Word: gruff
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Poetic will do. For in his briefing last Wednesday, the coalition commander showed Americans not their handsomest face but their best one. Gruff and compassionate, speaking in flinty, illuminating sentences, Schwarzkopf made sense of the battle plan in its grandeur and awful human cost. Though he is the first U.S. general since Ike to earn gloating rights, he refused to preen. Perhaps he tacitly recognized that Iraq was not the most formidable foe -- closer to Grenada than to Nazi Germany in war-making savvy and casualties inflicted. But one suspects that this man's tone would be the same...
Glenn Kessler '92 plays Maximillian Bucks, the gruff producer with a South Side accent. Like Ed McMahon, Kessler is condemned by this script to be the set-up guy--a great personality and few funny lines...
From the play's inception it becomes clear that tension lies behind the placid facade of Billy's life. His brother Kevin, superbly portrayed by Glenn Kessler, conceals an egocentric, materialistic, and greedy nature with an exterior of gruff amiability. He insensitively jokes about his "lunatic" brother behind his back almost as soon as he returns. Kevin's wife Fran (played with equal finesse by Janine Poreba) is perfect for him--she mocks her husband for his cruel egotism as often as she defends...
...this gruff, mumbling figure of authority and mystery? No one could be certain. The President himself confessed, "I didn't understand him at meetings . . . I'd just nod my head, but I didn't know what he was actually saying." Joseph Persico has better hearing than Ronald Reagan, and a keener eye for biographical detail...
...commander in chief of the American military forces in Saudi Arabia, expected to reach 250,000 by the end of the month, Schwarzkopf is constantly performing the dual roles of soldier and diplomat. Because of his imposing physique (6 ft. 3 in., 240 lbs.) and gruff manner, the C-in-C (pronounced sink) is affectionately known as "the Bear" by subordinates and as "Stormin' Norman" by rival Pentagon brass. He is aware that the U.S. presence in the conservative Islamic society of Saudi Arabia has created a potential clash of cultures that could undermine the alliance against Saddam Hussein...