Bad actors try to cry, and good actors try not to. Bad actors try to laugh, and good actors try not to.
Martin LandauRead
I studied with Strasberg, Elia Kazan. They raised the bar. They weren't easy to please, and they made you achieve the best you could do. That's what a teacher does: he infuses you with passion for something.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A good teacher inspires passion and pushes you to reach your full potential.
In this quote, Martin Landau reflects on his experiences with influential mentors who demanded excellence and fostered a deep passion for the craft of acting. He emphasizes that the role of a teacher goes beyond merely imparting knowledge; it involves inspiring students to pursue their passions wholeheartedly and to strive for their best performance, which ultimately leads to personal growth and achievement.
Themes
TeacherPassionExcellenceMentorshipInspiration
In practice
Example use cases
In a classroom setting, a teacher can use this quote to motivate students to push their limits.
More from Martin Landau
All quotes →I run the Actor's Studio on the West Coast, and one of the things I say all the time to the people I teach - many of whom are acting teachers - is that an actor needs to make choices that make him present.
Martin LandauRead
As a Jew, there's a need to keep that atrocity alive. There were Catholics and gypsies and homosexuals who died in the Holocaust, too. It's amazing that people allowed this slaughter to take place. There's a need to make these films and reiterate it happened.
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I love to see lack of clarity in a performance as well as clarity, as well as trust, as well as the kinds of things that human beings go through. I love to see spontaneity and 'inevitability.' How it gets there is going to shock the hell out of me, but it will get there somehow.
Martin LandauRead
People think I'm a very serious actor, which I am. But you know, if you don't have a sense of humor doing what I do, you perish.
Martin LandauRead
Dialogue is what a character's willing to share and reveal to another character, and the 90% they aren't willing to share is what I do for a living.
Martin LandauRead
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