# So what IS good acting? Who's a good actor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2015, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751 "2015-01-02T07:21:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/21 "2015-01-02T17:41:20Z")
good acting might be doing a part well. e.g. Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain, Bryan Cranston as LBJ. a good actor is one that can do many roles well; e.g. Bryan Cranston. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/22 "2015-01-02T17:43:25Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > [Milton Berle said that he heard Spencer Tracy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYWJvbMgpsg#t=1751) give that advice to a young hopeful, but it was probably a legend even then. James Cagney said “You walk in, plant yourself squarely on both feet, look the other fella in the eye, and tell the truth.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/23 "2015-01-02T18:55:39Z")
Groucho Marx was a great actor. Could he play anyone other than Groucho Marx? No. Did he maker any movie he was in at least twice as funny than it would have been without him? yes - hence, greatness. Range is easy. Comedy is hard. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/24 "2015-01-02T19:00:17Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Groucho Marx was a great actor. Could he play anyone other than Groucho Marx? No. Did he maker any movie he was in at least twice as funny than it would have been without him? yes - hence, greatness. > > Range is easy. Comedy is hard. Then I would call him a great comedian, rather than a great actor. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/25 "2015-01-02T19:13:35Z")
Let’s not forget the difference a venue makes. I saw Richard Burton act on stage and it was magical. I’ve seen him act on film and he comes across as hammy as William Shatner. Had I only seen him in one of these two venues, I’d have never thought the other was possible. ---
**Author:** ![Idilia\_Dubb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c2a13f/32.png) [@Idilia\_Dubb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idilia_Dubb)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/26 "2015-01-02T20:59:54Z")
You know who was one of the top-of-the-tree greats? Toshiro Mifune. Those of us in the West had only an incomplete, subtitle-dependent understanding of his dialogue. We had to guess at the cultural subtleties of the stories he was telling. Yet, so powerful was his art that he moved us every single time. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/27 "2015-01-02T21:01:43Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Then I would call him a great comedian, rather than a great actor. Like Gracie Allen, he probably thought of himself as a comic actor, rather than a comedian. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/28 "2015-01-02T23:56:25Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > As narrow as were the ranges of actors like Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, at least they seemed to inhabit a character more naturally. The proof is in the exceptions: [Hepburn playing Chinese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ac39xjdGx8), [Tracy as Portuguese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP19-5_EULo), Bogart doing British. John Wayne was the same: the narrowest possible range, but when he was suited to a role he fit it like a glove. See him as Genghis Khan for the exception. Try [The Quiet Man](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045061/?ref_=nv_sr_1) which I haven’t seen, but everything I read about it says it is far from his usual Western or war movie. An actor playing the same kind of role all the time does not necessarily mean he can’t play anything else. Wayne could open a movie, Wayne drew audiences which didn’t care that much about the plot. What you see on the screen might be totally different from what you’d get meeting the actor in real life. There is an amazing transformation when the cameras start to roll. I’ve seen it. Good actors can do at least one type of role really well. Great actors can do several. And it helps if the actor is not tied too closely to a role. In watching **Adaptation** I didn’t see Meryl Streep at all. And quick, describe Johnny Depp in five words or less. You can do it with John Wayne, I can’t even begin to do it for him. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/29 "2015-01-02T23:59:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Like Gracie Allen, he probably thought of himself as a comic actor, rather than a comedian. Which is reasonable, since I recall from various bios I’ve read that he and his brothers did skits. He didn’t do anything resembling standup in the beginning. Some of the skits made it into the movies. like the classroom scene in **Horsefeathers.** ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/30 "2015-01-03T00:26:02Z")
> [@Idilia\_Dubb](#): > > You know who was one of the top-of-the-tree greats? Toshiro Mifune. > > Those of us in the West had only an incomplete, subtitle-dependent understanding of his dialogue. We had to guess at the cultural subtleties of the stories he was telling. Yet, so powerful was his art that he moved us every single time. he indeed was a giant actor. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751/31 "2015-01-03T00:34:46Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Which is reasonable, since I recall from various bios I’ve read that he and his brothers did skits. He didn’t do anything resembling standup in the beginning. Some of the skits made it into the movies. like the classroom scene in **Horsefeathers.** Their best movies were written on the road, in theaters. They would try a scene before a live audience and re-write it for the next show until it just couldn’t get any better. Then they’d make the film. They did this for _The Coconuts_ and _Animal Crackers_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-good-acting-whos-a-good-actor/708751.md?page=1)