Kim Stanley: Perfection and Reality

Kim Stanley in the 1958 film The Goddess.

Kim Stanley

Interview with James Grissom

1992

What a good actor--a real actor--is always trying to do is very difficult, almost impossible, so most of the time we fail. Most of the time I fail. Because what I'm after is perfection, truth, reality: Truth in art. This is exceedingly rare. It's very, very hard to achieve and overwhelming to maintain. So I fail a lot. But if I keep reaching for that perfection, that connection to the script, to the actors, to the audience, I'm becoming a better actor. I'm growing. I'm doing the right work. If you find someone who claims they are always satisfied, always good, a professional who hits the marks, you are not looking at an actor. I'm not going to say what you're looking at, but it's not an actor. It's not an artist. I'm going to say it: What you have is a performer. I am not a performer.