Jane Alexander is an actress, author, and former Chairperson of the National Endowment of the Arts. In 1969, Jane received a Tony Award for her performance as Eleanor Bachman in the Broadway production of The Great White Hope. Jane received her first Emmy nomination for her role as Eleanor Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin. Over her career, she has received two Primetime Emmy Awards—as well as nominations for eight Tony Awards, four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards—and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994. Today, Jane is involved in conservation efforts and has served on the boards of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the National Audubon Society, and Project Greenhope, among others. She is the author of Wild Things, Wild Places and Command Performance.
Today, you’ll hear Jane discuss how she grew up loving the beauty of the land while living in Massachusetts. She shares how watching a ballet performance for the first time sparked her love for theater and the performing arts. She outlines her process for inhabiting a character or a role and describes how she studied her role as Eleanor Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin. Jane also highlights what it’s like to be an understudy, details her experience serving as the chairperson of the National Endowment of the Arts, and offers advice to young people about pursuing their passion.
“The whole business of exploration—which caught me as a child in the outside world, exploring the sunken garden—transitioned to the exploration of the mind and the human body in acting.” - Jane Alexander
This week on Kathy Sullivan Explores:
● Jane’s background and early years in Massachusetts
● How Jane’s parents reacted to her pursuit of theater as a career
● Her studies in mathematics and computer programming
● Her time at the University of Edinburgh and performances as Ophelia in Hamlet and as Nora in The Plough and the Stars
● What it was like to hang out with Dudley Moore and John Gleeson as university students
● Jane’s experience as an understudy and what stand-ins do when they’re not performing
● Her first leading roles and focus on the classics
● Jane’s process for inhabiting a role or character
● Why Jane declined to be part of The Actors Studio
● How Jane played Eleanor Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin
● Handling negative receptions of performances
● Jane’s service as the chairperson of the National Endowment of the Arts
● Today’s public support for the arts and Jane’s work in conservation
Our Favorite Quotes:
● “Art is part of everybody’s persona and privilege.” - Jane Alexander
● “We are put on this Earth to witness and experience all the joy that we can give to each other—that includes the things that grow and live.” - Jane Alexander
Connect with Jane Alexander:
● Book: Command Performance: An Actress In The Theater Of Politics
● Book: Wild Things, Wild Places: Adventurous Tales of Wildlife and Conservation on Planet Earth
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