AN ACTOR'S TRAGEDY
"Though the world is so full of a number things,
I know we should all be as happy as...."
from
'Make 'em Laugh' sung by Donald O'Connor,
Singin' in the Rain, 1952, music by Brown, lyrics by Freed, indebted to Cole Porter's 'Be a Clown', sung by Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, in
The Pirate, 1948
One
of the saddest and most repeated histories in the world is of the child
who knows they are not as great as the parent they spend their life
trying to emulate.
Hero with a fatal flaw: the tragically bad actor Henry Siddons
(1774 - 1815) by Samuel John Stump, watercolour portrait miniature,
1808. "He is a fine, honorable, but alas! melancholy character. He is
not well indeed..."* His anxiety and lack of self-confidence are
apparent, even painted on a piece of card 79mm x 64mm. (NPG) Image
source: Wikipedia
They
are the collateral damage of celebrity, or genius, or romance,
compelled to follow the same vocation as their mother or father, deaf to
other callings, dazzled by star dust, enthused with idealism, often
determined to work hard, unable to shine, unable to be happy.
The
falling-off is steepest in public or artistic careers, and is not
confined to celebrity families. The freeloading brats of celebrities
raised by nepotism in any industry, political, business or
entertainment, get all the press, but there are noble failures, who feel
much and barely leave a mark.
Fame
and talent are not indivisible. Children of unlucky actors are just as
likely to be inspired to go into the same profession as children of rich
and famous ones. It’s not a career choice, it’s an hereditary gift or
curse; they are not sure which until there is no going back. Sometimes
they have talent and ability, but not the temperament to withstand the
slings and arrows of their vocation.
Of
all the members of the Kemble dynasty of Shakespearean tragedians, the
most tragic is Sarah Siddons' eldest son, Henry, because he inherited
all her passion for performance and her intellect for analysing
character, without her talent and resilience.
All he had ever wanted to be was an actor, and he was entirely unsuited for an actor's life.
He was perfectionist, and acutely, even morbidly, sensitive to
rejection and criticism. The family was fully aware that he suffered
from excessive anxiety. His mother worried about his "melancholy
character."
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