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Actor
Actor, Actress, Acting. The need to express emotion, whether in music, dancing, gesture, or speech, seems to be inherent in man, and to have developed originally in connection with religious observances. Nothing is known of the earliest actors, but in classical Greece, where they still took part in a religious festival (see DIONYSUS), they were men of repute, performing excellent tragedies and comedies in large open-air playing-places (see THEATRE BUILDINGS), each with its all-important chorus. In Rome, where tragedy gave way before low comedy and farce, they were less highly regarded, some being slaves. Although there were no actresses, women appeared on stage as dancers and mimes, sexually provocative. With the spread of Christianity the theatre was proscribed and sank into oblivion, to be rescued, ironically, by those who persecuted it. When the Church decided to educate its illiterate congregations by the ‘acting-out’ of scenes from the Old Testament, and from the dramatic life of Christ himself (see LITURGICAL DRAMA), the itinerant entertainers who had tried to keep theatrical traditions alive came into their own, as did the minstrels. Soon all the large towns of Europe had their own mystery plays, while smaller towns and villages produced their own local plays or pageants.
With Latin no longer a universal language, vernacular drama began to emerge throughout Europe during the 16th century, bringing with it the professional actor and eventually actress. In Italy it first appeared with the commedia dell'arte, in Spain with the work of Lope de Rueda, in England with the building of the Theatre, in France with the establishment of the Hôtel de Bourgogne. In Germany disunity and internal dissension delayed the rise of theatre companies until the 18th century. In Russia there was no national or professional theatre till the mid-19th century. In England, the arrival of actresses had to wait until the Restoration in 1660 brought to the throne Charles II, who had grown accustomed to women on stage during his exile on the Continent, and demanded the same amenity in his own country. It is interesting to note that in the Far East, where religion maintained its hold on the theatre far longer than in the West, women seem to have retained their original position as singers and dancers in temple ceremonies, but do not appear to have formed part of any static or itinerant group which performed plays in public. Actresses are now beginning to emerge in China and Japan, for example, but mainly in modern plays. The position of the actor and actress was for a long time precarious throughout Europe. In Catholic countries they were refused the sacraments; legally Shakespeare and his contemporaries were ‘rogues and vagabonds’ unless under royal or noble protection. It was not until 1895 that the actor in England achieved social credibility, with the knighting by Queen Victoria of Henry Irving. Fashions in acting change constantly, one method giving way to another, one convention replacing an earlier one. In Greece the chorus had to be singers and dancers; in tragedy the chief actors were masked, and needed above all a fine voice and a noble presence, as did the tragic actors of 17th-century France. In comedy everywhere the actor needed to be lively, inventive, quick-witted, and something of an acrobat. Some periods imposed their own conditions. When tragedian and comedian were separate employments they seldom crossed each other's boundaries. Melodrama helped to break down the barriers, while the ‘intimate drama’ which replaced it gave little scope for ample gestures or raised voices. The modern actor, reared on improvisation and mime, is an ‘all-rounder’, but increasingly one whose style is tempered by the demands of cinema and television for intimacy and the play of facial expression. As always, the great actor or actress will come at the right moment, equipped to suit the time. Handicaps can be overcome. Something of acting can be taught, but the art of acting is innate. The ideal player is the product of a delicate balance of intuition and hard work, tempered by the fires of experience. |
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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Actor." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Actor." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-Actor.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Actor." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-Actor.html |
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actor
ac·tor / ˈaktər/ • n. a person whose profession is acting on the stage, in movies, or on television. ∎ a person who behaves in a way that is not genuine: in war one must be a good actor. ∎ a participant in an action or process. ORIGIN: late Middle English (originally denoting an agent or administrator): from Latin, ‘doer, actor,’ from agere ‘do, act.’ The theater sense dates from the 16th cent. |
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"actor." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "actor." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-actor.html "actor." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-actor.html |
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actor
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T. F. HOAD. "actor." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "actor." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-actor.html T. F. HOAD. "actor." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-actor.html |
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Actor
Actor An object-oriented language used to develop applications for Microsoft Windows. Confusingly it is not an actor language.
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JOHN DAINTITH. "Actor." A Dictionary of Computing. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN DAINTITH. "Actor." A Dictionary of Computing. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O11-Actor.html JOHN DAINTITH. "Actor." A Dictionary of Computing. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O11-Actor.html |
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actor
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GORDON MARSHALL. "actor." A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. GORDON MARSHALL. "actor." A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-actor.html GORDON MARSHALL. "actor." A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-actor.html |
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actor
actor
•attar, batter, bespatter, chatter, clatter, flatter, hatter, Kenyatta, latter, matamata, matter, natter, patter, platter, ratter, regatta, satyr, scatter, shatter, smatter, spatter, splatter, yatter
•abstractor, actor, attractor, compactor, contractor, enactor, exactor, extractor, factor, infractor, protractor, redactor, refractor, tractor, transactor
•Atlanta, banter, canter, infanta, levanter, manta, ranter, Santa, tam-o'-shanter
•adaptor, captor, chapter, raptor
•Antofagasta, aster, Astor, canasta, Jocasta, oleaster, pasta, piastre (US piaster), pilaster, poetaster, Rasta, Zoroaster
•dragster, gagster
•Baxter • prankster • hamster
•gangsta, gangster
•malefactor • benefactor
•pitter-patter • subcontractor
•chiropractor
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"actor." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "actor." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-actor.html "actor." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-actor.html |
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