# Yes. It’s called acting. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-it-s-called-acting/346836 "2006-03-02T23:23:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-it-s-called-acting/346836/21 "2006-03-03T20:15:47Z")
I immediately thought of another fella who uses the same technique. Substitute “Dick Cheney” for “David Caruso.” \*Q. Is there a reason why David Caruso tilts his head and talks hesitantly on CSI: Miami? —Jan L., Saginaw, Mich. A. Yes. It’s called acting.\* ---
**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:** [March 3, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-it-s-called-acting/346836/22 "2006-03-03T21:07:38Z")
What I want to know is how come Personality Parade ran out of press agent plants and so had to include a letter from a real reader? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-it-s-called-acting/346836/23 "2006-03-03T21:14:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > What I want to know is how come Personality Parade ran out of press agent plants and so had to include a letter from a real reader? Please, the letter is clearly written by David Caruso using his instantly memorable “Jan L. from Saganaw Michigan” character. He’s trying for a Print Actor Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-it-s-called-acting/346836/24 "2006-03-03T21:19:54Z")
I guess the alternative answer (to a more-or-less snarky version of “that’s how he acts”) could have been that he’d had a stroke and it affects his speech and mannerisms. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-it-s-called-acting/346836/25 "2006-03-03T21:28:26Z")
In an alternate universe where CSI:Miami was a satirical examination of the overworked genre of crime-solving television drama, and Caruso’s character was intentionally played so over-the-top as to be a ridiculous sendup of other portrayals of detectives on television, I would hail it as great television. In reality, I just pretend that this fantasy is reality, and thereby derive just as much enjoyment from the show as I would if it were actually the case. You think NCIS is fun to watch because of how it mocks other Forensic Television? You ain’t seen nothin! Check out this CSI:Miami show! It mocks Forensic TV even more than NCIS, and what’s more, does it with a straight face! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-it-s-called-acting/346836/26 "2006-03-05T04:47:57Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I think the origin of this line is with Laurrence Olivier. > > Dustin Hoffman came to film a scene in Marathon Man, but he looked terrible…all worn out and so forth. When asked by Olivier why he really looked so bad, Hoffman told him he had wanted to feel the same as his character, so he stayed up for two days, eating like shit and just making himself feel terrible. > > Olivier replied, “You know…it’s called acting.” > > Olivier was not big into method acting. –cough-- [bullshit](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074860/trivia) 😃 I’ve heard this story for a long time, having worked in the NYC film business on the crew side since 1981. It is simply untrue. Great story though- one we wish were true. However, it’s not hard to verify that Mr. Hoffman was indeed going through a divorce during the filming of **Marathon Man**. Side trivia, cause I can’t help it: **Marathon Man** was one of the first feature films to make use of the Steadicam stabilization system. Quite a bit of the running shots around the resevoir in Central Park, as well as tracking shots on 47th St. near the end, and other tracking shots in the film were shot using it. Oh, and Caruso also bares his buttocks for artistic reasons. -snerk- Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-it-s-called-acting/346836/27 "2006-03-05T09:43:37Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I think the origin of this line is with Laurrence Olivier. > > Dustin Hoffman came to film a scene in Marathon Man, but he looked terrible…all worn out and so forth. When asked by Olivier why he really looked so bad, Hoffman told him he had wanted to feel the same as his character, so he stayed up for two days, eating like shit and just making himself feel terrible. > > Olivier replied, “You know…it’s called acting.” > > Olivier was not big into method acting. Alfred Hitchcock predates that - making “Marnie”, Tippi Hedren commented, upon seeing Sean Connery for the first time (and being rather impressed with his hunkiness) “I’m supposed to be _frigid_ when I’m kissing _that_?” Hitchcock’s jealous reply - “yes darling - that’s why they call it acting…” mm ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-it-s-called-acting/346836/28 "2006-03-05T21:48:03Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > –cough-- [bullshit](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074860/trivia) > > 😃 > > I’ve heard this story for a long time, having worked in the NYC film business on the crew side since 1981. It is simply untrue. Great story though- one we wish were true. However, it’s not hard to verify that Mr. Hoffman was indeed going through a divorce during the filming of **Marathon Man**. > > Side trivia, cause I can’t help it: **Marathon Man** was one of the first feature films to make use of the Steadicam stabilization system. Quite a bit of the running shots around the resevoir in Central Park, as well as tracking shots on 47th St. near the end, and other tracking shots in the film were shot using it. > > Oh, and Caruso also bares his buttocks for artistic reasons. -snerk- > > Cartooniverse I stand both humbly and gladly corrected. I’m not usually the type to spread false stories; I thought I had seen Hoffman on Inside the Actors Studio tell the story, but it was probably someone else passing along this “legend”. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-it-s-called-acting/346836.md?page=1)