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David Strathairn to headline Red Hook Literary Festival, April 12-14

by Frances Marion Platt
April 1, 2016
in Books, Entertainment
0
David Strathairn as Secretary of State William Seward in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. (DreamWorks Pictures & Twentieth Century Fox)
David Strathairn as Secretary of State William Seward in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. (DreamWorks Pictures & Twentieth Century Fox)

In a perfect world, David Strathairn – who will be gracing the Read Local! Red Hook Literary Festival with a live reading of a short story by his longtime collaborator John Sayles – would not be forever pigeonholed as a “character actor.” Especially following his Best Actor Oscar nomination for his remarkable performance as pioneering telejournalist Edward R. Murrow confronting McCarthyism in George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck in 2005, Strathairn should have been peppered with offers for leading-man roles – one would think.

“Character roles are mostly what is presented,” he said in a recent interview with Almanac Weekly. “Casting agents have a tendency to see you in terms of what you have already done. Age is also a factor. Nowadays I get to play figures of authority.” Those sorts of roles have included kings and dukes, doctors and bosses, judges and senators; action movie fans know Strathairn for his portrayal of a CIA honcho in a couple of the Bourne films. Most recently, he brought his capacity for gravitas and a dignified, patrician bearing to the role of Secretary of State William H. Seward in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.

“It was quite special,” said the soft-spoken Strathairn of that experience. “Spielberg surrounds himself with top-shelf people…. Every director has a different way of communicating their thoughts. You’re always learning something: a different way to peel the onion.”

But even on Lincoln, the actor was deprived of what one might have regarded as his due level of appreciation: Not only did he miss out on the Supporting Actor nominations snagged by Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field, but he didn’t even get to take home that smashing yellow silk dressing gown that Seward wore around the house in the film. Strathairn laughed when I asked about it, and noted that the luxurious garment was entirely in keeping with the secretary’s real-life belongings, which he had researched at the Seward House Museum in Auburn, New York. “He liked the finer things in life. He loved art and fine furniture.”

Doing his homework into characters’ backstories may be part of the explanation for how fully Strathairn seems to vanish into his roles. “I think doing research is important – not only historically, but because it helps you bring out traits and affectations that tell you something about the character,” he said. “Historical stuff is always fun.”

Although “Story comes first” for Strathairn, in terms of deciding which parts to accept, “I like characters who are fleshed-out, complex and valid and have a reason to be there – not just a plot-driver. I’ve played good guys, bad guys; I haven’t done too many funny guys.”

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Frances Marion Platt

Frances Marion Platt has been a feature writer (and copyeditor) for Ulster Publishing since 1994, under both her own name and the nom de plume Zhemyna Jurate. Her reporting beats include Gardiner and Rosendale, the arts and a bit of local history. In 2011 she took up Syd M’s mantle as film reviewer for Alm@nac Weekly, and she hopes to return to doing more of that as HV1 recovers from the shock of COVID-19. A Queens native, Platt moved to New Paltz in 1971 to earn a BA in English and minor in Linguistics at SUNY. Her first writing/editing gig was with the Ulster County Artist magazine. In the 1980s she was assistant editor of The Independent Film and Video Monthly for five years, attended Heartwood Owner/Builder School, designed and built a timberframe house in Gardiner. Her son Evan Pallor was born in 1995. Alternating with her journalism career, she spent many years doing development work – mainly grantwriting – for a variety of not-for-profit organizations, including six years at Scenic Hudson. She currently lives in Kingston.

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