What can Alice Ghostley teach us about type?

“Type” is such a dirty word amongst actors. If you haven’t encountered it before, “type” refers to a usually narrow description of roles that an actor can play particularly well and is cast in often. You might be a loving grandmother type, or a young hunky leading man type, etc. Many actors become terrified that if they become strongly associated with a particular “type” they will suffer through a monotonous career of one cookie-cutter role after another. Alas, sometimes this does happen.

But type doesn’t have to be all bad. Some savvy actors can figure out the kinds of roles in which they are particularly marketable and then ride those jobs in the early parts of their careers. Once they have become established, and have significant contacts and other resources at their disposal, they can start breaking out of their type and into other parts. We see this sort of thing all the time. When “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” came out, for example, who would have thought that Sean Penn would someday be nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of a severely autistic man in “I Am Sam?” Did anybody see her role in “Monster” on the horizon when Charlize Theron co-starred with a computer-animated gorilla in “Mighty Joe Young?”

How we start out does not always indicate how we are going to end up!

Last week Alice Ghostley of “Bewitched” fame passed away (the original television series, not the Nicole Kidman movie remake). In 1990 Ghostley gave an interview to The Boston Globe about the early days of her career. Here is an excerpt:

“I knew I didn’t look like an ingénue. My nose was too long. I had crooked teeth. I wasn’t blond. I knew I looked like a character actress. But I also knew I’d find a way.”

I believe it vitally important for professional actors to understand exactly how the industry perceives them. If you don’t like the way you are seen and want to fight against it that’s your choice, but you at least have to know exactly what the perception is that you are fighting against! Only then can the work begin—either pursuing opportunities within your type, or making the adjustments in your approach to finding work that will be necessary to develop a new dimension for your career.

I have over time developed a series of type exercises that I find extremely helpful in understanding how I fit, and don’t fit, into the industry. I assign these exercises all the time to my members. To learn more, please contact me at TVI Actors Studio in New York City.