Nancy, I think the answer to your above question (will I EVER learn how to use the Quote Box??!!) lies in the performers motive for going into the business.
Did they become actors to be famous...or did they become actors because acting made them happier than anything else they could think to do?
If you want to be famous, then you go for the Cult status, if you think you can guess where it's going to be!!
But if you want a long term career doing what you love to do, you take your parts where and when you can find them, and you leave the glory for the history books. In fact, if you want a long and varied career, you'd probably better pray that Cult Status NEVER finds you, because it can be the Kiss of Death.
Raineypark....who would wait in line to hear Johnny K read from the phone book. ![[grinb]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/grinb.gif "Grin(Blue)")
Raineypark - when I came to New York many years ago, I trained to be a professional actor and actually got work. I prefer the theater over anything else, but TV and movies pays much more than theater work. And for that kind of work, you have to be willing to travel back and forth constantly and I wasn't willing to do that. Being in the business as an actor, and after that just being in the business, I learned from experience that the hope of most actors is just to find consistent work. You can always consider yourself a success if you are able to do what you want. Being famous is something altogether different, and there are actors who don't want fame, they want work. Unfortunately, if an actor works on a TV series or in a film, there is always the chance of becoming famous. Many like it, others don't. James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos" for example, dislikes fame though he has the catch 22 of it getting him more work Before The Sopranos, he was working fairly consistently in film but now is able to make more money. With the bigger bucks (his marketing value) comes celebrity.
You mention liking John Karlen a great deal. JK has said in previous interviews that he never wanted to be in commercials. They can pay quite a bit, but it was something he would not pursue in spite of the money. He considered it beneath his craft. Actors don't always do projects for the money or the high profile.
Then you have someone like Jonathan Frid who disliked being famous to the point of leaving the business for thirteen years. Sure, leaving the business for over a decade can hurt your career, but then some actors value privacy and independence over anything else. But once back in the business, he worked consistently in the theater until retiring in 1994.
It is something, isn't it? If actors want to remain journeyman actors in order to have variety and independence in their work, they run the risk of losing all that working in the better paying mediums of film and TV. If they became famous, they run the risk of only being accepted in a certain kind of role, they they might be financially very well off as a result.
Nancy
