Members Sylph Posted March 14, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 P. S. DaytimeFan, since I've already mentioned Nan, do you think she'd occasionally take a peak at a soap opera? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SFK Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Thinking about Joan leaving RADA in her first year got me to thinking about Joan van Ark and Robin Strasser leaving Yale School of Drama to start their careers after the first year as well. Specifically, if they "left" or were asked to leave. No, I believe that they all left on their own accord, but I have known people who have been cut from acting schools and a couple of them try to play it off like it was their idea. I know someone (an American) my who went to RADA and she works constantly doing Shakespeare in the more well-regarded regional theatres across the country. Every year, there are at least a handful of acting school grads who find immediate success. Tom Pelphrey and Lawrence St. Victor would be soap examples. There are tons of good looking people who graduate from these schools as well as those with "character" looks, but even if they don't hit it big right away a lot of them will at least land agents after their senior showcases. The industry does have a thing about theatre actors feeling that a lot of them are too big for TV acting. That's nothing new but reality programming has really fed into this imo. I don't think they really value an actor who can "stretch" and play a variety of things, they want YOU now and if YOU aren't what they want they're not all that interested or patient really in seeing who else you can be. At least this tends to be true for TV series. In film, they still go gaga over famous actors doing character work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted March 14, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Oh. My. God. Joan Van Ark and Robin Strasser went to Yale?! :dead: Sometimes you just wonder how do these people pass the entrance exam. Thank you for that post, SFK, I love reading about this stuff. UK has had trained actors who went to do soaps (Lee Boardman and Angela Lonsdale, who both acted in Corrie, or Leticia Dean and Adam Woodyatt, who was on EastEnders). This a off-topicky, and I presume a moderator will warn me of that, but could you just briefly grade the American drama schools? Apart from Yale, which we mentioned, how do Carnegie Mellon, Juilliard, Tisch, American Conservatory Theatre...? Some of which are MFAs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 I know both Jodie Foster and Elizabeth Taylor have commented on sitting in on drama school classes and thinking, "WTF is this!?". They preferred acting from their gut and instincts. Though Liz said she always felt inferior to Richard Burton given his drama school training, and that her training came from the old MGM studio system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaytimeFan Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 I just bet Nan loved Another World. I could see that being her kind of show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted March 14, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 I know a lot of them who said the same of playwriting. That makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaytimeFan Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Yes, Another World was, in retrospect, the soap opera's soap opera. Not too serious, not too fun, just right. I think Nan probably would have sided with Iris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted March 14, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Yeah. I could see her seeing B&B a bit... silly, Y&R too Midwest. All My Children? Mmm... Not really her thing. OLTL is out of the question. Which leaves GH and a bunch of others, but I think you've nailed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SFK Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Maybe in her final days, but I bet most days she was already out to lunch and busy shopping after that. Every time I see a pic of her I think of that infomercial with the old lady (not Joan Rivers) smearing makeup on her legs. JVA and RS were also two of the youngest people ever to be accepted into the MFA program. I believe JVA still holds the title as the second youngest after Julie Harris. I can't fairly rank those schools, I don't have enough knowledge of what's going on at all of them but I will say that the overall quality of these schools ebbs and flows from year to year particularly when there are staff changes. And yes, they have been known to graduate students who did not deserve it. But yeah, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, Juilliard, Tisch (MFA), ACT, Rutgers, SUNY Purchase, NCSA, BU, all excellent programs but in terms of cache/immediate name recognition especially by those who don't know a lot about acting schools, Juilliard, Yale, and NYU can't be beat (NYU perhaps unfairly because a lot of people will tell you that while the MFA deserves the distinction the BFA perhaps does not ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaytimeFan Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 I didn't even think about it, Another World was my instant answer. Oh I bet she was a watcher for decades, something needed to be on television while she worked out that body of hers. And I know the infomercial you're speaking of. Smart Cover. TOTALLY. Nan would have thought that comparison hilarious, she would have loved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SFK Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 She would have made for a great soap character, dressed to the nines toting oxygen, taking breaks for a Parliament... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaytimeFan Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 I really would have loved to see Nan slap Jeanne Cooper. Katherine: Dear God in Heaven Nan! Nan: Oh just shut UP bitch! You wanna see a lady who can handle her liquor? *takes a swig* Katherine: Stop, STOP! Nan: *drags a Parliament* Why? For what? So I can degenerate and get even OLDER? *drags on some oxygen* No thank you very much my darling. Katherine: DAMN YOU NAN! Nan: I'm marvellous! *slaps Katherine* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bright Eyes Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Okay, 99% of the time I know enough to realize what and whom you people are talking about but this NAN, who is she? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaytimeFan Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Nan: http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/socialdiary/2007/01_04_07/socialdiary01_04_07.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted March 14, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 In the words of DaytimeFan: the best-dressed woman in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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