Hear Alan Alda speak about his preparations for playing iconoclastic physicist Richard Feynman in the drama QED (2001)
Alan Alda telling how he prepared to play iconoclastic physicist Richard Feynman in the drama QED (2001).
© World Science Festival (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
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Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Washington, D.C.Video clips from Winsor McCay's Gertie on Tour (1921).
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn how Hollywood movies transitioned from silent to sound.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.The video Medieval Theater: The Play of Abraham and Isaac depicts a family of traveling players performing The Play of Abraham and Isaac at an English estate in 1482. This video was produced in 1974 by The Movie Show Co., Inc., for Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
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© World Science Festival (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Alan Alda discussing the work of Marie Curie, the subject of his 2011 play Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie.
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Transcript
LYNN SHERR: And speaking of the human side, Richard Feynman famously played the bongo drums.
ALAN ALDA: Yeah. I had to learn how to do that.
SHERR: So there's Richard Feynman. So was this also a way into his character? And by the way, you say you also had to learn?
ALDA: I had to learn how to do it. And I foolishly made the mistake of saying to Peter, how about if he delivers this whole monologue while he's drumming? You know that's like doing this, you know?
SHERR: Did you feel that you needed, wanted to do that to show his humanity or to reach the audience?
ALDA: Well, it was part of how he was so many different people.
SHERR: Right.
ALDA: He was a safecracker. At Los Alamos, he would break into people's safes and leave a little note-- safecracker's struck again, because he wanted to show them--
SHERR: He could do it.
ALDA: It's the way people hack into companies now and say, see? You're vulnerable.
SHERR: Right.
ALDA: So he wanted to show them they were vulnerable. But meanwhile, he was cracking into safes and driving people crazy.
ALAN ALDA: Yeah. I had to learn how to do that.
SHERR: So there's Richard Feynman. So was this also a way into his character? And by the way, you say you also had to learn?
ALDA: I had to learn how to do it. And I foolishly made the mistake of saying to Peter, how about if he delivers this whole monologue while he's drumming? You know that's like doing this, you know?
SHERR: Did you feel that you needed, wanted to do that to show his humanity or to reach the audience?
ALDA: Well, it was part of how he was so many different people.
SHERR: Right.
ALDA: He was a safecracker. At Los Alamos, he would break into people's safes and leave a little note-- safecracker's struck again, because he wanted to show them--
SHERR: He could do it.
ALDA: It's the way people hack into companies now and say, see? You're vulnerable.
SHERR: Right.
ALDA: So he wanted to show them they were vulnerable. But meanwhile, he was cracking into safes and driving people crazy.
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