not exactly a brilliant actress. O...

Joey Pants
"There are five stages to an actor's career," Sopranos star Joey "Pants" ...

Nia Vardalos: Nia Has to Pee
For her role in Connie and Carla (2004), Nia Vardalos was literally sown ...

Bruce Campbell Drinking Game
Shortly after his appearance in Army of Darkness (as Ashley J. 'Ash' Will...

Durango Kid
"Ann Doran played in a number of B Westems at Columbia. She enjoyed the congenia...

Big Chill
After struggling for several years, Kevin Costner finally caught a break in 1982...

Pearly Gates
Harrison Ford was once asked: If heaven exists, what would you want God to say t...

Mel Gibson: Clowning Around
On the Braveheart set, Mel Gibson, an inveterate prankster, began calling...

Jodie Foster: Budding Career
Jodie Foster was once asked why she had put her budding acting career on hold to...

Los Angeles Country Club
Victor Mature once applied for membership in the exclusive Los Angeles Country C...

Prop Master
In 2001, Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn co-starred in Bob Dolman's ...

CinemaScope
"This was one of the first films in CinemaScope," Peter Ustinov once recalled of...

Swelled Head
"Long runs made [legendary actor and theater manager] Beerbohm Tree so fidgety h...

King Lear
Eugene Field was once commissioned by the Denver Tribune to review a prod...

Half a Fool
The production of the psychological drama Lilith was allegedly held up fo...

One-Eyed Jack
One day on the set of One-Eyed Jacks, Marlon Brando, famed for his perfec...

Tannen's Toupee
Despite a successful stage career, Julius Tannen had great difficulty finding wo...

Blithe Spirits
During a difficult rehearsal of Blithe Spirit one day, fellow thespians C...

Young Haley Joel Osment: Si...
In 1999, eight-year-old Haley Joel Osment appeared as Cole Sear in M. Night Shya...

Bridget Jones Diet
In June 2003, Renee Zellweger found herself with six weeks to gain thirty pounds...

Jockular Comment
One day at rehearsal John Gielgud declared that "all men must wear jockstraps un...

Idiot's Delight
The legendary stage actor Alfred Lunt became surprisingly unnerved by the sight ...

Scott & Kutcher
Seann William Scott was once asked how he had mustered the courage to make out w...

Cimino Roulette
In a harrowing scene in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter, Christopher Wal...

Apple Pie
Jason Biggs, famed for his role in American Pie (in which he plays "hide-...

Dramatic Workshop
As a teenager, Robert De Niro decided to apply for admission to the illustrious ...

Hugh Jackman, Butt Naked
Hugh Jackman got a surprise while filming a scene one day on the X-Men se...

Old School Improv
"I was improvising this one scene in Old School," Jeremy Piven recalled, ...

Billy Bob Thornton: Special...
For his role as a sex-crazed, foul-mouthed department store Santa in Terry Zwigo...

Liza Minnelli: Reality TV
In October 2002, VH1 executives announced that their new reality TV show centeri...

Mark Wahlberg: Pride and Glory
While preparing for his role in Pride and Glory (in 2002), Mark Wahlberg ...

Sean Bean & Joely Richardso...
"[Sean Bean] hit the headlines as the sexy groundsman Mellors, servicing Joely R...

Harrison Ford: Star Quality
Early in his career, Harrison Ford was cast on both "The FBI" and "Gunsmoke" in ...

Ron Howard: Bowl Scene
One day during the production of Far and Away (1992), Nicole Kidman and T...

The Rock: That's Entertainment
"We had a very philosophical conversation the other day," the Rock once recalled...

Marla Gibbs: Pot-Smoking Gr...
"How did you feel," Marla Gibbs, famed for her role as Florence Johnston on "The...

Hugh Jackman: Kissing Scene
One day on the X-Men set, Hugh Jackman helped to cast a kissing scene. "I...

Josh Duhamel: Sex Scene
In his first episode of "Las Vegas," Josh Duhamel had a steamy sex scene with fu...

Denis Leary: Scream Louder!
"We were shooting a fire scene on the upper west side in Manhattan [for an episo...

Allen Covert: Harry the Chimp
For his role as Alex in Grandma's Boy (2006), Allen Covert worked with a ...

Good S---?
Christina Applegate recalled her first acting gig (playing a drug dealer in the ...

Evening at the Improv
One day during his stint with a Berlin theater troupe, Karl Wilhelm Unzelmann wa...

Fishy Story
Irked during a performance by a large group of coughing visitors, John Barrymore...

Melville's Club
"On a visit one evening to Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife, Melville told them ...

Alison Arngrim: Little Ho o...
As Nellie Oleson, the bad seed on "Little House on the Prairie," Alison Arngrim ...

Cold Comfort
"On the first night of that unfortunate play Henry James's ...

Robin Williams: Use Your Head!
During his audition for the role of Mork from Ork (on the '70s sitcom "Mork and ...

Tom Bosley: Happy Days Blooper
While shooting an episode of "Happy Days" one afternoon, Tom Bosley (who played ...

Charles Brrrrronson: Pure T...
Charles Bronson won his first screen role in Henry Hathaway's 1951 film ...

Upstaged
Despite Dirk Benedict's successful roles on such hit programs as "Battlestar Gal...

Whore of Babylon
Scandalized clergymen across the United States demonized Sarah Bernhardt from th...

James Woods: It's Called......
James Woods fought hard to convince director Oliver Stone that he was suitable t...

Winona Ryder: Like-Minded
During the filming of Mermaids in 1990, Winona Ryder was asked by a journ...

Scooter
For his role (as a character who has been brought up in the jungle) in Michel Go...

Last Goodbye?
"The call demanding John Huston's service during World War II came by phone when...

Natasha Lyonne: Hollywood E...
In the wee hours of August 28th, 2001, Natasha Lyonne's rented Dodge left the ro...

Hopping Mad
Dennis Hopper had a reputation for causing turbulence on the set. Was it deserve...

Early Career
Burt Reynolds was far from proud of his early career. "My films were the kind th...

Burt Reynolds & Bill McKinn...
Burt Reynolds worked with Bill McKinney on Deliverance (1972) - and found...

Motivation
One day on the set, director Roman Polanski was asked by an actress about her ch...

Daniel Day-Lewis & Harvey W...
With Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York well over budget, Miramax co-Cha...

Devilish Devlin
"No actor is more exciting to watch than the mould-breaking Irish thespian Alan ...

Beauty and the Beast
One day Shirley Temple told her young daughter Lorax (who later became a bass pl...

Big Sleep?
Many stories pertain to Faulkner's ill-fated tryst with Hollywood. Lauren Bacall...

William Christopher: "M*A*S*H"
Although "Mfull of shitAfull of shitSfull of shitH" ostensibly chronicled daily ...

Michael Rosenbaum: Sorority...
In Sorority Boys, Michael Rosenbaum played one of three misogynistic coll...

Alec Guinness: Mudlark
The high point of Jean Negulesco's The Mudlark (1950), was a rousing parl...

Brothers Ashkenazi
A friend of Maurice Schwartz once overheard someone accusing him of monopolizing...

Standard Fare?
Early in their careers, director Paul Thomas Anderson and some friends made a mo...

Nose For Talent
After her successful role as the lovesick, ugly-duckling teenager (who blossoms ...

Dietrich Method
The famed caricaturist Al Hirschfeld and his wife (the actress Dolly Haas) once ...

Jeri Ryan: Size Seven of Nine
Jeri Ryan, famed for her role as "Seven of Nine Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Ze...

Willem Dafoe: Eccentric Actor
Willem Dafoe once attributed his failure to land conventional leading-man roles ...

Spencer Tracy
Actor Spencer Tracy was once asked what he looked for in a script. His reply? "D...

Electric Horseman
One day on the set of The Electric Horseman (1979), Robert Redford and Ja...

Young Elijah Wood: Flipper
Harry Knowles (of Ain't-it-cool-news fame) once asked Elijah Wood why he had cho...

Tragic Actor
William MacReady, whom Hazlitt once dubbed the best tragic actor of his time, on...

The Women
In 1939, Joan Crawford appeared opposite Norma Shearer in George Cukor's ...

Frances McDormand: Casting ...
Frances McDormand was once asked how she had landed her role as Marge Gunderson ...

NYPD Blues?
Despite her love of acting, Lourdes Benedicto was expected to pursue a more trad...

Mafioso Monkey
One day during the production of Marked Woman (1937), producer Hal B. Wal...

Sidelong Glances
"Once, when watching a play, the actor Walter Hudd found himself sitting next to...

Lip Readers
In 1924, silent star Aileen Pringle appeared as the queen (who runs off to spend...

Paul Muni:Method Actor
Jack Warner once planned to produce a biopic about Beethoven with Paul Muni in t...

High Hopes
"As a boy in Swansea Harry Secombe's English teacher had high hopes for him, dec...

Musical Chairs
Director Jane Campion, famed for her use of improvisational directing techniques...

What the Farquharson
Don Harron, famed for his country bumpkin alter ego Charlie Farquharson, once ra...

Two Bit Critic
While dining at the Belvedere Hotel with her husband William Howard and his fami...

Ham Actor
During a scene in Jane Eyre in which Orson Welles was to be burned to dea...

Tigress
Mrs. Patrick Campbell, famous for creating the role of Eliza Doolittle in George...

Miraculous Performance
One evening Noel Coward and Lady Diana Cooper attended a performance featuring a...

Laurette Taylor
Attending a party after a poorly-attended performance one evening, Laurette Tayl...

Frances McDormand: Blood Si...
In 1984 Frances McDormand made her screen debut portraying Abby, a cheating wife...

Soap Opera Actress
While filming an episode of "Falcon Crest" in which Susan Sullivan's character (...

Hot Winters
Shelley Winters, invited to audition for a supporting role in the 1990 film ...

Indecent Proposal?
Paul Newman was once asked by a radio interviewer whether he could be enticed to...

Sage Advice
Henry Fonda was once asked the single most important thing a young actor must kn...

Death to Gucci?
In the 1990s, film industry costume designers began complaining that such fashio...

Playing With Fireballs
The cast of Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes had great difficulty dealing ...

Something About Mary...
As preparation for his role in American Pie, Eddie Kaye Thomas was sent b...

Hector Elizondo: So Many Words
Hector Elizondo, who was 23 when he first enrolled in acting classes, took "the ...

Speechless
Arthur Roberts was once cast to play the speechless part of a manservant in a ga...

Kith and Ken?
With the appearance of Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, inevitable comparisons ...

Emma Thompson: Thespian Breast
When Emma Thompson, initially cast to play the lead in Basic Instinct, re...

Happy Circumstance?
Ironically, his jittery nerves may have helped Philip Seymour Hoffman land his p...

Shiny-Domed Thespian
For many Americans, the identity of the captain on the Starship Enterprise is of...

Bald Suggestion
Patrick Stewart inherited alopecia and had completely lost his hair by the age o...

Boogie Nights
One day on the set of Boogie Nights, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson...

Rough Reminder
Hall of Fame football player Ray Nitschke was among the professional athletes ca...

Harvey Keitel: Solidarity
During the production of Holy Smoke, Harvey Keitel was obliged to wear a ...

When Pigs Fly?
Despite the generally lackluster reviews of David Duchovny's first high-profile ...

Happy Family?
One day on the set of National Velvet (1943), Elizabeth Taylor, then just...

Spy Game?
As part of Spy Game was scheduled to be shot in Israel, David Fincher (th...

Kevin Spacey: Pencil Pusher
After leaving school, Kevin Spacey made an abortive foray into show business as ...

Slaight Problem
While co-starring in "Long Day's Journey into Night" in Washington, Kevin Spacey...

Who's Dolly
Shortly after his arrival in Hollywood (following a stint on Broadway), Henry Fo...

Privates Nurse?
In Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead, Jenny McCarthy played Christo...

Cutting Remark
Noel Coward once attended a dreary play clearly written around a fourteen-year-o...

Theatre of Imagination
Actress Ruth Gordon once enthusiastically told George Kaufman about her latest p...

The Whisperers
In 1966, Bryan Forbes directed Dame Edith Evans (then 78 years old) and Eric Por...

Small Consolation
During rehearsals for "The Manor of Northstead" it became painfully apparent tha...

Jack Black: Perfectionist
One day on the set, Jack Black requested 32 takes of a certain shot "for the per...

Spider-Man
One day during the filming of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire was r...

Richard Burton: Drunk on Sh...
"Richard Burton once drank a quart of brandy during his performance of ...

Making of John Garfield
At the Group Theater in New York, the man who later found fame as John Garfield ...

Kirsten Dunst: Spider-Man R...
In a classic scene in Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson (played by Kirsten Dun...

Bill Murray: School of Hard...
"My father was a very difficult laugh," Bill Murray once recalled. "Adults found...

Daniel Radcliffe: Harry Pot...
One day during the production of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" Dani...

Patty Duke: Miracle Worker?
In 1958, shortly before she won acclaim for her portrayal of Helen Keller in the...

Overactor
"I don't care if people think I'm an overactor," Jim Carrey once declared. "Peop...

Nicholas Ray: Brooklyn
Nicholas Ray (whose atmospheric films inform the work of directors from the Coen...

Jackie Cooper: Crying on Cue
"In Skippy (1931), Jackie Cooper [then an up-and-coming nine-year-old chi...

Denzel Washington: Prophecy
One day in 1973, Denzel Washington (then a 20-year-old student at Fordham Univer...

James Cagney: Tough Guy
James Cagney, famed for his tough guy persona, was understandably nervous about ...

Viggo Mortensen: Viggorous ...
In one scene in The Two Towers Aragorn (played by Viggo Mortensen) comes ...

Big Time BS
John Leguizamo once recalled a telling anecdote about working with a certain fam...

Natural Actress?
While working with Alfred Hitchcock one day early in her career, Ingrid Bergman ...

Orson Welles: Garbage Direc...
Orson Welles, famed for his obsessive perfectionism, once spent an entire day ma...

Shaft?
Samuel L. Jackson was once asked whether his varied roles had a common thread. "...

James Bond, 004?
One day on the set of a certain James Bond film, a chair exploded too soon... an...

Patricia Arquette: Human Na...
In 2001, Patricia Arquette played a scientific researcher with an unsightly body...

Little Voice
In January 1999, Michael Caine won a Golden Globe award for best actor in a musi...

Odd Timing
Rather ironically, Tony Randall won a long overdue Emmy for his classic portraya...

Alison Lohman: Dragonfly
For her role in Tom Shadyac's fuckingnatural thriller Dragonfly (2002), A...

Gladiators
One day during a break in the production of a certain historical epic, Victor Ma...

American Pie
Jason Biggs, famed for his notorious role in American Pie (in which he pl...

Bob Hoskins: Feather Plucker
Bob Hoskins began life as an accountant. "I was sitting in the bar of the Unity ...

William H. Wussy?
Despite his role as one of Hollywood's finest character actors, ...

Shakespearean Insult
Shakespeare's plays are thought by many scholars to have been written by Francis...

Mark Wahlberg: Dirk Diggler
In Boogie Nights, Mark Wahlberg famously played a busboy (Eddie Adams) tu...

The Beach
One day in 1999, Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere of ...

Ben Affleck: Love Scene
When Amanda Peet felt awkward about doffing her top to shoot a love scene with B...

Young Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones once recalled the anxiety which she felt upon her initial a...

Jinxed
Ken Wahl once appeared opposite Bette Midler in Don Siegel's widely panned 1982 ...

California Governor
Ronald Reagan's early political career was often overshadowed by his cinematic c...

Comic Timing
Mae West once found herself acting opposite Alison Skipworth. Skipworth, suspect...

Young Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire, who disguised his large hands by curling his middle fingers while ...

Keanu Reeves: Sex with Meryl
Keanu Reeves once professed a desire to have sex with Meryl Streep. "Even if it ...

Jack Nicholson's Stinger
One day on the set of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Jack Nicholson soug...

Ladd on a Ladder?
During the filming of Boy on a Dolphin, Sophia Loren appeared opposite th...

Lucky Ladd
Alan Ladd was once asked what it had been like appearing opposite the famously w...

MacBeth
While contemplating a possible revival of "Macbeth" on Broadway, Alexander Wooll...

Silent Film?
While visiting Paris one day, Charlie Chaplin suddenly found himself in dire nee...

Radio Craze
In 1936, Jean Harlow starred in a multi-part Lux radio play called "Madame Sans-...

Standard Quip
Heywood Broun once composed a review describing the performance of Geoffrey Stey...

Strange Introduction
One day on the set of Rosemary's Baby (1968), Mia Farrow found herself sh...

Ewan McGregor: Love Scene
Ewan McGregor was once asked whether he ever became aroused while shooting love ...

Charles Laughton: Amateur I...
The actor Charles Laughton was once invited to a dinner party by the celebrated ...

Estimable Quadruped
"During a rehearsal at His Majesty's Theatre of Die Meistersinger, Sir Th...

O'Toole's Macbeth
"I think the best audience review I heard," Sheridan Morley once recalled, "came...

Scary Thought
"Michael Jackson is going to quit touring and concentrate on acting," 'Tonight S...

How to Lose an Audience in ...
Shortly after starring in How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days in 2003, Kate Hud...

Love Scene
During the filming of La Boheme in 1926, John Gilbert became infatuated w...

Fargo Blooper
Though she later recalled going to auditions with an attitude of indifference ("...

Davis & Lorring
Joan Lorring was just a teenager When she arrived at Warner Bros. to play opposi...

Scott Wolf: Lincoln Center ...
While starring in the Lincoln Center Theater's production of Frank McGuinness' ...

Classic Coward
Raymond Massey: "Hannen Swaffer, a critic and theatre writer on the ...

Mutiny on the Set
Such was Marlon Brando's fondness for food that he rightly came to be known as t...

Rehearsal
"At the first rehearsal of Dame May Whitty's first entrance in ...

War Gags
For a certain scene in John Badham's War Games (1983), Matthew Broderick ...

Wacko Brando
During the casting of The Score, director Frank Oz visited Marlon Brando'...

O'Toole's Macbeth
"In September 1980, crowds poured into the Old Vic Theatre in London to see Pete...

Fiesty Field
In 1979, Sally Field starred in Martin Ritt's Norma Rae, a film based on ...

Kevin Bacon: Preposterous
While living in a rooming house and waiting tables in 1977, Kevin Bacon audition...

William Shatner: The Voice
While working on a book about Star Trek fans, William Shatner invited Kev...

Shatner on Shatner
William Shatner was once asked how he had prepared for his role (as himself) in ...

Three-Headed Alien?
When director Barry Sonnenfeld cast 'Jackass' star Johnny Knoxville as a two-hea...

Next James Dean
"This casting agent comes in," legendary producer Robert Evans recalled, "and sa...

Woody Harrelson: Classic Woody
One day on the set of The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), director Milos F...

Montgomery's Mixmaster
Montgomery Clift's gifts as an actor were not universally appreciated. "He acts ...

Ang Lee & The Hulk
In 2002, Ang Lee began work on The Hulk. The major challenge for Lee, the...

Wimpy Wilson
"I did a movie called Anaconda," Owen Wilson once recalled, "and I missed...

Jamie Kennedy & Marty Power
"My agent sucked," Jamie Kennedy recalled of his early days in Hollywood. "I was...

Psychodrama
"One reason [Jennifer Connelly] took unfortunate roles when she was younger, she...

Jamie Foxx: Little Showcase?
One day during the filming of Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, Jamie Foxx...

Angle on Acting?
Early in his career, Stephen Baldwin was given some indispensible acting advice ...

Wimpy Wahlberg
"Mark Wahlberg is terrified of sharks, even fake ones," the Examiner repo...

Hilary & Haylie Duff: Sibli...
"Ever since I was 5," Hilary Duff once remarked, "my sister [Haylie Duff] and I ...

Bill Hunter & Rachel Griffiths
One day on the set of Muriel's Wedding (1994), Rachel Griffiths found her...

Casting Anthony Daniels
Ironically, Anthony Daniels - famed for his role as C-3PO in George Lucas's ...

Keanu Reeves: Coke Commercial
When Keanu Reeves was 16 years old, he landed the role of a bike racing kid in a...

Brad Pitt: Pow!
One day on the set of Mr and Mrs Smith, Brad Pitt was chastised by direct...

Pauly Lit: Robert DeNiro Im...
During a guest appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in 2004, eight-year...

Christina Ricci: In Character
"More than anything Christina's got balls," Opposite of Sex director Don ...

Del Toro: Shocker
"My family was shocked when they heard I wanted to be an actor," Benicio del Tor...

Kevin Bacon: Kevin's Bacon
One day during the production of Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man (2000), Kevi...

Kevin Bacon: Full Frontal
Kevin Bacon's full frontal nude scene in Wild Things (1998) came as somet...

Kevin Bacon: Threesome Scene
In 1998, Kevin Bacon landed the role of Sgt. Ray Duquette in John McNaughton's ...

Sharon Stone: Heart of Stone?
During the production of Deadly Blessing (1981), Wes Craven asked Sharon ...

Rupert Everett: Apologies
While appearing in a West End production of a Noel Coward play early in his care...

Francis Ford Coppola: Senators
Each of the actors who played a senator in The Godfather, Part II was cas...

Max Beesley: Walken Impression
The British actor Max Beesley once tried to win over casting director Georgianne...

Christopher Walken: Light f...
Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren were brilliantly cast as the ghastly couple ...

Jeff Bridges: El Duderino
In 2002, Jeff Bridges appeared as "the Dude AKA Duder AKA His Dudeness AKA El Du...

Young Brendan Fraser: HMS P...
"By 12, [Brendan Fraser] was in London, and this is where he first made contact ...

Keira Knightley: Early Ambi...
Keira Knightley was born on March 22nd, 1985, to Will Knightley, a stage actor w...

Geoffrey Rush: Shine
"Geoffrey Rush's big break came with Shine, based on the tale of disturbe...

Tim Roth: Debut Performance
While studying sculpture at the Camberwell School Of Art, 17-year-old Tim Roth a...

Peter Gallagher: Borschke V...
"I was doing 'Grease' on Broadway," Peter Gallagher once recalled. "I lived on 5...

Jean Harlow: Death Becomes Her
"The 26-year-old Jean Harlow, 'Hollywood's original platinum blonde,' died of ki...

Young Robert Mitchum: Playe...
"[Robert Mitchum] unwillingly got his first taste of acting. His sister [Annette...

Harrison Ford: Hollywood Su...
During the production of Hollywood Homicide, Harrison Ford forced Isaiah ...

Brad Pitt: Feet on the Ground
"I telephoned my grandparents the other day," Brad Pitt once recalled, "and my g...

Ben Stiller: Self... Deprec...
During the production of There's Something About Mary (1998), Ben Stiller...

W. C. Fields: Mother of Inv...
Everett Freeman was among the writers who worked with director George Marshall o...

Tim Kazurinsky: Madge
"We used to hire these midget chimps Butch and Peppy," 'Saturday Night Live' cas...

Tom Hanks: Little Voice
Among Tom Hanks's earliest roles was Kip 'Buffy' Wilson on the TV series "Bosom ...

Ted Knight: Ashes to Ashes
While shooting an episode of "Too Close for Comfort," Ted Knight stumbled over o...

Peter Dinklage: Actor's Actor
"On his way to meet me [GQ writer Peter Rubin] at his favorite Brooklyn d...

Ben Affleck: Gigli
In May 2004, Senator Edward Kennedy invited Ben Affleck to join him in promoting...

Kelsey Grammer: What's Next
In January 2004, Kelsey Grammer was asked what was "next" for him after the hit ...

Marlon Brando: Scene Stealer?
During the production of The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), director John F...

Laurence Fishburne: Street ...
Laurence Fishburne learned to perform at his mother's knee, where, according to ...

Barry Morse: Actor
Barry Morse's rols as the relentless Lt. Philip Gerard on the classic television...

Danny Pino: Carpet Licker?
"Cold Case" star Danny Pino once auditioned for the role of a masseuse involved ...

Lauren Bacall: The Look
In her autobiography, Lauren Bacall recalled the anxiety which gripped her durin...

Ben McKenzie: Tree Thing
"I was doing children's theater, summer stock, up in the Williamstown Theater Fe...

Tony Danza: Love Boat
Early in his career, Tony Danza agreed to appear on a special two-hour episode o...

Chazz Palminteri: Understudy
Growing up in the Bronx, Chazz Palminteri was befriended by a group of local mob...

Johnny Depp: Fraught with T...
Johnny Depp was great fun on the set of Finding Neverland. "There was one...

Emmy Rossum: Mystic Moment
Such was the intensity of Sean Penn's Oscar-winning performance in ...

Jamie Foxx: Ray
Jamie Foxx was widely hailed for his portrayal of Ray Charles in Taylor Hackford...

Meg Tilly in Hollywood
After injuring her back while ballet dancing, Meg Tilly (an aspiring ballerina) ...

Topher Grace & Laura Linney...
One day while filming P.S. (2004), Topher Grace had a sex scene with Laur...

Wesley Snipes: Absolutely B...
In 2004, Ryan Reynolds had the pleasure of working with Wesley Snipes on ...

Ben Stiller & Dustin Hoffma...
"There was a scene [in Meet the Fockers] where I walk in and [Dustin Hoff...

Gilbert Gottfried: Low Point
Gilbert Gottfried did not last long as a cast member on "Saturday Night Live." "...

Jane Seymour: Love Scene
"After I had my first child," Jane Seymour once recalled, "I stopped breastfeedi...

Kiefer Sutherland: Roaring ...
While preparing for his role in The Wild (2006), Kiefer Sutherland had to...

Dermot Mulroney: Raw Dedica...
During the production of The Wedding Day, Dermot Mulroney shot a nude sce...

Adam Sandler: Bit Nutty
Will Farrell's (sadly unfulfilled) idea for his second "Saturday Night Live" aud...

Peter Bowles: Jeep Bottom
For his role as a wolf in the Christmas pantomime "Little Red Riding Hood" early...

Lenny Bruce: Con Artist
As a struggling young comedian, Lenny Bruce employed a variety of schemes and ru...

Clint Eastwood: Bumpy Start
Ben Chapman: "Clint's first role ['with big pompadour hair'] was ...

George Clooney: Playing Doctor
While George Clooney, who dropped out of the University of Kentucky, was never d...

A Horse! A Horse!
One evening the great tragedian Barry Sullivan was performing in "Richard III" i...

Gabriel Byrne: Interesting ...
After shooting Excalibur, Gabriel Byrne revealed an interesting nugget ab...

Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne...
While filming the screen adaptation of Molnar's "The Guardsman" with her husband...

John Barrowman: Too Funny
Gay actor John Barrowman, best known for his role as the bisexual Captain Jack H...

Hollywood Reporter?
Hollywood has always bred ambivalence in many of its leading lights. Roseanne Ba...

Hello! Othello!
Junius Booth was famed for his eccentric nature and penchant for heroin. One eve...

Tobacco Stickler
Actor Robert Davi was a stickler for accuracy. During the shooting of an early s...

Hairy Situation
Michael T. Weiss once appeared in an experimental play entitled "Hair" in northe...

Prompt Response?
Eugene Klopfer once forgot his lines on stage and paused for the prompter, Frau ...

Dumb Luck?
Paralyzed with stage fright, Colley Cibber badly botched his first dramatic role...

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
After the six stars of "Friends" successfully banded together (in 1998) to reneg...

Golden Bed
One day on the set of The Greatest Show on Earth (in 1951), Cecil B. De M...

Dustin Hoffman: Marathon Man
Dustin Hoffman often took method acting to incredible extremes. In order to appe...

Keaton & Keaton
Although he had never actually met her, Michael Keaton once telephoned Diane Kea...

Liv Tyler & Richard Gere: G...
Liv Tyler (who played one of Richard Gere's gynecology patients in ...

Sonofabitch!
Robert Evans once played the role of a cad named Dexter Key in Jean Negulesco's ...

Primal Flattery?
While visiting the set of Planet of the Apes in 2001, Mark Salisbury was ...

Julianne Moooore (long)
Perhaps understandably, Julianne Moore found filming certain scenes during the p...

Jazz Singer
One day Marion Davies, fearful of the impact that talking pictures would have on...

Danny DeVito: Casting Insults
In 1978, Danny DeVito began his five-year run as Louie DePalma, the adorably tyr...

Tunnel Vision?
At the tender age of three, Peter Falk had his right eye surgically removed (and...

Pampered Pup? (long)
Peter Falk was not enthused about working with a dog on the set: "Second season ...

Colin Farrell: Fundamental ...
One day on the set of Minority Report, Colin Farrell was called upon to d...

Branagh V? (long)
Vincent Canby's famous description of Kenneth Branagh as a "nervy young man in a...

Hold Zee Butter?
In Dead Again, Kenneth Branagh played two roles: A blue-blooded German co...

Juguling Roles? (long)
The task of directing Dead Again - juggling the myriad details involved i...

'Rip Torn'
Kenneth Branagh once found a director's chair labeled 'Rip Torn'. Though named f...

Anti-Method
Director Bernardo Bertolucci once recalled John Malkovich's 'anti-Method' method...

Bad-alamenti?
Composer Angelo Badalamenti, a frequent David Lynch collaborator, had a small ca...

Tour de Force
Lynn Fontanne co-starred in many theatrical productions with her husband Alfred ...

Bullets Over Broadway
Diane Wiest, who once described Woody Allen's look of displeasure as "a mild and...

Free Soul
After Clark Gable was seen slapping his co-star Norma Shearer in Clarence Brown'...

Assassination of Burton?
While shooting a pivotal scene in The Assassination of Trotsky, Richard B...

Secret of Life
In 1971, Cher and her husband, Sonny Bono, began hosting their classic variety s...

Fish Called Wanda
Following his Oscar-winning performance as the goldfish-gobbling Otto "Don't cal...

Roscoe Born
"For the last several shows in my first stint on 'One Life To Live,' Mitch was t...

Tailgater (long)
On a chilly morning in 2001, Jonathan Franzen, the subject of a doumentary film,...

Pointed Observation?
Some time after landing her role as the clairvoyant Elf Queen Galadriel in ...

Likely Story?
One year two students at the Pasadena Playhouse acting school were jointly voted...

Mel Gibson: Lucky Break
At a party one night in 1979, Mel Gibson got drunk and became involved in a braw...

Kevin Costner: Bottleneck
One day on the set of Message in a Bottle, Kevin Costner had great diffic...

Sharon Stone: Cellulite War...
During her first day on the set of Basic Instinct, Sharon Stone approache...

Stamina
A prostitute was once asked whether Mickey Rooney had stamina in the bedroom. "A...

Dummy
Though director John Boorman proposed sending a dummy over a waterfall for a sce...

Method Actor
On his first day on the set of Rebel Without a Cause, James Dean tried ou...

The Hours
When The Hours was honored at the Golden Globes in 2003, Claire Danes, on...

Wood & Groucho
Though he directed some of their films, the Marx Brothers frequently clashed wit...

Perfect
One day during the production of Starting Over, director Alan Pakula told...

Quentin Tarantino: Stick to...
Quentin Tarantino's gifts as an actor were not universally appreciated. "He has,...

Roger Corman: Inside Joke
Like many of Roger Corman's former proteges, director Joe Dante later hired the ...

Perfect Actress?
Izabella Scorupco long dreamed of becoming an actress. Did her mother support he...

Hoffman's Crucible
At Fairport High School, Philip Seymour Hoffman, a natural athlete, enjoyed wres...

Katharine Hepburn & John Ba...
During the production of A Bill of Divorcement, Katharine Hepburn frequen...

Fun at 75?
John Barrymore was once asked by a young newspaper reporter whether he still fou...

Formal Education?
Josie Maran, well aware of the short shelf-life of the average model, once decla...

Brad Pitt: Fine Catch?
For his role in A River Runs Through It, Brad Pitt was required to learn ...

Royal Disbelief
Although Roy Scheider was originally cast to play Michael in Michael Cimino's ...

Michael Bay: Method Director
One day on the set of Pearl Harbor, Ewen Bremner asked Michael Bay, the f...

Quentin Tarantino: Ham Actor?
As a budding young actor, Quentin Tarantino took acting classes at a school loca...

Playful Direction
A young actor playing in a minor role opposite Junius Booth in ...

Vivian Leigh & the Radish
Vivian Leigh was delighted to land the starring role of Scarlett O'Hara in the 1...

Fruit of the Womb
An admirer of Sarah Bernhardt's, once complained that the actress always appeare...

Wishing Well?
A child prodigy, William Betty's early stage success inspired such a multitude o...

Buck Shot (long)
One day on the set of one of his classic Westerns, the director W. S. Van Dyke r...

Playful Fisher
Like many actresses, Joely Fisher often found herself confronting rumors about h...

Swedish Broad
George Raft was once offered the role of Rick in Casablanca. He turned it...

Frankly, Darling...
Director John Frankenheimer, famed for his mercurial temperament, was approached...

Poker on the Set?
One day during the filming of 1492: Conquest of Paradise, the cast was re...

Pulp Fiction
One day on the set of Pulp Fiction, Eric Stoltz filmed a memorable scene ...

Character Actress
Though Katie Holmes got a callback after auditioning for the part of Joey on "Da...

Hanks a Million?
Tom Hanks once thanked an unusual source for its assistance with his performance...

Alec Guinness: Little Green...
Alec Guinness, a classically trained Shakespearean actor, so despised working on...

I Walk with Ira?
In 1948, Burt Lancaster starred in a Lux radio dramatisation of a work entitled ...

SFL?
On November 4 1999, Christina Ricci hosted "Saturday Night Live". Among the skit...

Jungle Terrace
While entertaining Laurence Olivier in Jamaica one year, Noel Coward took him to...

Young Greg Kinnear
Though he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona (at Tucson) ...

Michael Douglas: Streets of...
One day after landing the role of Inspector Steve Keller in the hit police drama...

Val Kilmer: Trouble on the Set
Val Kilmer cultivated a reputation for being difficult on the set. While filming...

H2Oh!
During the production of one of her films, Kim Basinger shocked producers with h...

Political Ambition
Adlai Stevenson once told Joan Fontaine that, because he entertained political a...

Money Pit?
In 1999, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg began scouting locations for a prospecti...

Lapse of Memory
"Frank Benson suffered wonderful lapses of memory. As Caliban, one of his effect...

Scene-Stealer
One day on the set of the 1963 Western comedy McLintock!, John Wayne took...

William H. Macy: Typical Male?
While researching his role as a porn director in Boogie Nights, William H...

Fonda Fonda
Though Henry Fonda's father disapproved of his son's decision to pursue an actin...

Erros
In 1946, Godfrey Tearle performed in Anthony and Cleopatra at the Piccadi...

Tin Man
Why did Jack Haley replace Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Man during the production of t...

Generous Jack
Early in their respective careers, Jack Nicholson and Henry Jaglom agreed to app...

First Impressions
For his role as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, Anthony Hopk...

The Virginian
With the arrival of the talkie, Paramount hired a dialogue coach (a young actor ...

Skeet Ulrich: Ride with the...
In 1999, Skeet Ulrich appeared as Jack Bull Chiles in Ang Lee's Civil War film, ...

Selznick & the Czar
As a Jewish boy growing up in Czarist Russia, Lewis J. Selznick (father of legen...

Tootsie II
Shortly after the appearance of Sydney Pollack's Tootsie (1982), Dustin H...

Nothing in Common?
Jackie Gleason, Tom Hanks and director Garry Marshall had some difficulty captur...

D'oh!
Nancy Cartwright, best known as the voice behind many of the key characters on "...

Theatrical Footnote
Although Laurence Olivier, often named the finest actor of the 20th Century, was...

Christopher Reeve & Michael...
Like many pretty-boy actors, Christopher Reeve often battled rumors that he was ...

Made in Manhattan
Paul Muni's performance as Tony Camonte in Howard Hawks' classic gangster movie ...

Much Ado About Drinking
In February 2003, Prince Harry, who drank so much that he was barred from a pub ...

If?
So fearless was Scarlett Chorvat in performing her own stunts on the television ...

Lazenby
George Lazenby, a car salesman, auditioned for the role of James Bond in ...

Bellamy
"One day in Hollywood," Ralph Bellamy recalled, "I read a script in which the ch...

Lynch-Worthy?
Country crooner Billy Ray Cyrus, who played Gene (a home-wrecking pool cleaner) ...

Maurice Chevalier (long)
Innocents of Paris (1929) was Paramount's first big musical, so the entir...

'K'
Kristin Scott Thomas first stumbled upon The English Patient, the Booker ...

Search for Beauty (long)
While preparing for the release of Search for Beauty in 1934, Paramount p...

Hexum
One day on the set of the spies-and-fashion-photographers series "Cover Up," Jon...

Perspective
Though Geoffrey Rush won critical acclaim for his roles in Elizabeth (as ...

Dramatic Moment
On the opening night of The Vortex in Washington, D.C., Lilian Braithwait...

Critical Director
For many years, the great Shakespearean actor Henry Irving ran the Lyceum theatr...

Lillian Gish: Women in Holl...
Over the course of her 75 year career, Lillian Gish was dismayed to learn that, ...

Rules of Attraction?
In 2002, "Dawson's Creek" star James Van Der Beek appeared in Roger Avary's ...

Little Problem
During the production of Mervyn LeRoy's Little Caesar (1931), it quickly ...

Blockbuster Producer
Blockbuster producers Joel Silver and Jerry Bruckheimer almost single-handedly r...

Lemmon Juiced
In 1953 Jack Lemmon arrived in Hollywood to make his first feature film, ...

Herbert Bonaparte
One day on the Italian set of King Vidor's screen adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's ...

Jennifer Ehle: Best Actress
In 1996, Jennifer Ehle won a BAFTA Award for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the...

Actor in Training
Ben Affleck dropped out of Occidental College after a single year of Middle East...

O! Romeo?
In 1990, Mel Gibson surprised the skeptics with a fine turn in the title role of...

Golden Globes?
At the 1998 Golden Globe Awards, Ving Rhames was named Best Actor in a TV movie....

Romantic Notion
Although Jack Lemmon's father, president of a doughnut company, disapproved of h...

The French Touch
The French Touch, starring Arlene Francis and Brian Aherne, had its memor...

Circus Manager
Shortly after his appearance as the circus manager in Cecil B. De Mille's ...

Bowie Made Up?
David Bowie was once asked by a reporter whether he considered himself a good ac...

Brendan Fraser: Bedazzled
One day in 2004, director Harold Ramis reviewed a sequence which he had cut from...

Daryl Hannah: Drunk Driver?
At the LA premiere of Kill Bill: Vol 2 in 2004, agoraphobic actress Daryl...

Histrionics
"Mr. William Shakespeare was born at Stratford upon Avon in the county of Warwic...

Dane Cook & Matthew Modine
"I was at the Laugh Factory in L.A.," Dane Cook once recalled. "It was late, 35 ...

Caffe Trieste
One scene in 40 Days and 40 Nights called for Josh Hartnett to pass a cor...

A Touch of Class?
Producers were not entirely happy with Kim Basinger's performance in Hugh Hudson...

Monkey Business?
Could Mark Wahlberg have been the victim of a practical joke on the set of direc...

Halle Berry: Berry's Boobies
Halle Berry was once told that audiences had named 'seeing Halle Berry's naked b...

Benjamin Bratt: Edgy Perfor...
At one point during the production of Pi�ero (based on the life of the po...

Emeril
When he first began hosting a televised cooking show, Emeril Lagasse found speak...

Samuel Goldwyn & the Mercha...
Edward G. Robinson was once invited to play the venal Jewish moneylender Shylock...

Now There's a Concept
Kenneth Branagh's decision, at the age of 26, to form his own Renaissance Theatr...

Kenneth Branagh: Sheer Maud...
Never one to back down from a challenge, Kenneth Branagh once accepted a dare to...

Fat Chance?
When he announced his plans to become an actor, Kenneth Branagh's parents were h...

Kenneth Branagh: Corpsing
Following a performance as Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford ...

Robert De Niro: Dedication
While preparing for his role in The Deer Hunter, Robert De Niro, famous f...

Hoffman's Crucible
At Fairport High School, Philip Seymour Hoffman, a natural athlete, enjoyed wres...

Stork
In 2002, David Hyde Pierce, famed for his role as Niles on "Frazier," expressed ...

Jennifer Connelly & Billy C...
The romantic sparks began to fly shortly after Jennifer Connelly and Billy Campb...

Comic Reply
Patrick Stewart was once asked how he had prepared for his role as Professor X i...

Analyse This!
Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart, himself never much of a sci-fi fan, often groa...

Doublet Take
Patrick Stewart, fearful of being forever typecast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of...

Fork You?
Though Kenneth Branagh once called himself a "short-assed, fat-faced Irishman," ...

Se?en
In order to heighten the suspense for the audience, Kevin Spacey accepted his ro...

Old Vic VO?
One day while appearing in a West End production of Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman...

Mission: Implausible?
One day during the filming of Mission: Impossible, Kristin Scott Thomas h...

Cue the Elephant
The title of Knowlton Nash's Cue the Elephant derives from the live broad...

Grand Panjandrum
One day in 1755 the celebrated actor Charles Macklin boasted to Samuel Foote tha...

Bogart's Nod
When filming began on the set of Casablanca (1943), the script was far fr...

Robert Redford and Barbra S...
"In 1973, Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand hit box-office gold with the roman...

Josh Hartnett: Sexy Scenes
Shortly after the release of 40 Days & 40 Nights, Josh Hartnett appeared ...

40 Minutes and 40 Seconds?
40 Days and 40 Nights (which director Michael Lehmann once called "a come...

Freddy Fingered
In 2002, Tom Green personally accepted the 'Golden Raspberry' award for the year...

Bing Crosby: Bald Absurdity
"At the start of [Bing Crosby's] career, the studio insisted on gluing back his ...

Spencer Tracy: Wooden Advice?
A young actor once asked Spencer Tracy for some acting advice. "Just learn your ...

Wuthering Performance (long)
One day on the set of William Wyler's Wuthering Heights (1939), David Niv...

Method Actor
One day during the production of Viva Zapata!, Marlon Brando, famed for h...

Pop Quiz?
Ralph Fiennes once played the role of Charles Van Doren, the clean-cut, charisma...

Robin Williams: Fart Monologue
"As Sean Maguire, psychiatrist to Damon's troubled street-kid genius [in ...

Snatch Adams?
Robin Williams was not pleased when, shortly after the appearance of the 2002 fi...

Hollywood Ending
Shortly after landing the role of Ellie in Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending...

In The Bedroom?
One morning in 2002, Marisa Tomei's cat woke her up and led her to the TV. Tomei...

Clint Eastwood: Casting Row...
One day in the late 1950s, Clint Eastwood, then a struggling actor, visited a fr...

Supporting Actor
Keenan Wynn was content with his role as a supporting actor. "My billing has alw...

Wild Bill
"'Wild Bill' Wellman had a reputation for being tough. In the last scene of ...

She's a Fighter
The unforgettable fighting scenes in The Matrix were filmed with Carrie-A...

Mad Dog and Glory?
In 1993, Bill Murray (playing a mobster who'd rather be a comic) appeared opposi...

Acting Up?
For a certain scene in a film adaptation of David Copperfield, Dame Edith...

Word on Burton
During the production of Cleopatra, Richard Burton had a torrid affair wi...

Drink or Think?
Actor Richard Burton, famed for his drinking, indulged himself at every opportun...

Budding Ambition
An early indication of Jim Carrey's ambition arrived one day in 1972 when he sen...

Judi Wench?
When Royal Shakespeare Company director Peter Hall asked Dame Judi Dench to play...

BAFFled?
When Dame Judi Dench was named best actress for her performance in ...

Hamlet Actor
One day during the 1950s, Robert Atkins was asked what he thought of John Nevill...

The Bitch
In 1978, following her big breakthrough in The Stud, Joan Collins starred...

Butterflies
Dennis Christopher once appeared opposite Farrah Fawcett in "Butterflies Are Fre...

Method Actor
Having landed the role of Shaggy on "Scooby-Doo" Casey Kasem made a curious requ...

McConagross
One day during the production of EdTV, co-stars Matthew McConaughey and J...

Attention-Seeker?
Unlike many Hollywood stars, Noah Wyle once professed to "actually like doing in...

Faulkner & Longstreet
While working on the script for the B-movie Stallion Road one day in 1945...

Hiya Chopin
In 1960, Dirk Bogarde made Liszt in Hollywood. The experience made him de...

Marshall & Gleason
How did Garry Marshall and his producers convince Jackie Gleason to play the rol...

Ronald Reagan: Political Th...
When television cameras first moved into the Senate (in 1986) Ronald Reagan offe...

Family Honor
"When Davy Burnaby chose the stage as a profession, his father thought that perh...

Actor's Revenge
While performing in Lyons one evening, the actor Jean Marie Collot d'Herbois was...

Smar-r-rt R-r-reply
During an audition one day Jerome Kern began to lose his patience with an actres...

Hilary Swank: Method Actress
Hilary Swank auditioned for the lead role of Teena Brandon in Kimberly Peirce's ...

Jungle Fever
For many years, Samuel L. Jackson refused to listen to his wife's warnings that ...

Too Sexy?
While shooting a steamy love scene in Die Another Day, Halle Berry had he...

To Have And Have Not
"Humphrey Bogart was a brilliant actor," director Howard Hawks once recalled, "m...

Michael Madsen: Surprise!
Michael Madsen, whom Rolling Stone once dubbed "a natural menace," brough...

Nixt Generation?
In 2002, Wil Wheaton (famed for his role as Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Ne...

Roger Corman: Little Shop o...
Roger Corman was famed for his frugality. Indeed, during the production of ...

Puffy Biopic
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs once fingered a surprising actor to play the lead role in ...

Godfather
After winning successive Oscar nominations for his role as Michael Corleone in t...

Serpico
Al Pacino was consumed by his role as Frank Serpico in Sidney Lumet's classic ...

Al Pacino: Bottle Scene
Al Pacino saw The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder's grim portaryal of an heroi...

Lineless Pirate
"Arthur Bourchier gave Robert Morley his first job as an elderly, lineless pirat...

Nicolas Cage: Cockroach
Nicolas Cage, a fearless actor who won Jim Carrey's admiration for his "elephant...

Jackie Chan, Madman
Jackie Chan, famed for his incredible stunts, once jumped off the top of a build...

Stunt-Chan
Jackie Chan, famed for his incredible stunt work, broke his ankle one day during...

Daniel Deluwis?
Daniel Day-Lewis once professed to find acting surprisingly easy, for a surprisi...

Benicio Del Toro: Gonzo Per...
A committed actor, Benicio Del Toro gained forty pounds in order to play Oscar Z...

Hilary Swank: Jungle Book
"The first role I auditioned for was an animal," Hilary Swank once recalled. "Ba...

Christian Bale & Samuel L. ...
Christian Bale was delighted to play the villain opposite Samuel L. Jackson in ...

Titanic Jerk?
Stories abound about James Cameron's hard-driving work ethic - this one, for exa...

Typecasting
"One night when my brother ['The West Wing's Bradley Whitford] was in New York, ...

Occupational Hazard
"Before we shot that kissing scene in The Front," Andrea Marcovicci once ...

Slippery Advice
Mike Myers once recalled his first onscreen kiss - with Madonna: "I'd never kiss...

Moss Around a Flame
Shortly after her arrival in Hollywood, Marlene Dietrich appeared in Josef von S...

Tou Much?
Burt Reynolds was so desperate to land his role in Striptease as an amiab...

This Blows!
During the production of Blow, Johnny Depp was required to snort vast qua...

Julia Roberts: America's Sw...
At the 27th Annual People's Choice Awards in January 2001, Oscar hopeful Julia R...

008?
In Jaunary 2001, Catherine Zeta-Jones scoffed at rumors that she would play a Bo...

Later Maybe (long)
During the production of The Shipping News, Kevin Spacey and director Las...

Legs Wide Open?
While playing her small but memorable role as an underage temptress in <...

Saint Joan
One day George Bernard Shaw received a telegram from an actress intent on appear...

Kiss Me Guido
One day in 1997, Jennifer Esposito found herself in her underwear, in a tenement...

Improviser
One day early in her career, Jennifer Esposito found herself performing in an ar...

Dietrich & Milland
During the production of Golden Earrings, Marlene Dietrich (playing a gyp...

Confidence Man?
In 1985 Clint Eastwood recalled a word of advice from his old drama coach. The a...

Mouseketeer
during the production of Sister Act, Whoopi Goldberg was not pleased to f...

Cleopatra
The production of Cleopatra, which still ranks among the most expensive f...

Ash Wednesday
One day on the set of Ash Wednesday, director Larry Peerce walked into El...

Director's Director
Though he often denied it, George Lucas (who once likened making a film to "putt...

Luhrwomann
At twenty, Baz Luhrmann was accepted into the prestigious National Institute of ...

Superwuss
One day on the set of Pink Floyd The Wall, Bob Geldof (playing Pink) was ...

Sagging Actress
Lara Flynn Boyle earned her SAG (Screen Actor's Guild) card in 1986 while workin...

About a Boy
George Clooney once turned down the lead in About a Boy. His explanation?...

Stolen Oscars
On March 10, 2000, 55 Academy Award statuettes were stolen en route from Chicago...

Unto the Breach
While filming Shakespeare's Henry V (1944), Laurence Olivier, in the titl...

Accidental Tourist
One day early in his career, Dirk Bogarde arrived for an audition at the BBC stu...

Michael Caine: Model Actor
"John Wayne became my sort of foster father in Hollywood," Michael Caine once re...

Audition Beater?
Marlon Brando dressed up so nicely for his first audition that none of the produ...

Breakaway Blooper
Arnold Schwarzenegger was injured on the set of Terminator 3 one day whil...

Gilbert's Demise
Like every hero from the Golden Age of film, John Gilbert was acutely aware that...

Underdog
"I engaged Leonie Rysanek to make her debut at the Metropolitan in ...

Casting Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger was once asked about his greatest regrets. "My only regret...

Young Coward
"Noel Coward's first London appearance was in The Goldfish at the Little ...

Young Corman
As a young man, Roger Corman took acting classes with several other future stars...

Difficult Speech
"In the theatre one of the all-time great Upmen is Wilfrid Hyde-White. When I [R...

Young Tobey Maguire
Among Tobey Maguire's early roles was that of "Andre" in Allan Moyle 's ...

Sienna Miller: Born Actress
Sienna Miller: "I've wanted to be an actress for as long as I can remember, and ...

Career Advice
During his first week on the set of This is the Army in 1943, Ronald Reag...

Carefree?
"There was no greater perfectionist in films than Fred Astaire, who rehearsed t...

Drama School
"I learned two things at drama school," the character actor Wilfrid Hyde-White o...

Wedding Rehearsal
At the rehearsal for his daughter's wedding, Otis Skinner asked the minister wha...

True Character?
"When I was doing Vertigo," Jimmy Stewart once recalled, "poor Kim Novak,...

Welles Transformed
Orson Welles completed work on Citizen Kane (often called the finest film...

Spider-Man Costume
"The breathing was OK, but I lost a little peripheral vision," Tobey Maguire onc...

Steven Spielberg: Spielberg...
During the production of Saving Private Ryan (2002), Steven Spielberg ins...

Roman Scandal?
During the filming of the 1933 film Roman Scandals, young Lucille Ball ha...

Snake Charmer
During the filming of Cleopatra, Claudette Colbert told director Cecil B....

Grable Method
Betty Grable, a no-nonsense actress extraordinaire, had little time for Stanisla...

Depp's Teeth
For his role as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny Depp, en...

Davis & Flynn (long)
Errol Flynn and Bette Davis (who had wanted to play queen Elizabeth opposite Lau...

Stunt Double
For his classic screen adaptation of Robin Hood (1922), Douglas Fairbanks...

The Big Trail (long)
One day in the late 1920s, director Raoul Walsh spotted an athletic-looking youn...

Confidence Booster (long)
During the production of Victor Fleming's The Rough Riders (1927), produc...

Michael J. Fox
Because an actor named Michael Fox was already registered with the Screen Actors...

Walken's Birthday
One day during the production of The Rundown (in 2003), Seann William Sco...

Commander Connery
One day on the set of The Hunt for Red October (1990), Sean Connery sudde...

Young Julia Stiles: Debut P...
Young Julia Stiles, who once wrote to New York Mayor Ed Koch demanding more garb...

Real Blair Witch?
One day on the set of Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000), Erica Leehrs...

Greg the Bunny
In 2002, Sarah Silverman landed a role on the short-lived twisted sitcom "Greg t...

Victoria Silvstedt
The sultry blonde Swedish bombshell Victoria Silvstedt - a former Miss Sweden an...

Sensitive Snipes
"Older women, they love Waiting to Exhale," Wesley Snipes once remarked. ...

Ray Liotta & the Horse's Head
Ray Liotta, famed for his roles in such mafia films as GoodFellas and ...

Zeus' Butthole
Among producer Jerry Bruckheimer's favorite movie moments was a scene in Michael...

Young Asia Argento
A child prodigy, Asia Argento was publishing poetry at the age of eight, had mad...

Dopey School?
Courtney Thorne-Smith got her first taste of acting in a production of "Snow Whi...

Critical Massey
Raymond Massey was delighted to earn an Oscar nomination for his performance as ...

Treat Williams
Because so many producers were involved in the project, Treat Williams auditione...

Chevy Chase & Johnny Carson
Despite a successful Hollywood career, Chevy Chase was never celebrated for his ...

Clift's Last Words
Montgomery Clift's last words reportedly came in response to a question. Clift w...

Malcolm McDowell's Special ...
According to Malcolm McDowell, Stanley Kubrick originally planned to cast Mick J...

Matthau & Steisand
Walter Matthau was no fan of Barbra Steisand's work. "I have more talent in my s...

Sleuth
"When I started shooting Police Woman," Angie Dickinson later recalled, "...

Hugh Jackman: Bryan Singer ...
One day during the production of X-Men, director Bryan Singer gave Hugh J...

John Barrymore: Method Acting
John Barrymore was once asked what he thought about method acting. "Method actin...

Aniston's Blackberries
"On the first day of shooting, we started in the middle of the movie," Jennifer ...

Me & Him (long)
"I had an audition for a movie called Me and Him," David Duchovny once re...

Sarah Wynter & the Fake Boo...
Early in her career Sarah Wynter auditioned for a host of saucy roles. To up the...

Lee Tergesen
Lee Tergesen, famed for his role as Tobias 'Toby' Beecher on Tom Fontana's graph...

Al Pacino: Scarface Overdub
When Scarface (1983) - Brian De Palma's ultraviolent classic about a Cuba...

Madonna: Lie Another Day
Following the production of the James Bond film Die Another Day (2002), M...

Judy Dench Tribute
While playing the role of Loren in David Williamson's Up For Grabs at Wyn...

Nicolas Cage: Leaving Las V...
While preparing for his role in Mike Figgis's Leaving Las Vegas (the tale...

John Leguizamo's Muscles
For his role as the boxer Lex Vargas in Undefeated (2003), John Leguizam...

Say My Name!
Michael Ian Black once appeared in a prolonged sodomy scene with Bradley Cooper ...

Alfred Hitchcock: Cameos
"Alfred Hitchcock made an appearance in every one of his movies from 1939 on. Hi...

Robert Mitchum Versatility
After acting with the Long Beach Theater Guild, Robert Mitchum broke into films,...

Amanda Bynes: Bloomers Blooper
"Once, when I was doing The Secret Garden," Amanda Bynes recalled, "I had...

Ross Kemp: Crooked Man?
In 2003, Ross Kemp was cast to play an MI5 photographer-spy who witnesses a prom...

Keanu Reeves: Accidental Su...
Keanu Reeves was once asked what had originally drawn him to pursue the role of ...

Oh, Peter...
During the production of Julia Misbehaves (1948), Elizabeth Taylor develo...

Keira Knightley: Bend It Li...
While preparing for her role as the soccer-playing tomboy Juliette Paxton in Gur...

Ewan McGregor: Southern Twang
"At the start of 'Big Fish,'" New Yorker critic Anthony Lane reported sho...

Galen Gering: Behind The Sc...
Galen Gering, best known for his role on the soap opera Passions, was onc...

C. Thomas Howell: Stunt Bac...
Some of the stunts in The Outsiders (1983) did not exactly go as planned....

Jeff Bridges: The Dude
"When most of us think of Jeff Bridges, we think of the easy-going dude in ...

Bette Davis: Coming to Holl...
A reporter once asked Bette Davis what advice she would give to young actresses ...

Viggo Mortensen: Hidalgo
During the filming of Hidalgo, Viggo Mortensen grew so attached to his ho...

Omar Epps: Love and Basketball
For a certain scene in Love and Basketball (2000), Omar Epps (playing Qui...

Woody Harrelson: Apparently...
While filming an episode of "Cheers" one day, perpetual stoner Woody Harrelson d...

Joe Pantoliano: Joey No Pants?
Sopranos star Joey "Pants" Pantoliano was once asked whether he had any r...

Snoop Dogg: SuperNigga
After embarking upon an acting career, Snoop Dogg was asked whether he had a dre...

David Schwimmer: Hollywood ...
After one disastrous early experience, David Schwimmer, a stage actor at heart, ...

Adam Woodyatt: RearEnders
One day on the set, "EastEnders" star Adam Woodyatt decided to spice up his love...

James Caan: Journey to Mrrg...
In 1968, James Caan was cast against his wishes in the lead role (Buck Burnett) ...

Elisha Cuthbert: Cracking Up
"I was warned about the project before I got it," Elisha Cuthbert recalled of th...

Shannon Elizabeth: Tasty
"On The Young and the Restless, we did [a love scene] where I was in bed ...

Cuba Gooding, Jr: Show Me t...
Cuba Gooding, Jr was not without his critics, chief among them "Ebert & Roeper" ...

Sean Penn & Christopher Wal...
"[Christopher Walken] played Brad Whitewood Sr in At Close Range. Here he...

Jennifer Aniston: Ambition
Despite her acceptance to the New York High School of the Performing Arts (the s...

Jeff Bridges: Bridges Brothers
After appearing alongside his father [Lloyd Bridges] in Sea Hunt and ...

Jeff Bridges: Birth Scene
"John Carpenter's Starman saw Jeff Bridges as an alien who crash-lands an...

Young Nicolas Cage: Slick Nic
"[Nicolas Cage] had not always aimed to be an actor, but he could always act. On...

Jim Carrey: Golden Globe No...
Jim Carrey won his second Golden Globe nomination for his role as lying lawyer F...

Brian Cox: Gravitas
"In The Rookie, [Brian Cox] was the overbearing father of a baseball prod...

John Cusack: Young Thespian
"What excited the Cusack kids was acting. When John was but 3, Ann (5 years his ...

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey...
"The two actors [Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire], along with Amber Benson a...

Andy Robinson: Deadly Sniper
When the war hero-film star Audie Murphy, asked to play the deadly sniper Scorpi...

Harrison Ford: Stuntman
One day during the filming of Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark,...

Richard Harris: Bull McCabe
"Irish writer and director Jim Sheridan sent Richard Harris a script of ...

John Hurt: Elephant Man
Every day during the production of David Lynch's black and white classic, ...

Scarlett Johansson: Mack Truck
"I remember the scene in The Horse Whisperer when a Mack truck comes and ...

Nicole Kidman: Focused Child
Nicole Kidman was a focused performer from an early age. She began taking ballet...

Nicole Kidman: Spring Awake...
"While the other girls were down the beach, eyeing up the boys, Nicole Kidman sp...

Ian McKellen: Movie Makeup
"In Michael Mann's brilliant fuckingnatural thriller The Keep, Ian McKell...

Ian McKellen: Theatrical Debut
After graduating from Cambridge in 1961, Ian McKellen began his apprenticeship a...

Julianne Moore: Surviving P...
After appearances as Hugh Grant's girlfriend in the comedy Nine Months an...

Julianne Moore: Career Advice
Julianne Moore once offered some career advice for aspiring actresses. "If you w...

Guy Pearce, Queen Of The De...
"[In Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert], Guy Pearce played a drag queen who,...

Stuart Townsend: Scam Artist
"[In Shooting Fish] Stuart Townsend played a geeky English techno boffin ...

Kevin Spacey: Big Star
"In his hilarious book With Nails, Richard E. Grant recalled the shooting...

Young Kevin Spacey: Oscar N...
In 1995, Kevin Spacey won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Keyser S...

Young Ray Winstone: Bovver ...
"Deciding to pursue Drama, Ray Winstone enrolled at the Corona School in Hammers...

Kate Winslet: Family Holiday
"With her heart set on an acting career, the precocious, focused and absurdly ma...

George Kennedy: Back to Work
A World War II veteran, George Kennedy spent the last two years of his military ...

Daniel Day-Lewis: Hamlet Mo...
In the middle of a performance one evening, Daniel Day-Lewis suddenly left the s...

Eli Wallach: Residual Check
"I got a residual check for a movie I had done years ago," Eli Wallach once reca...

Eli Wallach & Sergio Leone:...
Eli Wallach was nearly killed during the filming of the train scene in Sergio Le...

Hugh Jackman & Kate Beckins...
"I felt for her," Hugh Jackman recalled of his Van Helsing co-star Kate B...

Robert Mitchum: Welcome to ...
In 1942, Robert Mitchum appeared in his first feature film, Border Patrol...

Alison Arngrim: Performer f...
Alison Arngrim (famed for her roel as Nellie Oleson on "Little House on the Prai...

Michael Caine: Professional...
Young Michael Caine began his theatrical career as a stage manager and occasiona...

Introducing Hope Davis
Early in her Hollywood career, Hope Davis played an exotic dancer opposite Nicol...

Sarah Jessica Parker: Broad...
Sarah Jessica Parker's most embarrassing moment came during a Broadway performan...

Elizabeth Taylor: Private L...
Elizabeth Taylor once starred in a stage production of Noel Coward's ...

Ewan McGregor: Big Dork
"He couldn't parallel park to save his life," Tammy Lynn once recalled of Ewan M...

Larry Kenney: XXX Thundercats
Years before joining the cast of "Imus in the Morning on MSNBC," Larry Kenney wa...

Gene Wilder: Reluctant Comic
In 1967, Mel Brooks cast Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom in The Producers. Wilde...

Viggo Mortensen: Purple Pro...
"In Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, [Viggo Mortensen] was given t...

Brad Pitt: Funny Trait
One day during the production of Ocean's Eleven, director Steven Soderber...

Brad Pitt: Moment of Zen
"Reporters ask me what I feel China should do about Tibet," Brad Pitt once remar...

Billy Bob Thornton: Sling B...
Billy Bob Thornton used every trick in the book to produce an accurate portrayal...

Sylvester Stallone: Pancake...
Bent on playing beefy Sheriff Freddy Heflin in James Mangold's Cop Land (...

Kevin Pollak: The Kiss
"My first on-screen kiss was the fourteenth movie I did [Miami Rhapsody w...

Frankie Avalon: Beach Party
"There was not one minute of seriousness in those movies," Frankie Avalon once r...

Paul Newman: Acceptance Speech
Paul Newman won an Academy Award for his role (as Fast Eddie Felson) in Martin S...

Haley Joel Osment: Sweepsta...
Haley Joel Osment got his start as an actor in a Pizza Hut commercial. (He was d...

Henry Winkler: Happy Days!
Tom Bosley (who played Howard Cunningham on the classic sitcom "Happy Days") onc...

Ann Jillian: Cancer Survivor
In 1985, at the age of 35, Ann Jillian was diagnosed with breast cancer and unde...

Sophia Loren: Screen Test
"Sophia Loren's screen test [for producer Carlo Ponti] was an unmitigated disast...

Hotel Sex
"Will & Grace" star Eric McCormack was once asked to recall his most depressing ...

Ewan McGregor: Trainspotting
"An airport customs inspector once recognised me from Trainspotting," Ewa...

Heath Ledger: Knight's Tail?
"It's a little uncomfortable doing love scenes in armor," Heath Ledger once reca...

Jude Law: Milking It
After being cast in The Talented Mr. Ripley, Jude Law shamelessly milked ...

Crutchmaster
"On a muggy summer afternoon, the physically disabled break-dancer-performance a...

Mister Ed
Alan Young was often asked how producers made Bamboo Harvester, the Palomino hor...

Fred Astaire: Rewrite
During the production of Easter Parade, screenwriter Sidney Sheldon got a...

Harry Cohn & Robert Rossen
Though his Columbia Studios produced the film, Harry Cohn was not a fan of ...

Seth Meyers & Jeff Gordon: ...
In 2004, "Saturday Night Live" star Seth Meyers beat race car driver Jeff Gordon...

Richard Kline: My Hero
"No one was as bad as Larry," Richard Kline once remarked of his slimy womanizin...

Heather Graham: Young Actress
A self-confessed "theatre geek," Heather Graham caught the acting bug at an earl...

Hugh Grant & Colin Firth
Colin Firth was once informed that Hugh Grant might retire from acting. "All we ...

Paul Giamatti: Embarrassing...
Paul Giamatti's most embarrassing role? "They did a remake of 'Planet of the Ape...

Tom Hanks: Unveiling Scene
While preparing for an "unveiling scene" in The Terminal, Tom Hanks (who ...

Barbra Streisand & Dustin H...
Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman teamed up for some memorable love scenes in ...

Virginia Madsen: Fake Wine
"The guys [Virginia Madsen's Sideways co-stars] had been shooting for a w...

Ryan Reynolds & James Garner
After his appearance in Blade, Ryan Reynolds was asked about the rumor th...

Craig Ferguson: Full-Time Host
Craig Ferguson was once asked why he had decided to retire from acting and host ...

John Gielgud: Feeling Better
John Gielgud visited Richard Burton during his debut performance of the title ro...

Eva Mendes: Comfort Food
In a memorable scene in Hitch (2005), Eva Mendes kisses Will Smith. "I ge...

Christina Ricci: Skipping Work
Christina Ricci once discovered a great way to get off work. "When you're an act...

Don Cheadle: Templeton the Rat
In the fifth grade, Don Cheadle appeared in his school's production of "Charlott...

Kiefer Sutherland: Acting I...
Kiefer Sutherland was once asked ever been hurt doing stunts on "24." "I have go...

John Leguizamo: Cr�nicas
Cr�nicas (2004) was John Leguizamo's first Spanish-language film. "I thou...

David Hyde Pierce: Condolen...
Very early in his career, David Hyde Pierce appeared in "Summer" (a play by Edwa...

Alan Alda: Flattered
Before accepting the role of Senator Ralph Owen Brewster in The Aviator, ...

Phil Hartman: Beauty and th...
Jan Hooks: "We were doing 'Beauty and the Beast' with Demi Moore and Jon Lovitz ...

Julia Sweeney: Pat
Julia Sweeney once revealed the inspiration behind her classic character - the a...

Jake Gyllenhaal: Love Scene
One day on the set of Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal and H...

Jeri Ryan: The Kiss
For one episode of "Star Trek: Voyager," Jeri Ryan had to kiss another actor. Od...

Eddie Cibrian: Best Choice,...
Before auditioning for Living Out Loud (in which he gives Holly Hunter a memorab...

Young Vin Diesel
After making his debut at the age of five (as Prince Charming in a youth product...

Vin Diesel: The Pacifier
"I worked with nine-month-old babies [while filming The Pacifier (2005)],...

Amy Adams: Jury Prize
At the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, Amy Adams was honored with a special jury pr...

Susan Sarandon: Clip Show
In 2003, Susan Sarandon was honored with a special ceremony at the Lincoln Cente...

Michelle Trachtenberg: Ice ...
One day on the set of the Disney movie Ice Princess (2005), Michelle Trac...

Matt Damon: Sleight of Hand
For his role as Linus Caldwell in Ocean's Eleven, Matt Damon planned to perfect ...

Noel Coward: Amusing
At a party one evening, Noel Coward met a British actress who disliked him becau...

Jane Kaczmarek: Tighty Whiteys
Jane Kaczmarek once appeared in a play called "Dinner with Friends" about a husb...

Olmos Famous
Edward James Olmos, noted for his role as the laconic Lieutenant Castillo on tel...

Kathleen Robertson: Comic ...
"I've done a few things that have been comedies," Canadian actress Kathleen Robe...

Francis Bacon: Cool Experim...
In March 1626, as Francis Bacon (father of the "experimental method") was passin...

China Chow Mane?
China Chow, having won a role in Head over Heels, was reading the script ...

Beerbohm Tree... Oscarized
When Beerbohm Tree, having played the role of Lord Illingworth (in Oscar Wilde's...

Jennifer Beals: Hard Decision
Although Jennifer Beals was one of three finalists for the lead in ...

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