Chicago Tribune du lieu suivant : Chicago, Illinois • Page 378

Chicago Tribune. Sunday, June 25, 1995 Section 13 Page 23 Artf LA," Becker says. "I love LA There may be something morally wrong with me. LA. is such a gamble.

You could go out there and sit for five years and nothing happens, but most of the people in my category leave and go to to LA and do television. They're out there doing episodic series and sitcoms, where you can make a lot more dough, and pick up some films. All that's in New York is theater, which is fun, but doesn't pay any money. Broadway, you can kind of live on that but you can't put your kids through school" Becker says when "Death Defying Acts" was still in rehearsal, he was always afraid he was going to be fired and have all his hopes dashed. Then' he spoke with Deborah Monk and Linda Lavin and discovered they were afraid, too Tony Awards and years of experience notwithstanding.

"Linda said, 'Shut up. Everybody's afraid. What's the deal?" "I could do whatever I wantefif' in Chicago. I could fail as much as I wanted, and it really wouldn't cost me a dime. They didn't have the stakes there.

"If I take anything from this experience, aside from working with people like Woody and Elaine, it's that sense everybody's afraid. Once thai clicked in for me it was really kind of exhilarating. Yeah, I am afraid. There's a lot at stake. That" why I moved here." of "Uncle Vanya" when, half asleep, unshaven and disheveled, he was called one morning to come in at once to try for "Death Defying." "I remembered somebody saying to me in Chicago, 'When in doubt, just be loud and stupid; they'll mistake it for being That's what I did." Elaine May said she thought his acting was "beautiful." Blakemore found it "the most uninhibited Fve ever seen." The other actors in the show are all New York pros.

Becker says he admires their ability, especially Lavin's and Monk's, but working with them hasn't always been comfortable. "I miss doing it with Chicago people," he says. "I know I could go do this show at Remains and make as many mistakes and be as stupid as I wanted and they would give it back to me. "For New York actors, the stakes are different. They're out there doing this thing for themselves.

Part of the problem is that, if somebody sees you here, it can just skyrocket your career. So you get in this mentality of, you're doing it for yourself. "One thing that was so cool for me working with Steppenwolf and Remains was that phrase at both places, 'Do what impassions So if this role scares you, do that Don't take the safe choice. Whatever it is that does impassion you, go for it It gave you an environment to work in that was very supportive. "The downside of Chicago is that if hard to make a living there." The downside of New York is that an actor with two kids can't afford it "I eventually need to go to TUBS IJ'-S CIJEFS OR Could You crave for exciting challenges? Yon like people? You are dynamic and resourceful? You wish to work in a sophisticated environment? The Ultimate Hotel Guest Service Training Program Gerry Becker and Debra Monk comedy "Central Park West." O'Brien." He'd return to his family in Chicago when he ran out of money, and come back to New York when a residual check came in.

"I was willing for it to go either way," he says. "I had. done the best I could do for two years. If I went back to Chicago, didn't really care. Then this apartment came through, and then the next day I got cast in a guest-star role on Cosby, which made enough money for me to move, and then we all moved to New York." Getting cast in "Death Defying Acts" was a hellish ordeal, Becker says.

He had been dropped from "My Thing of Love." He was four days away from taking a low-paying role an off-Broadway production LSATGMATGRE GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK BARBRI offen professional, quality instruction at a reasonable price. Let us help you maximize your score. Experience the Professional Advantage-excellent courses, at an affordable cost. FREE SEMINARS Wednesday, July 12 Chicago Loop 5:30 Monday, August 7 Oakbrook Call (312) 855-1088 Over 25 Years of Excellence .176 Wert Adams, Ste 3100 Chicago TL 6003 5iiiMf Paul Guilfoyle (from left), Linda Lavin, are featured in Woody Allen's one-act another family trait with hint alcoholism. "On both sides of the family," he says.

"I started drinking at about 13 or 14, laid off for a couple of years, then started again as a junior in high school Those first two years or so in Chicago were pretty much doing dinner theater and not being very employable. Then I got sober, and my acting just sort of took oft" Helping it do so was his meeting celebrated Chicago acting teacher and director Kyle Donnelley, now with Washington's Arena Stage. "When I came out of drinking I found I didn't know how to feel," he says. "Rage and depressionthat was my range. I walked into Kyle's studio and said, Tve been sober for a year and a half.

Tve worked for 10 years and I think Tve reached my level of mediocrity. I dont know how to feel a thing, and I want you to help me. If after a year of studying with you I'm no good, ni leave the business. If I am any good, HI think about it' She said, 'You're in the right place. Come on in, paL' "So I studied with all those 18-year-olds for three years.

I would have continued on, but I started to work so much, and by then I had a family." Becker met his actress wife, Lucy, when both were doing shows at the Court Theatre. They later joined the Remains company. Eventually, Becker got a trip to New York with Steppenwolf "The Song of Jacob Zulu." When that closed, he stayed. "Nobody knew who I was or cared who I was," he says, but he survived. "The good thing about Gerry," says Chicago actress Kate Buddeke, "is that he'll do anything.

Industrial films. Anything. He's a commercial actor. He'll do well in LA." Declaring himself a resident New York actor, though lacking a fixed address and sleeping on friends' floors and couches, Becker did do industrial films. And commercials.

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