Most members of the so-called proletariat class would assume that acting is of a measure of ease. For acting as a character appears to come naturally. However, this is not so. As the late Sir John Gielgud said “acting is the most precise of skills, akin to balancing oneself above a river of molten lava with blindfolds over the eyes”
I find Mr. Gielgud’s quote to be blithe, but true. Acting is very difficult, and my role as Senor Whitey in the much heralded 1974 television movie Pray For The Wildcats, was proof to this fact. In order to truly capture the essence of this sheriff in his most realistic form, yet have him be understandable to a primarily American audience, I had to work very carefully and, quite literally, work on a tightrope above molten lava.
My character, the sheriff, had never encountered Americans before. He spoke Spanish. So I used various lingo known only to Spaniards and central Americans, and combined that with English. The results are sentences that read very easily, maintaining the reality of Baja California, but understood by an American audience. (The actor must always remember who his audience is – Sir Alec Guiness told me that). Hence, sentences like “A high ole time, senor?” and “someone has killed the heepees, and motorcycle tracks were seen, senor.” Realism is the hallmark of brilliant production, and my acting made the realism possible.
Not only is dialogue important, but actions are equally necessary. For instance, in the bar scene where the character of Terry was getting horribly drunk and yelling at Sam Farragut, I could have easily sat back and just played a silent sheriff, nodded and looking confused. But I went above the call of duty, and nodded enthusiastically to understand what Sam is saying, but not nodding enough to catch on to the subtle dialogue of Terry letting Sam know he was ashamed for being a part of the murder of hippies.
When I let Sam go in the end, I have no clue as to what really happened, but that was for the stars to resolve. The most important thing as a supporting character is to remember who the star is. And it wasn’t me that time, but it has been on many other occasions. On this filmic masterpiece, however, my job was to make the other actors look better. And I think I achieved that.