K is for three Keatons, Diane, Michael, and Buster. For Boris Karloff and Ben Kingsley. For Grace Kelly and Gene Kelly. For Keitel and Kidman. It’s for Kevin Kline. And Deborah Kerr.
L is for Patti LuPone, that funny, crazy, raging hurricane of talent. It’s for two Leighs (Vivien and Janet) and a Jason Leigh (Jennifer), Ray Liotta and Nathan Lane. It’s for Jessica Lange and Sophia Loren. For Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre, Alan Ladd, and Burt Lancaster. For Angela Lansbury and Martin Landau. For Carole Lombard. And Jack Lemmon.
M is for Robert Mitchum, Ray Milland, and Walter Matthau. For Malkovich and McKellen, Rita Moreno and Liza Minnelli. Demi Moore and Julianne Moore. For Steve Martin and Bill Macy and Malcolm McDowell. Zero Mostel, Eddie Murphy, and the Marx brothers. For Barry Miller and Viggo Mortensen. For Elizabeth McGovern, Frances McDormand, Helen Mirren, and Bette Midler. For Anna Magnani. M is for Paul Muni, Fredric March, and James Mason. For Marilyn Monroe, Steve McQueen, and Shirley MacLaine. And Mastroianni.
N is for Paul Newman and Liam Neeson and Nick Nolte. For Patricia Neal. For Edward Norton and Sam Neill and David Niven. But for so many reasons, for so many moments, N is for Nicholson. Nicholson. Good God, what an actor.
O is for Olivier and Peter O’Toole and Maureen O’Hara. And for Carroll O’Connor and Edmond O’Brien. And O belongs to Gary Oldman, who is, in my opinion, the greatest film actor of his generation.
P is for William Powell. For Chris Plummer and Sean Penn. For Mary-Louise Parker, Gerry Page, Bernadette Peters, and Joan Plowright. And Estelle Parsons. For David Hyde Pierce and Mandy Patinkin. Most of all, P is for Gregory Peck. And Poitier. And Pacino. If you watch the films of these last three alone, you’ll learn everything you need to know about acting.
Q means I’m holding two pair: a pair of Quinns and a pair of Quaids (Anthony and Aidan, Randy and Dennis).
R is for the great Basil Rathbone. I must have watched that Sherlock Holmes serial with Rathbone and Nigel Bruce dozens of times. It’s for Christopher Reeve and Chris Rock, Mark Ruffalo and Mickey Rourke. For Meg Ryan, Molly Ringwald, and Gilda Radner. For Ray Romano (whose TV show made me laugh out loud on airplanes). For George Raft, Claude Rains, Edward G. Robinson, and Ginger Rogers. Isabella Rossellini and Gena Rowlands. R is for two Redgraves (Vanessa and Lynn) and a Richardson (Natasha). For Burt Reynolds and Tony Randall, both of whom were dedicated to the theater. It’s for Jean Reno, one of the most interesting leading men of the last fifty years. R is for Julia Roberts and Debbie Reynolds and Redford.
S is for Woody Strode. For Dean Stockwell and Harry Dean Stanton. For Spacey and Spader and Sutherland, father and son. For Jerry Stiller. And Maggie Smith, Susan Sarandon, and Jean Simmons. For George C. Scott and Campbell Scott, Paul Scofield and John Savage. It’s for Gloria Swanson. For Kim Stanley, Eva Marie Saint, and Sissy Spacek. For two Stapletons (Jean and Maureen) and a Swank. For two Sheens (Martin and Charlie) and a Shandling. For Roy Scheider. For Tom Selleck and William Shatner. For Will Smith and Gary Sinise. Rod Steiger. For Maggie Smith. And Omar Sharif, Barbara Stanwyck, and James Stewart. For Peter Sellers, Elaine Stritch, and Meryl Streep. For Sinatra. And Streisand.
T is for Spencer Tracy. It’s for two Turners (Kathleen and Lana) and a Tomei. For Gene Tierney, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Emma Thompson (don’t you love Emma Thompson?). For Aida Turturro and John Turturro. Rip Torn and Jessica Tandy. Two men who danced their way to movie stardom, Russ Tamblyn and John Travolta. It’s for three Taylors: Robert, Rod, and of course the biggest movie star of them all, Elizabeth.
U is for Ustinov. And Blair Underwood. And, believe it or not, a pair of Ullman(n)s, Tracey and Liv.
V is for von Sydow and Jon Voight, both among my favorites. How I love Jon Voight in Deliverance.
W is for the incomparable Debra Winger. And Billy Dee Williams. For Sam Waterston and Chris Walken and Treat Williams. For Owen Wilson and Forest Whitaker. W is for two Watsons (Emma and Emily) and a Weaver (Sigourney). For Rachel Ward and Natalie Wood. It’s for Gene Wilder, Robert Wagner, Eli Wallach, Richard Widmark, and Jonathan Winters. For Winfrey, Witherspoon, and Winslet. Denzel Washington and Robin Williams. For Mare Winningham and Alfre Woodard. For the remarkable Shelley Winters. And Teresa Wright. For John Wayne. And Joanne Woodward. And Orson Welles.
X is a rating we all try to avoid.
Y is for Michael York and Chow Yun-Fat. For Loretta Young.
Z is for Zellwegger and Zeta-Jones. And Anthony Zerbe. (Zerbe, in Papillon: “How did you know that I have dry leprosy? That it isn’t contagious?” McQueen: “I didn’t.”)
I’m exhausted. But there you are. Not a bad list. And so many I left out! Maybe even on purpose? That could be a whole other book!
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Karen Gantz, my literary agent, for her encouragement during the process of writing my first book and during this one as well. Karen’s intellect, generous spirit, and thoroughness cannot go unmarked.
My thanks to Jonathan Burnham and Emily Griffin at HarperCollins.
I am grateful to Mark Tabb, my collaborator on my first book, whose lessons stayed with me and surely helped my writing in Nevertheless.
Special thanks to David O’Brien, J. Michael Bloom, Arnie Herman, Elaine Aiken, Jane Shatz, Vicki Green, Monsignor George Deas, and any other kind, caring soul who helped me through the difficult times.
Thanks to my mother, my siblings, and to their families for many of the memories that fuel this book. Particularly Beth, with whom I will always have a special bond.
Thank you to all of the writers of books, screenplays, journalism, and speeches I have come across in my life and have attempted to steal from as inoffensively as possible.
Thank you to my theatrical agents, Matt DelPiano and George Lane, for performing the miracle of maintaining my career.
Thank you to my wife, Hilaria, who listened to me complain and moan about writing this book and supported me in so many ways, including suggestions regarding the writing itself. Her help has been invaluable.