Simon Callow on 'Great Acting' with Olivier, Gielgud, Richardson, Redgrave, et. al.

In this 1989 TV programme, Simon Callow introduces rare interview clips with Ralph Richardson, Sybil Thorndike, Albert Finney, John Gielgud, Noel Coward, Edith Evans, Michael Redgrave, Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, Vanessa Redgrave and Maggie Smith.
Simon is also a great admirer of Charles Laughton and wrote an excellent bio of him sub-titled "A Difficult Actor." Here too is his 1987 TV documentary entitled "Callow's Laughton" ...
• Simon Callow's Charles...

[@Jamie_Pritchard]

I really miss this BBC... How far it has fallen 😔

[@martinobrien7110]

Totally.

[@babavee100]

can I just say, IF Simon Callow ever looks at these old interviews...My daughter was a struggling actress many yars ago and was trying to make some money to support their very small amateur theatre in London. She met Simon and he gave her £50. She remembers him as a charming fellow and I, as her mother, who worried incessantly about her alone in London..would just like to say thank you.

[@soturner955]

The Best. The whole group, owns a lot of property in my heart. I have a hunger to hear Ralph Richardson's voice, forevermore... and never tire of it!

[@soturner955]

The very BEST. As a group, they own much property, in my heart. I can hear Ralph Richardson's voice forevermore, and never tire of it.

[@soturner955]

Looks sadly bleak to me, JOHN!

[@robinghosh8891]

Laurence Olivier's chameleon Acting is truly head and shoulders above the other Actors... Great Acting from the top of his head to the soles of his feet...A Complete Actor...

[@th8257]

Interestingly, a lot of Olivier's fellow actors didn't regard him as a film actor of the highest class, thinking he didn't always translate well from the theatre. Greta Garbo for example got him fired from Queen Christina in the 1930s. Oliver himself said this was correct with hindsight as she would have "acted him off the screen". In a more recent interview, Simon callow talked about Olivier's film acting and how he felt it was "obvious" in many of his films.

[@alexdavies1662]

Olivier, Guinness, Redgrave, Gielgud, Richardson - they all represent acting at its best.

[@cheriepeden7745]

First took notice of SirJohn Gielgud in The Elephant Man. He brought so much humanity to the part.

[@iwasglad122]

"Gentlemen, Her Royal Highness, Alexandra, Princess of Wales." Yes, I agree. He had such presence.

[@petervanherp6691]

For me it was probably‘Arthur’ with Dudley Moore. Later on in The Elephant Man, Julius Caesar( version of Joseph Mankiewich with Marlon Brando o.a) Orson Welles’ Chimes Of Midnight(wich is his film-adaption of Shakespeare’s Fallstaff) and many more. Last film with him i saw(and his last to if i’m correct) was Prospero’s Books from Peter Greenaway. Anyway, one magnificent, brilliant actor!

[@buckleygeneration]

I barely recognised Maggie Smith at first. She was a stunning presence, then as now.

[@denisetrott5085]

Thank you ....we have lost so much ,we have lost a BBC that made decent programs . So very sad 😢

[@veronicawhatley5044]

What a fantastic expressive face Gielgud has, Michael Redgrave very under -rated.

[@davidlogan4329]

Fascintating documentary in so many ways. Vanessa Redgrave was so wonderful to watch and Olivier and Gielgud so insightful.

[@charlespeterson3798]

The Richardson opening is worth the whole ball of wax.

[@albertus7516]

Just people telling stories... Delightful !

[@Baskerville22]

All these actors are very articulate and lucid. They have something to say, without the "umming & ahhing" that fills a good part of today's performers speech.

[@steerpike66]

Richardson's remarks at 9:50 on the four levels of a performance; the sense of the audience; the emphasis on what is prepared; the space left for tiny improvisation, and the layer of absolute belief, is the best brief description I have heard of the entire experience of performing.

[@furdiebant]

Laurence Olivier was the master of the interview format.

[@steeleye2112]

To see Finney around the time I was born and to think of all the trials and tribulations that would end up with him 30 years later being on a screen, me in a seat, watching Millers Crossing for the first time and experiencing one of the greatest couple of hours of my life. To be fair there aren't many on here who haven't affected me greatly, particularly Gielgud, but that performance from Finney and Byrne, will be in my mind at the moment of my death.

[@FranssensM]

Many thanks for finding and uploading this. They do not make interesting television programmes anymore. Maybe they think the viewers are not intelligent enough to appreciate them. I end up watching old tv shows on KZbin. A lot of BBC content. It probably doesn’t fit their political stance.

[@principeturandot4593]

This is absolutely wonderful! A treasure! Thank you for sharing.♥

[@vinm300]

Watch Gielgud in "No Man's Land" for good acting. Not just the voice - the lines, the deliver, but his posture, facial expressions and movement. He holding his whisky glass he places a finger of his free-hand contemplatively on the glass. Asked to help himself to a drink he slightly skips. It is everything he does.

[@tiffsaver]

Of all the great stage actors, I love Gielgud the most. I enjoy the feral beauty of Olivier, and stern attitude of Richardson, the masculinity of Burton. But in film, I believe John Gielgud had the best understanding of what is required for maximum impact, and minimal action. In every film I've seen him in, his humanity cuts me to the bone, a depth of humanity that I cannot fully describe. In his moments of silence, he speaks in volumes.

[@johnlewis9158]

I think you would have to go long way to find a better film actor than Sir Michael Redgrave his part in the Browning version who's name eludes for the moment me being the perfect example. Also his part as the mad ventriloquist in the dead of night was something else

[@Steviepics]

@@johnlewis9158 He expresses it very well when he suggests that a performance is a kind of controlled madness.

[@carolejander]

@@johnlewis9158 have you seen Michael Redgrave in Uncle Vanya alongside a wonderful cast directed by Laurence Olivier @ Chichester

[@sebastiansaville2043]

I forget the article but I did read somewhere that Olivier and Gielgud both felt Ralphie to be the best of the three of them.

[@susanmaxwell7623]

Thank you for this!` It is so wonderful, so valuable, to listen to and watch the magnificent great actors speak to their times in the theatre. I am hopeful that some of the plays they were in have been taped and are now available. Thank you, from St. Thomas, VI.

[@adam28xx]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@davidevans3227]

Noel coward and his mother.. i love it.. thankyou for sharing this 🙂 x

[@toff358]

Many thanks for this - most interesting and engrossing. I saw several of these irreplaceable old stagers in the London theatre in the 60`s and 70`s, including Olivier Gielgud and Richardson; each of them a glorious unique one off..

[@aryehfinklestein9041]

Two highlights here for me: Vanessa Redgrave's incredible performance in AS YOU LIKE IT; and Sir Ralph Richardson's comment - "acting is a controlled dream."

[@AntPDC]

Yes indeed.

[@moniquethomas3610]

Quite a collection of interviews with rare, legendary Thespians. Enjoyed this tremendously.

[@Mike8981]

Over 55 years now. My God!

[@zimnaya]

Absolutely wonderful...such monumental Titans shouldn't have to leave us...such intelligence and such voices!

[@veronicawhatley5044]

Richard Burton Speech - What a Voice ,What a subject

[@jamesmassa4592]

Great interview with Richard Burton. Probably one of the greatest actors of our time. May he rest in peace and his contributions to the theatre always be remembered and cherished. "The English theatre was the actors theatre..." (Burton).

[@mikehinton9079]

James Massa huge Burton fan

[@ronaldweed6103]

Oh, to have his gifts,one,as he said,the voice.

[@MrScopophiliac]

This is superb - real intelligence of these people! They really learned their craft.

[@paulbacchus1015]

Hugely enjoyable from start to finish, It's like a big box of chocolates with all your favorite centers. Paul Bacchus

[@csfan65]

Amazing interview footage here. Thank you for sharing this treasure trove with us!!!

[@Caspar33]

23.59 Richardson absolutely on the button! As with so much here. Thanks for posting

[@rustycalvera977]

These English actors...what makes them so appealing...so attractive.... Must be something to do with the focus they bring combined with a cultural heritage and natural flare for the dramatic which makes them so magnetic.

[@lplein8429]

Rusty Calvera true, almost as good as their masters, the Italian actors of past

[@pamelacorbett8774]

So good, so interesting.

[@Nataloff]

Remarkable! And they say that British actors "just do it."

[@jonathanfunnell4167]

I LOVE SIMON CALLOW WITH ALL MY HEART AND ALWAYS WILL SUCH A WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WONDERFUL MAN

[@davidevans3227]

did you see him do John the Baptist? 'mazing

[@jackspry9736]

RIP Dame Sybil Thorndike (October 24, 1882 - June 9, 1976), aged 93 RIP Dame Edith Evans (February 8, 1888 - October 14, 1976), aged 88 RIP Charles Laughton (July 1, 1899 - December 15, 1962), aged 63 RIP Sir Noël Coward (December 16, 1899 - March 26, 1973), aged 73 RIP Sir Ralph Richardson (December 19, 1902 - October 10, 1983), aged 80 RIP Sir John Gielgud (April 14, 1904 - May 21, 2000), aged 96 RIP Sir Laurence Olivier (May 22, 1907 - July 11, 1989), aged 82 RIP Sir Michael Redgrave (March 20, 1908 - March 21, 1985), aged 77 RIP Richard Burton (November 10, 1925 - August 5, 1984), aged 58 RIP Albert Finney (May 9, 1936 - February 7, 2019), aged 82 You will be remembered as legends.

[@Kimchiboy08]

Fantastic getting to hear them share some inner workings. Thank you for sharing .

[@Steviepics]

Thank you so much for posting this 'adam28xx'. I found it absolutely absorbing. From the womb I grew up with a father who was a theatre actor and he never stopped thinking about his craft. Although I never got to be an actor I have had extensive experience of variety and broadcasting situations and the whole psychology of 'going on'. It's a dialogue with oneself that is never finished. I'm 56 now and have greatly enjoyed careers as a radio producer, a photographer, a journalist and more recently as a filmmaker, but how I would love, in my later years to be able to add the credential of 'actor'.

[@MarkBeauchamp]

Resplendent! Total Majesty 😍

[@summermen]

Was anyone ever as beautiful as Vanessa Redgrave?

[@steeleye2112]

I was just thinking the same thing. I'd somehow not seen her work at this time before and my god that combination of talent, beauty and the most amazing voice is spellbinding.

[@dedlos]

It was Maggie Smith that blew me away, heh!

just bought the 26 DVDs on the Great War just to hear the voices of M. Redgrave and R. Richardson!

[@b00i00d]

Lovely doc - thanks for posting! Edith Evans was so sharp and in the moment, huh? I was a bit apprehensive watching this, you know, old time actors - very different style, but I found a lot of what was said such a revelation. I'll close with a beautiful quote from the program: "Acting is... a controlled dream" (Richardson) :)

[@philsooty5421]

Thanks for a very interesting video!

[@adam28xx]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@barbaramay3539]

Great Albert Finney

[@veronicawhatley5044]

Dame Edith Evans - Wonderful

[@patcronenberg2334]

Add Guinness and Laughton and we have a nearly complete team of G. O. A. T. S

[@ElementoryMyDearWatson]

And Scofield

[@ronaldweed6103]

So enjoyed this

[@vincentmcgrath4179]

Vanessa Redgrave brilliant

[@AntPDC]

Agreed.

[@OrganicPickups]

Vanessa Redgrave is so intelligent. Great video

[@edwardolson8996]

Great acting can send shivers down my spine. Vanessa Redgrave in this scene from "As You Like It" is mesmerizing. This is art at the highest level, on par with Marlon Brando in the " I could have been a contender " scene from " On the Waterfront ".

[@andymassingham]

I’d go even further. This might be the most perfect rendition of that speech I have ever heard. It echos Ralph Richardson‘s earlier statement about creating a dream for the audience, whilst inhabiting it at the same time. Exhilarating.

[@frankpiaaza5442]

Actors help us tap in to our deepest humanity.

[@frankfeldman6657]

Vanessa Redgrave, phenomenal.

[@TotzkeMike]

Fascinating.

[@ghughesarch]

Such fun from Noel Coward at the end. Sometimes it doesn't do to be too serious.

[@thomaskirkpatrick1134]

Brilliant!

[@salazarstrange8694]

Richard Burton... genius!

[@AntPDC]

31:18 Dear Albert Finney adopts a camp persona, oddly.

[@user-em9ru7dj2q]

wonderful!!

[@adam28xx]

Glad you think so!

[@KuyaManzano]

Best actors for me are those playing very intense characters that are different from themselves. Agree?

[@lynnturman8157]

To me the best actors are the ones who can transform themselves and become the character they are playing. It may be a character close to the actor's own identity or it may be a character light years away.

[@bh5606]

Why do we find actors so fascinating?

[@JustAnIslandGuy]

Excellent question. And I'm sure there is quite a variety of answers. My own take would be that actors get to do what many of us wish we could - to be in the driver's seat on a tour through a character, to draw the audience in and through the emotions, struggles, joys and sorrows of that individual, and to shed light on why he or she responded to those events in the way that they did. To me an effective actor is a proxy for the viewer in a very engaging way.

[@douglasmilton2805]

@@JustAnIslandGuy Perfectly summed up.

[@ronaldweed6103]

To be whom we are Not.

[@ThekingEC7]

Good question. For me, I just find acting so illusive & mysterious. What makes a great performance? Why can some actors light a scene & others bore us? It's so difficult to put your finger on. It truly is a magical artform.

[@Lytton333]

Because we live in the age of mass illusion, modernity is a deepening hall-of-mirrors. Other epochs weren't that interested in such obsessive forensics.

[@citizen1163]

Richard Burton!!!

[@radpitt2872]

pamla motown piercing!

[@salvatorecollura2692]

Recording technology affords a marvellous opportunity to analyse how actor’s voices change over time. Except perhaps Olivier, nearly all featured here had voices that only improved with age in my opinion. His Lordship lost that very distinctive brassy resonance with age, perhaps as a result of his terrible illness. Though I find his voice in his later years very pleasant though muted. Finney’s is perhaps the most notable transformation. It deepened into an extraordinary richness perhaps only matched by Scofield and Ackland. Though Gielgud already sounds very much like himself in the 1966 interview, I prefer his sound twenty years later. He developed a slight hoarseness that only enhanced and sensitised everything he said. The best voice in the world to me. And of course age has absolutely glorified Maggie Smith’s instrument. She speaks much less poshly now in interviews than she did then but of course when she plays posh it’s an absolute delight. Pearl clutching fluency personified. Burton’s voice to my ear seemed to change the least. He sounds very much the same in the 50s and 60s as he did in his last interviews. Just my thoughts.

[@syourke3]

Polonius should not be played as if he was a tottering old fool. He is the chief counselor to the King of Denmark. He can't be a complete fool. He is devious, he is tricky, he gives sage advice to his son Laertes when he departs for France and then sends an agent to spy on him, giving the agent intelligent advice as to how to find out what Laertes was up to. His advice to Ophelia was also sensible. As for his being an old man, he had only two children and they were both quite young, in their teens probably. He should be played as if he was an intelligent and virile middle aged man, not a silly old fool. He was pompous, vain and long winded, but not stupid.

[@adamredfield]

I agree Steven Yourke. Felix Alymer was not good as Polonius. Actually, much as I revere Olivier, his Hamlet movie is not one of his best efforts, in my humble opinion. He simplified to the point of being simplistic, as with the way he has Alymer play Polonius or the interpolation, "this is the story of man who could not make up his mind." Of course, this is not to disparage in the least Olivier's dozens, maybe a hundred, of astonishing contributions to dramatic art.

[@lynnturman8157]

Just like Hamlet shouldn't be played as if he's James Dean.

[@lynnturman8157]

@@adamredfield To me, Branagh's Hamlet is the best movie version. Instead of just filming a play, he makes it truly cinematic.

[@Althom1990]

A comedian stuck in a tragedian’s role

[@donfriend1035]

Stand out performance has to go to Vanessa Redgrave. Then Maggie Smith. Is the print of as you like it available to buy?

[@lynnturman8157]

These great british actors are trained differently and approach differently than method actors. But in the end, that is what they end up being. Living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.

[@strutherhill]

Gielgud is open -- in a guarded sort of way.

[@joeoconnor5400]

Jeremy Brett was a great actor.

[@strutherhill]

Remarkable -- Sybil Thorndike. Does anyone know who the interviewer is?

[@joedike2333]

Michael MacOwan is the interviewer.

[@steeleye2112]

I would have sold my soul to the devil to have known Vanessa Redgrave in any capacity whatsoever, even if only for one day. There is so much going on in behind the eyes, expressed by the face. She has to be one of the most enchanting people to have ever lived.

[@MinorKeyDancing]

Where is Wendy Hiller?

[@ryang790]

Dont be snobby lol but, if he had more lines and action when he was unveiled, I think Ralph Richardson would have been a brilliant choice of the man behind the mask of the Evil but now good Lord Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi..

[@grahamparr4710]

Don't e talk luverlly.

[@angloaust1575]

Stage actors had more talent Memorising their lines Without directors saying Cut print it Apart from prompters to help If they forgot their lines It was an uninterrupted process!

[@freebornjohn2687]

Is that Daniel Day Lewis as a student listening to Dame Edith Evans 8.44

[@roderickfemm8799]

Unlikely, he would have been around 8 years old in 1965.

[@denisemccormick9386]

Actors and sports players should not try and explain their craft - most are very dull.

[@pinetree1616]

Amen sister!