# Crying Actors and tears. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208 "2020-06-07T18:08:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/1 "2020-06-07T18:08:07Z")
I suppose a great actor can turn on the water works, no problem. But…what of regular everyday players? Are there tricks of the trade to create realistic tears? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/2 "2020-06-07T18:14:19Z")
yes, I remember reading a story about some film where one of the actors said they have some sort of mild irritant powder they can “puff” into actors eyes to turn on the waterworks. I’ll see if I can find the source. edit: here [How Makeup Artists Help Actors Cry](https://www.businessinsider.com/how-makeup-artists-help-actors-cry-2018-5) > [@](#): > > Toelke: And then there’s the blower, which you literally blow menthol air into somebody’s eye. > > Tang: Oh yeah. Now there it is. Okay. > > Toelke: Which totally irritates your eyes. And the benefit to using the menthol versions is that because it’s literally irritating the eye, the eye will get red. So if you’ve ever seen yourself after you’ve cried, your eyes are puffy and red. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/3 "2020-06-07T18:22:05Z")
There are plenty of ways to stimulate tear production in the eye. Any number of irritating gases or chemicals. It is also not all that hard to teach yourself to cry on demand. It’s not that hard, if you have a good imagination. Think back on the last time you cried. What was it that caused you to cry? Now imagine that happening again. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/4 "2020-06-07T19:07:13Z")
We were talking about that. The lil’wrekker, who has acted some, can’t bring up tears automatically. We had a little contest. The oldest Grand-wrek started crying in about 3 minutes. The lil’wrekker was next. Them two crying had me crying. I looked over and stoic Hamza was wiping a tear from his eye. Then we all started laughing. Ruined the contest. But…I now think the oldest granddaughter needs to go to Hollywood and get an agent. Her crying was amazing and fast. ---
**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:** [June 7, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/5 "2020-06-07T21:32:03Z")
I recall one kid actor saying that he was able to produce tears on demand during auditions by thinking of how his dog had died. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/6 "2020-06-07T21:55:11Z")
You just reach up and pull a couple hairs out of your nose. I think it was Carol Burnett who said that. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/7 "2020-06-07T21:55:57Z")
I cannot remember the name, but one actor, in an interview, mentioned how he would tug at his nostril hairs and shed tears from the pain. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/8 "2020-06-07T21:56:07Z")
Take a look at the end of the movie Adam’s Rib. Spencer Tracy cries twice and the second time at least the camera doesn’t cut away. The trick is simply not to blink for as long as you can manage it, and tears will start to flow. There is also a famous story about David Niven, who needed to cry during a scene in Wuthering Heights, and couldn’t manage it. So they puffed menthol or something in his face, and green slime proceeded to come out of his nose and he couldn’t function for the rest of the day. So chemicals are a dodgy choice, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/9 "2020-06-07T22:32:20Z")
I was always impressed by Leonardo DiCaprio crying in Shutter Island when he discovers his wife has drowned all of their children in a pond, especially since in real life Leo doesn’t have any children, but he captured I think how most parents would react. By just devolving into a hunched over, sniveling, sobbing, slobbering mess. I don’t know if he used a painful memory or something but that was some realistic crying. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/10 "2020-06-07T22:54:21Z")
Bernadette Peters has a signature thing she does where in the middle of a poignant song, the tears will well up and just begin to trickle down one cheek while her face remains nearly completely impassive. It was impressive the first time, but after seeing it in on countless PBS specials, it’s become sort of trite. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/11 "2020-06-07T23:25:44Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > yes, I remember reading a story about some film where one of the actors said they have some sort of mild irritant powder they can “puff” into actors eyes to turn on the waterworks. I’ll see if I can find the source. > edit: here [How Makeup Artists Help Actors Cry](https://www.businessinsider.com/how-makeup-artists-help-actors-cry-2018-5) This sort of trade trick goes back at least as far as the English commercial theater itself: > [@William Shakespeare](#): > > And if the boy have not a woman’s gift > To rain a shower of commanded tears, > An onion will do well for such a shift, > Which in a napkin being close convey’d > Shall in despite enforce a watery eye. (The “boy” in this case is an amateur, a household page being recruited to play the role of a distraught wife as a prank, but it’s likely that Shakespeare had witnessed actual boy actors, and possibly adults, being given similar advice.) ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/12 "2020-06-08T05:46:07Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Bernadette Peters has a signature thing she does where in the middle of a poignant song, the tears will well up and just begin to trickle down one cheek while her face remains nearly completely impassive. It was impressive the first time, but after seeing it in on countless PBS specials, it’s become sort of trite. Maybe the tear(s) are genuine and she’s trying to ignore them? I know there are songs/pieces that will literally make me cry (especially if I’m trying to sing along with them) and a lot of times I don’t even know _why_. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/13 "2020-06-08T07:42:10Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > Maybe the tear(s) are genuine and she’s trying to ignore them? I know there are songs/pieces that will literally make me cry (especially if I’m trying to sing along with them) and a lot of times I don’t even know _why_. Oh, no, she’s a consummate professional, and has performed these songs on Broadway hundreds of times. She manages not to blink until the tears come. It’s very impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/14 "2020-06-08T07:56:40Z")
I can almost cry on demand but not quite. I need something small to start me off, like a cheesy hallmark commercial or a soldier being reunited with her/his dog. These things alone will not make me cry. However they are enough to give me that “lump” feeling, and once I feel that, I no longer need to think about anything sad. I can just physically will myself to cry. Lol, that’s funny to read out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/15 "2020-06-08T08:14:55Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Oh, no, she’s a consummate professional, and has performed these songs on Broadway hundreds of times. She manages not to blink until the tears come. It’s very impressive. Omg, that’s nearly impossible. I’ve tried it several times. It starts burning so bad and I blink. I guess it takes practice. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/16 "2020-06-08T09:07:19Z")
Read here, the first little bit of the sample of [A Life in Parts](https://www.amazon.com/Life-Parts-Bryan-Cranston-ebook/dp/B00V3KJZMK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) by Bryan Cranston for one account of how it can happen. I won’t spoil it by quoting anything. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/17 "2020-06-08T14:05:15Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I recall one kid actor saying that he was able to produce tears on demand during auditions by thinking of how his dog had died. You may be thinking of Jackie Cooper. But in that case, he was made to cry for a scene by actor Wallace Beery, who told him his dog had died. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/18 "2020-06-08T14:47:43Z")
Monty Python had a funny skit where Eric Idle had onions hanging below his eyes. It was part of the Dirty Vicar Skit ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/19 "2020-06-08T14:52:40Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I recall one kid actor saying that he was able to produce tears on demand during auditions by thinking of how his dog had died. > [@Chefguy](#): > > You may be thinking of Jackie Cooper. But in that case, he was made to cry for a scene by actor Wallace Beery, who told him his dog had died. I remember it being said by a more recent young actor - I think it might’ve been Haley Joel Osment, on a press tour for _The Sixth Sense_. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208/20 "2020-06-08T16:06:52Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Read here, the first little bit of the sample of [A Life in Parts](https://www.amazon.com/Life-Parts-Bryan-Cranston-ebook/dp/B00V3KJZMK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) by Bryan Cranston for one account of how it can happen. I won’t spoil it by quoting anything. Yikes! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crying-actors-and-tears/855208.md?page=2)