About
the Book:
An
esteemed character actor and acting coach with an instantly
recognizable face, Allan Rich was
one of the busiest performers in Hollywood, working in all arenas –
stage, film, and on the small screen. A
Leap From the Method is
a "class in a book" that provides a solid foundation in the
same "organic technique" he used in
his own work and taught
for decades to serious
professionals.
Allan
Rich began his distinguished acting career as a teenager in New
York, working with immortals such as Edward G. Robinson, Claude
Raines, Ralph Bellamy, Jack Palance, Kim Hunter, Milton Berle and
Henry Fonda. He went to Harold Clurman's after-theatre class. (Any
actor who doesn't know who Harold Clurman was should look him up.)
During the mid 1940s, his name came up during the House Un-American
Activities Committee led by Sen. Joseph McCarthy because the actor
was part of the Theatrical Action Committee to Free Willie McGee, a
Black man from Mississippi who had been convicted of rape in 1945 and
subsequently electrocuted in 1951. Without warning, Allan Rich's
advocacy of civil rights landed his name in Red Channels, the
Hollywood blacklist.
No
longer able to get a job as an actor, and needing to support a young
family, he cajoled his way onto Wall Street and became a stockbroker,
eventually opening his own brokerage firm. Later he became an expert
in modern art, opening the Allan Rich Galleries on Madison Avenue,
where he began selling major works by Miro, Calder and Salvador Dali.
Despite
his enormous success outside of the entertainment field, he
re-launched his film career in 1973 playing district attorney Herman
Tauber in Sidney Lumet's Serpico with Al Pacino. Allan Rich
went on to appear in features that include Demi Moore's attorney in
Barry Levinson's Disclosure, Judge Juttson in Steven Spielberg's
Amistad, and NBC television president Robert Kintner in Robert
Redford's Quiz Show, for which The New York Times reviewed his
performance as having "the gruff
assurance of a real executive."
He
moved to Hollywood in 1976, where his filmography grew to include
nearly 200 roles. His TV appearances included All in the Family,
Kojak, NYPD Blue, Barney Miller, Happy Days, various roles on The
Nanny (from 1993-97) and the recurring role of Judge Maurice Schiller
on Hill Street Blues. On a 2004 episode of HBO's Curb Your
Enthusiasm, he played a memorable Holocaust survivor who argued over
who had to endure more with a contestant from the TV show Survivor.
Allan
Rich also offered
private coaching, as well as an
ongoing class for students who had already
been through his private sessions. Some of his more famous students
include Sharon Stone, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rene Russo, Donna Dixon, Jack
Scalia and Alan Thicke and Larry Miller. In A
Leap From the Method, he
walks you through his own
artistic growth from theory to practice – and shows how easy it is
to get it all wrong. His "leap from the Method" largely
refers to his leap from Stanislavsky's teachings, which have confused
and vexed acting students for generations.
A
Leap From the Method puts
into plain words the various acting methods first described by famous
acting teachers such as Konstantin Stanislavski (sometimes spelled "Stanislavsky") and Stella Adler.
While he sympathizes with Stanislavsky's oft stated frustration in
trying to create a clearly delineated approach to acting, Allan
Rich ultimately adopted his own
method – one that's simple, direct, and teachable – focusing on
using text and imagination to get to the character. He explains how
to find the essence of a character's behaviour, how actors can
use their own fantasies to understand how a character might behave in
any given moment. It is required reading at select colleges
and universities.
What
people say:
"A
very clear and readable introduction to the nuts and bolts of acting
and I think a really down-to-earth look at the art."
– Robert
Redford
"Allan
Rich has
found a way to put into words the insights and techniques that have
made him such a fine and interesting actor."
– Alan
Alda
"The
book is a wonderful guide to an actor building a mind. Simple yet
very complete." – Jamie
Lee Curtis
"I
now understand what makes [Rich] the great actor that he is. He
transcends technique, re-digesting and transforming life experience,
knowledge and wisdom into a pool of resources from which the actor
can draw." – Fran Drescher
"Allan
introduced me to the craft of acting. He inspired, educated and
encouraged. I shall be forever grateful."
– Rene
Russo
"The
book presents an organic method that is filled with inside
information. And, there is an added plus: it's fun to read."
– Jack Lemmon
"I
was fascinated by it's simplicity, common sense and its wisdom. It's
also very comfortable reading."
– Walter
Matthau
About
the Author:
Allan
Rich (1926-2020) was an American actor, author, acting coach, and
civil rights activist. He had more than 130 roles in television and
film, ranging from Serpico and The Gambler to some of the 1970s'
biggest TV shows and a memorable turn on Curb Your Enthusiasm. He
also had supporting roles in four Broadway shows during the 1940s and
1950s before he was was caught up in the Hollywood Blacklist but went
on to have a 50-year film and TV career.