ON-CUE - Amateur Theatre - Acting articles - What makes an actor

LORD OLIVIER

What makes a successful actor.

People ask me, "What is the most important attribute of a successful actor", so frequently that I have been obliged to think more deeply than it costs to make the quick reply, "Talent, of course." I would now say that there is an equal trinity of contributing qualities.

Talent

This must develop into skill. Luck

Though this must vary, it must be good enough to believe in the truth of it yourself. You must see that it has provided you with the right opportunities at the right time. Stamina

A gift seemingly not affected by disease, unless worn down by constant onslaughts.
Here is the best example of luck that I can remember in my own case; until the main rehearsal of Othello in 1964, I had forgotten to be careful of the way my bare feet were behaving.
I had not too happy a memory of Alfred Lunt's remark to me after Oedipus. "I was fascinated by your feet; the more intense you got, the more rigidly did your big toes stand straight up in the air!" I was horrified as well as disappointed.
So on this night; as I started down the passage behind the back wall of the stage at the Old Vic, I tried to keep each foot flat on the ground as it trod the floor. This stiffened up the foot and constricted the leg muscles and, I feared, looked rather comical.
I then tried to relax the foot, without placing the heel down first but putting my whole weight on each foot in turn as it touched the ground. Thus introducing those swaying hips so generously commented upon, and regarded as the keystone of an elaborate charcterisation that even went to the length of studying the gait of the barefooted races! I indeed had a feeling that I had stumbled on to a good thing as I rounded the corner at the end of the passage and went through and on to the stage.
That is what I call luck.
Alfred can never have guessed the ultimate usefulness of his good natured mockery.

The above is an extract from Lord Oliver's autobiography, Confessions of an Actor published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 1982.

The photograph of the author was taken when he was taking part in Chekhov's The Three Sisters, as I could not find a photograph featuring him in Oedipus. RS