Harrison Ford was a carpenter on set when he began earning roles.

John Wayne was a grip. I believe that it was young John Ford who liked his graceful moves and put him in a cowboy movie because he looked good. John Wayne was a patriot who spoke well for America. But he did not write his lines. He read the lines written for him by his friend, one of the screen writers. (Sorry, going through IMDB has not helped... didn't memorize that answer...) If you read his political opinions he was very traditional and unarguably American, but not at all sophisticated in his analysis.

There are few actors who can "memorize Hamlet's seven soliloquies and deliver them as if you actually lived them." To those few, I also "grant them their due", which does not include respecting the actors' irrational spewing statist propaganda. When they do so, they lose any support I would have given their fine efforts on Hamlet and my entertainment budget goes elsewhere.

The fact that acting is a hereditary occupation is not surprising. Over the long course of history, it has been the case that we follow the paths of our parents. (Being sold to a master craftsman was a path to upward mobility for a serf's child.) I had a criminology professor who wrung his hands over this, while at the same time his daughter was on a fast track to a Ph.D. in criminology.

It was not the rule in America while America was expanding under capitalism. That was a "brief shining moment."

Even in the American military, enlisteds salute officers who salute higher officers though enlisted do not salute each other (usually). You must be painfully aware of the British society that we inherited in which officers were gentlemen -- who as children did not button their own clothes and hence as adults needed orderlies.

The Marxists were not wholly wrong about class, comrade.

How long would it take you to memorize Hamlet's seven soliloquies and deliver them as if you actually lived them?

While I agree that actors can be disappointing in their reflections about their roles, I also grant them their due. The reason why is that I am a writer. I meet a lot of readers who say that they wished they could write.

Yes, I agree see my comments below (
https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post... ) but how is your acting. I heard an interview with Jim Parsons ("Sheldon Cooper") is also apparently not that smart, but one thing he said about acting and in particular Tom Lehrer's "Elements" song - which I also have Daniel Radcliffe ("Harry Potter") performing - was "I love memorizing." Memorizing is a skill.

I do a lot of public presentations, though lately, only three or four times a year. Earning a Toastmaster's certificate, I learned that there is nothing wrong with holding your holds or looking down at them. Just don't read them. And I don't. But I do use them. Memorizing is hard work. You get good at it. We do alot of it just "naturally" every day. But actors learn long passages. And they do not just recite them, they live them -- for your entertainment.

BTW:
https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

I'd be more inclined to label many good actors as "acting savants" since they show little ability to think rationally. Poor things are thrust into the spotlight before they have any experience, and most have been continually pummeled by statist propaganda, and they have sought no training in thinking rationally. They must be the victims. Too bad they are so confused about the parasitic socialist system feeding on them and all the other so-called victims.
The solution, of course, is to stop paying for their propaganda disguised as entertainment.

Sounds like that description could be applied to many successful politicians, too.

Yes, the biography of Alex Baldwin. Once a leading man, now a decomposing, corpulent sack of statist propaganda.

I saw this band in 1994 in Lawrence Ks
Meat Puppets is an American rock band formed in January 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. The group's original lineup was Curt Kirkwood, his brother Cris Kirkwood, and Derrick Bostrom. Wikipedia
Members: Curt Kirkwood, Cris Kirkwood, Derrick Bostrom, More

Herb, I love that term, "meat puppets."
Big money actors are only people who are very good at memorizing a script and playing characters.
It's not surprising that such people becoming household names can swell heads into becoming know-it-alls.
Those who presume to tell "the little people" how to think should be called "meat puppets" to their faces.
"Is that a fact, Mr. Baldwin? By the way, congratulations for your latest meat puppet award. What's a meat puppet?
Oh, I'm merely referring to your expertise. Mr. Baldwin, your expertise. Something you actually know about."

Keep the Walt Disney "Pinocchio" movie in mind. Not the part where his nose grows with each lie, but the part where the wood head runs off to be an actor/entertainer, drinks the Kool-Aid, and morphs into a jackass.

Actors or actresses are more likely to start when young than old and young is defined as teens and 20’s. many of the stars are people who literally grew up in the business. Their parents were in the business in someway .So the typical star is someone who has had little exposure to the world outside acting. Those who left home and went to Hollywood to become stars as young adults have No understanding of the normal world. They talk about America as if it is a foreign country to them. In reality it is a foreign country. How much does Meryl Streep know about America at this stage of her life? She has been coddled by handlers.
Are performers stupid? The safest answer is yes, they are very stupid. Being obnoxious or different helps the long odds of being a performer some how they need to be noticed to stand out. Being stupid lets these people avoid thinking about the moral dilemmas that are inevitable in the business. The stars are so divorced from reality that they can no longer apply their intelligence to the normal world as it has become a foreign place for them. This means that most of the stars are both stupid and ignorant, that is why they so often sound like entittled fools when speaking With out a script.

I think Depp said it best when he said he's paid to lie. Harrison ford is quite the dim bulb without a script.

Yes, actors are successful at repeating the lines written for them by other people. There are some exceptions, of course, but generally, the craft does not lend itself to original thinking. We just watched Imitation Game again and the comments by the actors were vacuous. Clearly none of them had read anything by Turing, but read or were told about him. But so what?

Q: What's the difference between God and a surgeon?
A: God knows that He is not a surgeon.

What's the difference between a frog in a taxi and a trombone player in a taxi?
The frog is probably on his way to a gig.

And so on...

Obviously, you think that you are pretty smart, but how is your acting?