Black Cat Bone

If you're at the top of your game and never once did film/TV, would you be comfortable?, well off? multi millionaire?

I doubt you'd be a multi-millionaire.

Comfortable, probably.

Why do you ask?

Just curious because you hear of actors that only show up in a film or two in small or secondary parts, but they're amazing theatre actors. You just wonder do they regret not getting film parts or they take one or two to pay for the new kitchen they want.

The thing is.... you can get a lot of money to appear on stage if you are already famous. But nobody gets really all that famous JUST doing theater anymore.

Maybe they are famous among theater geeks but, hell, I don't know who won the Tony Awards this year. They don't even show them on TV anymore.

Angela Lansbury is one person I can think of who became kind of a celeb doing musicals, but she didn't become well known to the wider public until she did the TV show Murder She Wrote. Ben Vereen is another one, but of course I first him on doing the TV show Roots. And those are people who were famous theater actors 40 or 50 years ago. I can't think of one today.

I would bet most of the highest paid stage actors on Broadway this year will be actors who are already famous for work they did on film and/ or TV.

Most of the theater actors that I have known would be happy to get paying work at all. I don't know if it's a case of "regretting" not going for film and TV. Just breaking into that world requires a whole other level of ambition, it's not for everyone.

How big is the circuit?
I think a guy like Joe Rogan probably pulls down more money than Patty Lupone does.

bobzilla77 wrote:Maybe they are famous among theater geeks but, hell, I don't know who won the Tony Awards this year. They don't even show them on TV anymore.

They do, actually. This Sunday on CBS!

bobzilla77 wrote:Angela Lansbury is one person I can think of who became kind of a celeb doing musicals, but she didn't become well known to the wider public until she did the TV show Murder She Wrote.

She generally wasn't a "leading lady," but I think she was at least modestly well-known as a film actress before her TV show. I know I saw The Harvey Girls, Bedknobs And Broomsticks and the original The Manchurian Candidate before then.

I went to see Funny Girl on it's UK national tour. It's touring with 2 leading ladies, and my friend was determined we go in Edinburgh to see Sheridan Smith, rather than the Other One who was playing in Glasgow.

Aside [Funny Girl is a funny one, too. I went to see the stage show, about a stage actress that I know because of the film adaptation that made Streisand a movie star (from her budding broadway career)-- who then later did a lot more singing off-screen... so talk about your genre mixing. (I guess this is a generic hierarchy of fame. Where once broadway/stage acting was the zenith of fame and fortune, it could never quite compete with Hollywood's brand of the same.) ]

Sheridan Smith was... a revelation. After falling in love with Fanny Brice in her cameo in The Great Ziegfeld, and loving Funny Girl as a musical, I took to trying to find out more about her, and watch clips of hers. I'm a bit of a fan. And here Sheridan Smith, whom I was worried couldn't possible BE streisand in a part basically created for her, Became Fanny Brice instead.

She was incredible. She was funny. She was entertaining. She actually brought out everything that made this turn-of-the-century star famous for a whole new generation of people. And then she sang all the songs.
I'm not sure the musical itself is all that great, nor was this production. But wow, she was something.

I couldn't believe she's the TV star from two pints of Lager, or gavin and Stacy.
But I guess that's an actress for you.


I was honestly overwhelmed. Like someone should DO something about this sort of talent. She should get some recognition. I mean, she's famous enough (for her TV performances.) But I realise, it's one performance. On the stage things only live in the moment.
And maybe that's also the point. 100 years ago, everything was less permanent. And We can remember Sarah Bernhardt, because it was enough to remember and aura of greatness through the ages, though we'll never really KNOW how good of an actress she REALLY was to our eyes.
And I can watch whatever might have been caught on camera, the tiniest snap shot of Fanny Brice's career... and that's why she exists as a person to me. But Movies are permanent, and affect more people. So maybe it's right it affords more fame and thereby fortune??

bobzilla77 wrote:Angela Lansbury is one person I can think of who became kind of a celeb doing musicals, but she didn't become well known to the wider public until she did the TV show Murder She Wrote.

She generally wasn't a "leading lady," but I think she was at least modestly well-known as a film actress before her TV show. I know I saw The Harvey Girls, Bedknobs And Broomsticks and the original The Manchurian Candidate before then.[/quote]


Yes, I'm sure there are MUCH better examples. She was an MGM star 40 years before Murder she Wrote (Gaslight is 1942!).

Don't change mims, but I think you might have missed the specific point of the thread.

The Great Defector wrote::lol: Don't change mims, but I think you might have missed the specific point of the thread.

It's true, I never see the point of your threads.

hippopotamus wrote:

The Great Defector wrote::lol: Don't change mims, but I think you might have missed the specific point of the thread.

It's true, I never see the point of your threads.

someone call the burn unit

hippopotamus wrote:I went to see Funny Girl on it's UK national tour. It's touring with 2 leading ladies, and my friend was determined we go in Edinburgh to see Sheridan Smith, rather than the Other One who was playing in Glasgow.

Aside [Funny Girl is a funny one, too. I went to see the stage show, about a stage actress that I know because of the film adaptation that made Streisand a movie star (from her budding broadway career)-- who then later did a lot more singing off-screen... so talk about your genre mixing. (I guess this is a generic hierarchy of fame. Where once broadway/stage acting was the zenith of fame and fortune, it could never quite compete with Hollywood's brand of the same.) ]

Sheridan Smith was... a revelation. After falling in love with Fanny Brice in her cameo in The Great Ziegfeld, and loving Funny Girl as a musical, I took to trying to find out more about her, and watch clips of hers. I'm a bit of a fan. And here Sheridan Smith, whom I was worried couldn't possible BE streisand in a part basically created for her, Became Fanny Brice instead.

She was incredible. She was funny. She was entertaining. She actually brought out everything that made this turn-of-the-century star famous for a whole new generation of people. And then she sang all the songs.
I'm not sure the musical itself is all that great, nor was this production. But wow, she was something.

I couldn't believe she's the TV star from two pints of Lager, or gavin and Stacy.
But I guess that's an actress for you.


I was honestly overwhelmed. Like someone should DO something about this sort of talent. She should get some recognition. I mean, she's famous enough (for her TV performances.) But I realise, it's one performance. On the stage things only live in the moment.
And maybe that's also the point. 100 years ago, everything was less permanent. And We can remember Sarah Bernhardt, because it was enough to remember and aura of greatness through the ages, though we'll never really KNOW how good of an actress she REALLY was to our eyes.
And I can watch whatever might have been caught on camera, the tiniest snap shot of Fanny Brice's career... and that's why she exists as a person to me. But Movies are permanent, and affect more people. So maybe it's right it affords more fame and thereby fortune??

Smiths family tree programme was very good. She came across very well. She was also great playing Cilla Black.

Jeemo wrote:

hippopotamus wrote:I went to see Funny Girl on it's UK national tour. It's touring with 2 leading ladies, and my friend was determined we go in Edinburgh to see Sheridan Smith, rather than the Other One who was playing in Glasgow.

Aside [Funny Girl is a funny one, too. I went to see the stage show, about a stage actress that I know because of the film adaptation that made Streisand a movie star (from her budding broadway career)-- who then later did a lot more singing off-screen... so talk about your genre mixing. (I guess this is a generic hierarchy of fame. Where once broadway/stage acting was the zenith of fame and fortune, it could never quite compete with Hollywood's brand of the same.) ]

Sheridan Smith was... a revelation. After falling in love with Fanny Brice in her cameo in The Great Ziegfeld, and loving Funny Girl as a musical, I took to trying to find out more about her, and watch clips of hers. I'm a bit of a fan. And here Sheridan Smith, whom I was worried couldn't possible BE streisand in a part basically created for her, Became Fanny Brice instead.

She was incredible. She was funny. She was entertaining. She actually brought out everything that made this turn-of-the-century star famous for a whole new generation of people. And then she sang all the songs.
I'm not sure the musical itself is all that great, nor was this production. But wow, she was something.

I couldn't believe she's the TV star from two pints of Lager, or gavin and Stacy.
But I guess that's an actress for you.


I was honestly overwhelmed. Like someone should DO something about this sort of talent. She should get some recognition. I mean, she's famous enough (for her TV performances.) But I realise, it's one performance. On the stage things only live in the moment.
And maybe that's also the point. 100 years ago, everything was less permanent. And We can remember Sarah Bernhardt, because it was enough to remember and aura of greatness through the ages, though we'll never really KNOW how good of an actress she REALLY was to our eyes.
And I can watch whatever might have been caught on camera, the tiniest snap shot of Fanny Brice's career... and that's why she exists as a person to me. But Movies are permanent, and affect more people. So maybe it's right it affords more fame and thereby fortune??

Smiths family tree programme was very good. She came across very well. She was also great playing Cilla Black.

But you sort of think that kind of talent should be rewarded. I don't think half of Hollywood superstars have half that acting talent.. . So there is a paradox there.

Hollywood superstars are rewarded for being "STARS" though. It's never about talent, is it. I've only seen Smith on tv, and couldn't believe that she was the same person I saw occasionally in comedy shows that was in the Cilla programme and a few other things I saw her in.

Hollywood superstars that are fantastic actors are few and far between. Or is there a comfort factor and an unwillingness to step out of that zone. Cruise showed a different side of his skills in Magnolia and then returned to mostly blockbuster nonsense, enjoyable they may be.

hippopotamus wrote:

The Great Defector wrote::lol: Don't change mims, but I think you might have missed the specific point of the thread.

It's true, I never see the point of your threads.

Jeemo wrote:

hippopotamus wrote:I went to see Funny Girl on it's UK national tour. It's touring with 2 leading ladies, and my friend was determined we go in Edinburgh to see Sheridan Smith, rather than the Other One who was playing in Glasgow.

Aside [Funny Girl is a funny one, too. I went to see the stage show, about a stage actress that I know because of the film adaptation that made Streisand a movie star (from her budding broadway career)-- who then later did a lot more singing off-screen... so talk about your genre mixing. (I guess this is a generic hierarchy of fame. Where once broadway/stage acting was the zenith of fame and fortune, it could never quite compete with Hollywood's brand of the same.) ]

Sheridan Smith was... a revelation. After falling in love with Fanny Brice in her cameo in The Great Ziegfeld, and loving Funny Girl as a musical, I took to trying to find out more about her, and watch clips of hers. I'm a bit of a fan. And here Sheridan Smith, whom I was worried couldn't possible BE streisand in a part basically created for her, Became Fanny Brice instead.

She was incredible. She was funny. She was entertaining. She actually brought out everything that made this turn-of-the-century star famous for a whole new generation of people. And then she sang all the songs.
I'm not sure the musical itself is all that great, nor was this production. But wow, she was something.

I couldn't believe she's the TV star from two pints of Lager, or gavin and Stacy.
But I guess that's an actress for you.


I was honestly overwhelmed. Like someone should DO something about this sort of talent. She should get some recognition. I mean, she's famous enough (for her TV performances.) But I realise, it's one performance. On the stage things only live in the moment.
And maybe that's also the point. 100 years ago, everything was less permanent. And We can remember Sarah Bernhardt, because it was enough to remember and aura of greatness through the ages, though we'll never really KNOW how good of an actress she REALLY was to our eyes.
And I can watch whatever might have been caught on camera, the tiniest snap shot of Fanny Brice's career... and that's why she exists as a person to me. But Movies are permanent, and affect more people. So maybe it's right it affords more fame and thereby fortune??

Smiths family tree programme was very good. She came across very well. She was also great playing Cilla Black.

Oh, she was excellent in that! I really enjoyed it.

And she's a lovely person, apparently. Slider has a story about meeting her backstage...

Charlie O. wrote:

bobzilla77 wrote:Maybe they are famous among theater geeks but, hell, I don't know who won the Tony Awards this year. They don't even show them on TV anymore.

They do, actually. This Sunday on CBS!

bobzilla77 wrote:Angela Lansbury is one person I can think of who became kind of a celeb doing musicals, but she didn't become well known to the wider public until she did the TV show Murder She Wrote.

She generally wasn't a "leading lady," but I think she was at least modestly well-known as a film actress before her TV show. I know I saw The Harvey Girls, Bedknobs And Broomsticks and the original The Manchurian Candidate before then.

Well I stand corrected on both counts!

They did stop showing the Tonys on TV at some point... I would swear they did! Or maybe they threatened to and didn't.

I grew up near NYC so was aware of her being one of the great musical stars, around the time of Sweeney Todd's original run. Of course I saw Bedknobs & Broomsticks too but didn't remember til now that that was her.