Biloxi Sun Herald
Lord Laurence glorious as ever
January 24, 1976
“Genius is a terrible word in our profession,” Olivier says. “I’ve spent most of my life believing that acting is not an art but an interpretive craft. But Bette Midler must be as near to being a genius as makes no matter. I know only that I sat there wearing an idiotic grin and happier than I can remember. It was in fact the happiest, funniest experience I’ve had in the theater since Syd Field.”
“And when you’re talking about comedy, you’re talking about the highest achievement in the theater. I don’t subscribe to the view that tragedy is harder than comedy. Comedy is harder, and it’s more important than tragedy. I’ve been impatient when I felt I should do tragedy out of service to the medium. I don’t get pleasure out of it; it’s a stern duty.”
OMG The death of the english language as we know it, herein recorded for posterity, has just made itself known. Sir Lawrence speech pattern reads like a well written, edited and proofread novel.
Good one Mark!