Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An actor of enormous versatility and profound craft, first gaining international prominence in On the Waterfront and later acclaimed for The Pawnbroker, In the
On the island
Eight records
Help Me Make It Through the Night
Nothing is as frightening. Alone and psychologically not quite in command, you think. And you wake up in a strange room that you can't'identify quick enough because it's a hotel room, in some place you've never been, going somewhere you don't know what. That's what that song comes out.
One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)
I used to sometimes come in the pub at four in the morning and there is a loneliness and a smell. That you'd rather not participate in. It's as if like the agony of everybody there left some kind of a scent behind. And also I have gone in and had that particular lonely drink. that I didn't want to have, but I didn't know what the hell else to do. And this song touches me for that and other reasons.
I don't understand half the words she's singing, but her ability to put her emotions and herself personally in your heart is proven by such records.
Because I knew her, I liked her, she was a great artist, and when she's happy she sang better than anybody who ever sang.
Send in the ClownsFavourite
It has a sweet sadness that we all kind of feel at times. And who are we calling for? We're calling for ourselves. Send in the clowns. I am a clown. I know how that is. I've been there.
Well, this man I think was one of the greatest lyricists and songwriters that ever Harry Nielsen that ever lived. And he has a looseness and a freedom and a poetic imagery in his lyrics which have always kind of astounded me and I always remembered him.
And these songs anybody hears em millions of people have never forgotten. And the highest form of reward an artist can get is when he gives you something becomes part of your brain, part of your life, part of your memory, therefore part of you.
When something lasts as long as this does in any form of art it must have something to it. This song is soft. Soothing Sentimental and nostalgic and another thing. It captures your attention immediately.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:53Is it a kind of fear that keeps you on your mettle, a kind of fear of not doing the job properly?
Well, the fear of failure is a very good source of energy. If you can conquer the terror, the fear of failure in any profession, it gives you more strength for your performance. I think the main thing in my case, it's a psychological thing. … my family was laughed at and joked about because of alcohol, my mother especially, and I had to go and get her out of pubs and stuff when I was about eight, nine years of age. … I said, Well, I think one of the reasons I work so hard is I don't want anybody to laugh at the name of Steiger again. You want respect. That's it.
Presenter asks
7:07Do you think [The Pawnbroker] was one of your best performances?
I think that might be my best. I knew what isolation meant from my childhood and that. … And that to me was a f I cut one third of all my lines. And they said, What are you cutting? I said, Well, if I'm trying to hide for the world, I don't want to speak unless I have to because if you speak, people look to see who's talking.
Presenter asks
24:19How much do you blame the failures of your marriages on the need for you to be successful in the marriage?
Oh, never, none of'em. None of them. When we were together, my family came with me wherever I worked,'cause I learned from watching my family what happens if you were separated too much. No, no, no. My career never had anything to do with any of them, thank God, you know. I think my last marriage, my wife, was thirty five years younger than I was. I had a uh clinical depression for eight and a half years which made A sexual life almost nonexistent. She began to approach forty. I think she got a little panicky. Was she still desirable? Was she wasn't? Meanwhile, I'm seventy, seventy one, seventy two. And uh That led to it. That's definitely the uh basis, I think.
The keepsakes
The book
E. E. Cummings
Because he's one of my favorite poets, because I've been writing poetry since I'm nine, and it's really my best and deepest love. And most personal to me, poetry is basically like music in a way and visional. and touches me all the time every time I hear it.
The luxury
Presenter asks
26:08How badly do you think [depression] affected your career?
Uh I don't know that phrase height of your powers, but those years when I might have been able to do some of my best work were gone. I never know, you know. I hardly worked at all. And that's what that's the only thing that really bothers me. But then I know that the tomorrow can be a poison if you concentrate on it, so uh, you know, it's too late, there's nothing to do about it.
Presenter asks
27:36What they say about you is you should have played Patton in 1969 instead of George C. Scott, and that was a big mistake. Do you agree?
What happened was I had just won the Academy Award and you know, whether we like it or not, the healthier you are mentally and physically, the stronger you are in anything, it means whatever. Crazy philosophy you be believing is very strong that day, that particular moment. So, what happened? I had won the award and I read Pat and I said, I'm not going to glorify war, I'm a pacifist, I'm not going I was a schmuck. I mean, it would have given me so much more power not to select what I want.
Presenter asks
28:24As you look back across your career now, are you satisfied with it? Are you pleased with it? Or are you tormented by the things that might have been?
For a fellow who was kind of on his own in his early teens and grew up in Newark, New Jersey with one year of high school, I am fortunate that I fell into a profession that gives me the false sense of freedom my romantic mind wishes I had and at the same time makes me monetarily independent enough to do almost what I want, when I want, where I want. And as long as everybody respects that accomplishment, I'm a happy bunny.
“Well, the fear of failure is a very good source of energy. If you can conquer the terror, the fear of failure in any profession, it gives you more strength for your performance.”
“I think one of the reasons I work so hard is I don't want anybody to laugh at the name of Steiger again. You want respect. That's it. That's a big thing with me because of the lack of respect for my family when I was a young child.”
“I don't care if you use the Menostanoslavski, Poloslavsky, I don't care what you use, Radhashmata, Central School, Actors' Studio, if you don't have imagination and nobody can teach you that, forget it.”
“I'm not tough. I'm not tough at all. I think one of the things that saves me is uh I, you know, I kind of bend with things. I think I could cope physically for a while, but mentally I would be very, very, very sceptical and worried about it.”