Marian Seldes: Our One, Unique Life

 

Interview with Marian Seldes

Conducted by James Grissom

NYC

2003

In all the years that I was a teacher, I stressed the importance to young actors to not sit in judgment of their characters: They had to understand, perhaps love, the behavior of these characters in order to play them truthfully, to own them. I hope I also stressed the importance that they not judge themselves or others. We have been given--and must use--our one, unique life, and I never understood those actors who could not see the beauty and the grandeur and the worth of whom they were: They wanted to be something or someone else. They wanted to be famous. They wanted to be noticed. I wanted them to be true to themselves, and I was confident that good things would come to them. Don't judge. Be kind to yourself and others. Work hard and with fairness. I tried to teach that--and also that I was here if they might need me.

© 2021 James Grissom