Word: rex
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...much for his resemblance to Higgins as for his charm on the boards. A boulder of a word, reduced to pebble-size by too much fingering, "charm" comes from the Latin for incantation and implies the use of magic. No one who has seen Fair Lady denies that Rex exerts a sort of magic-who else could growl: "Eliza? Where the devil are my slippers?" and make it a moving proposal of marriage-but few can agree on just where it lies...
Warmth & Pressure. Rex's secret is surely neither intellectual nor physical. Fellow Actor Orson Welles thinks it comes down to "chic-style without pressure." But stars of Harrison's brilliance are formed, like diamonds, under great pressure. As with diamonds, the process takes time-and warmth. "Rex himself must be a pretty nice guy," Charles Laughton argues, "or he couldn't give out the warmth and delight in life and humanity he does every night. You can't fake that...
...Rex," says Moss Hart, who directed Fair Lady, "is that he's not a frivolous man. He's an actory actor, the least frivolous actor I've ever worked with and the most industrious. What he gets he gets from digging, digging, digging. Once I discovered this, I could forgive him a good deal. There were tremendous rages and stalkings-off during rehearsals...
...damned nuisance," Rex agrees, "clinging to Shaw like mad. The one thing that gave me an absolutely terrible time was learning the lyrics. There's just no way of finding your way back when you blow a line; you have to keep on because the damned orchestra won't stop...
...actors, timing means not only pacing one's words and gestures to make them clear, but also establishing a rhythmic rapport with the audience. A theater audience is an unwieldy mass, and men who can control its feelings as a fly fisherman controls a trout are rare indeed. Rex is still working to dovetail his acting with the reactions of the audience, changes something in every performance. "The writer or director may not think the show has improved since it opened," he says. "From an acting point of view I believe it has, and will...