David Niven’s Balloon

David Niven’s Balloon

David Niven’s The Moon’s a Balloon. Who the hell is he you might be asking – well, if you don’t know IMDB him and see an acting career that spans 5 decades which includes films such as ‘Around the world in 80 days’ ‘the guns of navarone’ and ‘The Pink Panther’...
Alan’s Baggage

Alan’s Baggage

In his book baggage Alan Cumming recounts the highs and lows of his career as an actor and at one point talks about when he trained to be an actor he was asked to perform not in his own Scottish accent but the required RP – received pronunciation – also...
What can we learn from Peter Bogdanovich?

What can we learn from Peter Bogdanovich?

There’s something that we can all learn from Peter Bogdanovich’s book ‘Who the Hells in it?’ When he was directing a film with a young actor in the late 90’s he mentioned as a way of encouraging him that he reminded him of James Cagney; the young actor had no idea who...
Streep It Up!

Streep It Up!

What can we learn from the great actress Meryl Streep? Far from fading into obscurity with the usual post fifty obsolescence, she has defied Hollywood calculus and reached a career high.  In her younger days she possessed an idiosyncratic beauty and her...
Brian Cox Says…

Brian Cox Says…

Brian Cox went on from being a leading actor on the London Stage to a supporting actor in Hollywood and he did it with a big smile on his face.  Brian says, in a way, every actor’s a character actor and he wanted the experience of doing the work. When he first went to...