(3 of 13)
CHARLIE ROSE:
That's the whole thing.
ROB REINER:
You know (Overlapping voices). I, I would say Brando because the body of work that he has put on film, I mean, if you talk about theater, then we're, you know, Olivier, you know, for...
CHARLIE ROSE:
We're going to get to theater, so, but between Brando and, and since they both acted in film as well...
ROB REINER:
For film then.
CHARLIE ROSE:
In film work you put Brando at a...
ROB REINER:
I would say Brando.
ROBERT HUGHES:
I would put Brando ahead of Olivier in film...
CHARLIE ROSE:
Film. (Overlapping voices) So we agree that Brando is the greatest film actor of this century?
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
In America, in the world? Are you talking about the world?
CHARLIE ROSE:
In the world. Who would you say? (Overlapping voices)
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
We're talking about the world.
ROB REINER:
Okay, so who? We're saying film actor, though. We're saying film actor.
(LAUGHTER)
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
I don't know, I mean, they, we want to think about Sophia Loren, or, or, I, I don't, you know it's in the world. It's such a heavy thing here.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
I think Brando has obviously, in Street Car, in On the Water Front, in The Godfather, three pieces of work that show his range as an actor and his ability to do different kinds of things, um...
ROB REINER:
That's how good he is. You think he was in three pieces of work there. In The Godfather.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Yeah.
ROB REINER:
Because those three (Overlapping voices).
NORM PEARLSTINE:
But I think, I think there were a lot of films that he frankly phoned in. I think he is actually honest with his audience when he says, if he had been paid as well to be a street sweeper as to be an actor, he would have been happy being a street swim, sweeper.
ROB REINER:
Do you really believe that?
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Yeah, and I really don't think that there's been...
ROB REINER:
Do you really believe it?
CHARLIE ROSE:
Why do you believe that?
NORM PEARLSTINE:
I would put Katharine Hepburn there, someone, four Oscars, a body of work over fifty years...
(APPLAUSE)
NORM PEARLSTINE:
...and the argument against her would be that she always plays Katharine Hepburn, and I think that, uh, unlike a Brando, and I think that...
ROB REINER:
See, that's the argument for her.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
...that would be the argument for her.
ROB REINER:
The argument for that, he plays herself, and elevated the, the status of women...
NORM PEARLSTINE:
That's exactly right.
ROB REINER:
... in the culture.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Exactly.
ROB REINER:
Absolutely.
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
Is a movie star an art form? And they now, now on Monroe as a, a name that...
ROBERT HUGHES:
The art of being a movie star.
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
...is that an art, yeah, the art of being a movie star.
APPLAUSE
CHARLIE ROSE:
Yeah. And does that, does that by definition give you impact, I mean...? It, does popularity give you impact, too?
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
Popularity in perhaps how much you're able to expose about yourself in that popularity.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Should we also factor in, when you talk to someone like Brando, or, or ev—, this has been said about a, a number of people, Orson Welles among others, uh, should it be a mark against them, that they did not take huge talent and do more with it? In terms of Brando, I mean, you look at me like I'm crazy, Rob...
ROB REINER:
No, no, no.
CHARLIE ROSE:
...but the idea of...
ROB REINER:
...I, I, I'm trying to assess this question, here.
(LAUGHTER)
CHARLIE ROSE:
Yeah.
ROB REINER:
I'm thinking about it.
CHARLIE ROSE:
I would say...
ROB REINER:
You weren't paying attention here, Charlie.
(LAUGHTER)
CHARLIE ROSE:
If you did all the films that you mention of Brando's, except for The Godfather, the were all early in his career.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
When you're talking about the actor of the century, yes. That's a fair question, and Hepburn, uh, for better or worse, made a decision to put her personal life clearly below that of her professional life and her craft. Where I think Brando really did the opposite.
ROBERT HUGHES:
Exactly.
CHARLIE ROSE:
All right, let me move to television. Uh, a medium I know and love. I don't know, I don't know who to start with here, but I start with, I'll start with you, SHERYL. In a sense that Lucille Ball is one, clearly, person who had a huge impact, if you look at what sitcoms, the impact they've had on television, she in a sense defined what a sitcom is about. Not only because of the huge star presence she had, but also the way that show was shot, and the rest of it. Other candidates?
SHERYL CROW:
I think you have, I think you have to start at the very beginning, like at Milton Berle.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Yeah.
SHERYL CROW:
Perhaps. He was Mr. Television.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Sid Ceasar.
SHERYL CROW:
Sid Ceasar. Certainly. Um, and then you get further into it, if you're going by the talk show you have to look at Steve Allen, who, later on, was preceded by Johnny Carson, certainly. Um, gosh, so many greats. But I think, I think Milton Berle was, basically sort of where it all began. And then, with Desi Arnaz, I mean, we talked [about] that a little bit. Desi Arnaz being sort of the, the producer of sitcom, sit, sitcom TV.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Yeah, sitcoms on television.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Norm?
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Well, at the risk of having Rob agree with me on this, I think uh, I would, I would actually go to a Sid Ceasar, your show of shows, and the whole group of people that really defined comedy through that, including Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, uh, Mel Brooks, uh...
ROBERT HUGHES:
Neil Simon.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
...and Neil Simon, and...
ROBERT HUGHES:
Woody Allen.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Well think of writing for your show.