Interviews and Essays

3.24.2021       After doing interviews for over a decade or so, it dawned on me one day that I would inevitably find out that one of the actors I had interviewed had passed away. Never in my most horrific nightmares did I imagine that the first one to leave us would be...

3.2.2018.        All About ACTORS is an invention that was created out of necessity. After conducting interviews with five well-known actors for my college newspaper as part of a departmental honors course assignment, only the first two were published, and both were severely edited. In addition to being left with the...

11.22.2018.        The late fall and early winter of 1991/92 was one of the best times of my life so far because I spent a good chunk of it hanging out with Jason Robards. Several times a week, I would venture over to the Music Box Theatre either after a matinee...

4.23.2019       Back when All About ACTORS was a print publication, we had a recurring series of essays entitled In Defense Of... where we spotlighted a particular actor and "defended" him for one reason or another. Whether it was a character actor who deserved better roles, or a movi...

Where: his apartment. 11 am.        Spalding Gray is a multi-talented man who acts, tells stories about his life in the form of monologues all across the country, and writes books based on these stories which have been translated into several languages. But while critics and the media try to find...

Where: his dressing room (Cort Theatre). 5 pm. Donald Moffat is one of those brilliant character actors who you always expect to show up in a film or on a television series to make it that much better. His presence in a project lends it a gravitas that it normally would...

Where: his dressing room (Circle In The Square Theatre). 4:45 pm. Anthony LaPaglia is currently making his Broadway debut in a revival of The Rose Tattoo. While audiences are used to seeing him on the big screen, his decision to spend his time acting in a lesser-known Tennessee Williams play has...

Where: his apartment. 2 pm.        Riding on the uptown #2 train recently, I was not surprised when it stalled at Times Square. This happens quite often. What does not happen quite often is the sight of an actor who has appeared in some of the most successful and critically acclaimed...

Where: backstage at the Public Theater. 6 pm.        Ed Harris is currently starring in the highly-anticipated new play by Sam Shepard called Simpatico. Though he has not appeared on stage in New York in many years, he does enjoy being back in town for this important piece. “I like New...

Where: his dressing room (Circle In The Square Theatre). 4:15 pm.        One of the great things that I discovered about Jamey Sheridan during our conversation is that he does not have any tolerance for Hollywood-type nonsense like indulging manipulative actors or catering to the lowest common denominator. He will simply...

Where: his dressing room (Booth Theatre). 4:15 pm.        When I first met David Dukes six years ago, little did I know then that it would be the beginning of one of my closest and most treasured friendships. Dave is just one of the greatest human beings I know, and I...

Where: downstairs lobby of the Manhattan Theatre Club. 6 pm.        John Glover is starring in the Manhattan Theatre Club's production of Love! Valour! Compassion!, and it is the day after its opening. All the newspapers are filled with rave reviews today, and he has just gotten word that the play...

Where: his play's publicity office. 1 pm.        Tony Goldwyn has spent the past several months co-starring alongside Bryan Cranston and Tatiana Maslany in the hottest non-musical ticket on Broadway, the theatrical adaptation of the 1976 film Network. For audiences who only know ...

Where: his dressing room (Marquis Theatre). 12:45 pm.        A few days after Victor Garber was nominated for a Tony Award for his starring role in the smash revival of Damn Yankees, I went to ask him for an interview. At the time, there were people standing around the theatre congratulating...

Where: his dressing room (Second Stage Theatre). 1:30 pm.        Edward Herrmann and I have met for the first time at this interview, and long before I put the batteries in my old Panasonic, he is already chatting up a storm about everything from the play he is starring in to...

Where: his apartment. 11 am.        Even if I'm at a friend's house, I'm the type of person who feels intrusive and awkward sitting around in someone else's home. So you can imagine how anxious I was when I found out that I had to interview the legend that is Tony...

Where: his dressing room (Belasco Theatre). 4:30 pm.             Two days before he plays his last performance in the Broadway event of the season, Network, and three days before he would win his second Best Actor Tony Award for playing the starring role of Ho...

Where: a diner in Chelsea. 5 pm.        It is so ridiculous that some people believe Malcolm McDowell is as violent and insane as many of the characters he has played. Almost everyone who found out that I would be interviewing him had expressed fear and concern. (My favorite overreaction was...

Where: his dressing room (Music Box Theatre). 5 pm.        When I asked Tom Hulce for an interview, he politely declined. “I’m not even doing one for The New York Times,” he said, to which I countered only half-jokingly, “But I’m better than The Times.” He stared at me, intrigued for...

Where: his publicist’s office. 4:30 pm.        This is one of those times when the interview took a very long time to set up, but it was well worth the wait. Gregory Hines and I first met seven months ago, so we had a very easy-going conversation since we had spoken...