# Actors honest about their talents **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020 "2015-03-15T00:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/1 "2015-03-15T00:47:43Z")
Many actors claim they are underrated or not being used properly: comedians want to know why they don’t get dramatic roles, they complain about scripts beneath their talents, or being typecast. Do you know of any actors who admit they’re of limited talent, and just found the right project? Or any who attribute their success more to good scripts or good directors rather than their own talent? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/2 "2015-03-15T01:05:54Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Many actors claim they are underrated or not being used properly: comedians want to know why they don’t get dramatic roles, they complain about scripts beneath their talents, or being typecast. Do you know of any actors who admit they’re of limited talent, and just found the right project? Or any who attribute their success more to good scripts or good directors rather than their own talent? Probably not quite what you’re looking for, but I recently heard Norman Reedus say that when he started acting he was really shy and self conscious and would stare a lot and over the years “I turned that scowl into a career”. Since having a big ego is sort of part of getting into Hollywood, it’s probably going to be tough to find actors that publicly admit that they’re not very good actors and just got lucky, or at least that it happened on a regular basis. I’m sure some of them sort of fell into acting by accident, but then worked at it to keep rising (even if they still aren’t that good and still kept getting good parts by accident). Also, it’s probably not that good for your career to announce that you’re not a good actor, you just keep getting these great parts by happenstance. I think, if I had to guess, that you’re more likely to find a statement like this from a retired actor that doesn’t have anything left to prove. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/3 "2015-03-15T01:30:55Z")
Viggo Mortensen, while not particularly self-effacing, often seems to give an honest opinion on what he does for a role and what it does for him. Here are some quotes from [an interview a couple of years ago](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/may/28/viggo-mortensen-interview). > [@](#): > > A script has to be not only “good and different”, but challenging. “If I think it’s an interesting story, but I don’t think I can do it – then that’s probably a good sign.[”] > > “If I can get the money together. It will be a difficult film to make. You can prepare, but you have to be lucky, too.” He reconsiders that remark and says: “There’s a Persian saying, ‘Luck smiles on the efficient.’” ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/4 "2015-03-15T03:21:28Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Many actors claim they are underrated or not being used properly: comedians want to know why they don’t get dramatic roles, they complain about scripts beneath their talents, or being typecast. Do you know of any actors who admit they’re of limited talent, and just found the right project? Or any who attribute their success more to good scripts or good directors rather than their own talent? Well first…who are the actors in the first group? Other than maybe ones worried about being typecast. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/5 "2015-03-15T03:27:54Z")
I would guess that even if an actor were inwardly honest about his limited talent, admitting publicly to being “not very talented” might result in him no longer being considered for future roles/contracts. The “perception-is-reality” phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Marlonius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Marlonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlonius)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/6 "2015-03-15T04:14:16Z")
Steven Spielberg said that Steve McQueen turned down Close Encounters of the Third Kind because he said he couldn’t cry on film. Spielberg was so keen for McQueen to play the role that eventually went to Dreyfuss that he said he could change the script so the emotional breakdown and crying scene was excised, but McQueen thought the scene was too important to go. This is all according to SS on the CE3K DVD features. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/7 "2015-03-15T05:46:46Z")
He was probably all cried out after _The Blob._ ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/8 "2015-03-15T06:43:44Z")
\*“David Carradine fights about as well as I act” \* - Chuck Norris. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/9 "2015-03-15T07:38:39Z")
Danny Bonaduce, “Danny Partridge”, in a televised powwow of former child stars, said “I was a cute kid”, i.e., not an actor. Barry Williams, “Greg Brady”, in contrast, expressed bitterness on Sally Jesse Raphael’s show over having been continually cold-shouldered by the “Love Boat” and “Fantasy Island” casting directors. Irrelevantly, Bonaduce beat Williams in a “Celebrity Boxing” match, and it must be said that Williams accepted his defeat with good grace. ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/10 "2015-03-15T09:35:17Z")
**Bing Crosby** , in a [1956 letter](http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19561009&id=9QkUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B5UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5003,1223521) to British band leader-columnist Cyril Stapleton: > [@](#): > > Honestly, I think I’ve stretched a talent, which is so thin that it’s almost transparent, over a quite unbelievable number of years–30 of them, actually…". [My Blue Heaven](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing_Crosby_discography#Charted_singles) was a #1 hit for Bing in 1927. His first movie, in 1930, was [King of Jazz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Jazz). **Victor Mature** , per his [1999 obituary in The New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/10/movies/victor-mature-movie-idol-noted-for-his-physique-in-loincloths-and-togas-is-dead.html), written by Aljean Harmetz: > [@](#): > > Never an actor who took himself too seriously, Mr. Mature was fond of telling how he was rejected for membership in the Los Angeles Country Club because the club did not accept actors. He said that he had replied, “Hell, I’m no actor, and I’ve got 28 pictures and a scrapbook of reviews to prove it.” ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/11 "2015-03-15T15:06:48Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Do you know of any actors who admit they’re of limited talent, and just found the right project? Victor Mature has to be the stand-out example of self-effacement in this regard. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/12 "2015-03-15T15:23:14Z")
Masi Oka, who played Hiro on _Heroes,_ said that when he saw they were auditioning for a Japanese, geeky, SF-fan comic book fanatic, he thought, “This is such a niche role for me, if I can’t get this, I should just give up on acting.” ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/13 "2015-03-15T15:31:01Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Many actors claim they are underrated or not being used properly: comedians want to know why they don’t get dramatic roles, they complain about scripts beneath their talents, or being typecast. Do you know of any actors who admit they’re of limited talent, and just found the right project? Or any who attribute their success more to good scripts or good directors rather than their own talent? Acting is a really hard job. Not just the actual craft of acting, but the constant judgment and rejection that you are exposed to on a daily basis. MOST people, even if they are super talented actors, can not be professional actors. Most people can’t handle the realities of what being an actor means. If you have heard of an actor it means that they had the internal drive and belief in themselves to keep going even when they got shot down at every audition they went on, going on multiple auditions a day, for 6 months straight or more and didn’t give up because they believed that their break was coming. That’s reality for most actual working actors. If they don’t think they are good they don’t stick with it. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t some people who fluked into the job, many of them are very honest about it. This was more true back in the studio system days, and it’s mostly only true of movie actors. But today you don’t survive long as an actor unless you believe you are good at what you do. The job is just too hard. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/14 "2015-03-15T16:14:29Z")
Will Smith passed on playing Neo in _The Matrix_, and later said: > [@](#): > > I would have absolutely messed up The Matrix. At that point I wasn’t smart enough as an actor to let the movie be—whereas Keanu was. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/15 "2015-03-15T16:17:06Z")
“When the show went into the top ten, I thought it was because of our acting. When the show went to number one, I realized it was because none of us wore a bra.” - Farrah Fawcett (Majors) on the success of **Charlie’s Angels** ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/16 "2015-03-15T17:59:26Z")
Tom Arnold, in an appearance on the David Letterman show many years ago, was asked how long he had been married to Roseanne. He replied, “Rosie and I have been married five years … which, oddly enough, is the same length of time I’ve had a career.” ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/17 "2015-03-15T20:09:26Z")
> [@from\_a\_to\_z](#): > > **Bing Crosby** , in a [1956 letter](http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19561009&id=9QkUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B5UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5003,1223521) to British band leader-columnist Cyril Stapleton:[My Blue Heaven](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing_Crosby_discography#Charted_singles) was a #1 hit for Bing in 1927. His first movie, in 1930, was [King of Jazz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Jazz). > > **Victor Mature** , per his [1999 obituary in The New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/10/movies/victor-mature-movie-idol-noted-for-his-physique-in-loincloths-and-togas-is-dead.html), written by Aljean Harmetz: I think Bing is vastly underrating his talent. He has a very natural patter and presence and knack for improv. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/18 "2015-03-16T12:58:27Z")
Not actors, but… Not long after “The Blair Witch Project” came out, the writers/directors came to my university. While they were talking about it, one of them admitted that they got lucky and would probably never come close to that success again. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/19 "2015-03-16T13:12:13Z")
> [@Marlonius](#): > > Steven Spielberg said that Steve McQueen turned down Close Encounters of the Third Kind because he said he couldn’t cry on film. I’ve got a new answer for when I get the “tell me about one of your weaknesses” question at a job interview. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020/20 "2015-03-16T13:30:38Z")
I can’t seem to find the quote right now, but I read something Stephen Fry said to the effect of “I’ve had an extraordinarily lucky career and have nothing to be upset about, but I still am” in regards to his depression. As I understand it he was talking about how he felt he was talented but not near the level of success he has received. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-honest-about-their-talents/715020.md?page=2)