From The Dick Cavett Show (June 12, 1973), Marlon Brando on whether acting is a noble profession:
“It’s been a good living. I mean, if you were in the lumber business, and you were on The Dick Cavett Show, and somebody said, “Well, how do you like the lumber business, Ralph?” It’s a business, it’s no more than that, and those that pretend it’s an art I think are misguided. Acting is a craft, and it’s a profession not unlike being an electrician, plumbing, or an economist. It’s a way of getting on and providing food and shelter for yourself and family.”Elaine and I have been moving through several DVDs of Cavett interviews. They’re loose and at least partly improvised, sometimes awkwardly so (as with Groucho Marx and Erin Fleming), sometimes hilariously so (as with Bette Davis). The remarkable thing: no one, aside from Brando, is promoting anything — and Brando is promoting Native American causes. My favorite show so far: one with Fred Astaire, who sings Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, and Cole Porter, and dances for one amazing minute. Those things of course were worked out in advance.
Did you know that The Dick Cavett Show has a website?
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William Zinsser on work
[After taping the interview, Brando was followed by the photographer Ron Galella. Brando punched him and broke his jaw.]
comments: 2
I miss the days when people used to go on talk shows for no apparent reason (because they were asked), not because they have a movie or a book to flog.
I have a set of VHS tapes of the Mike Douglas Show, including the week that John and Yoko guest-hosted. Priceless.
I remember seeing those shows in high school. After school, that is.
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