Patrick Cronin is former holder of The Basler Chair and the first holder of the Permanent Artist in Residence position at East Tennessee State University. As a professional actor, member of Screen Actors Guild, Actors Equity Association, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Mr. Cronin has appeared in over 150 professional plays and 200 film and TV shows. He appeared as a regular cast member in 11 series, including Seinfeld, Home Improvement, Hill Street Blues, Alice, Knot's Landing, Family Matters and in the films, Splash, Rampage and Rocky V. Mr. Cronin received his bachelor of arts degree from La Salle University and his master's in directing from Temple University, where he taught for five years.

 

When did you know you wanted to be a professional actor? Was there a cathartic “ah-hah!” moment for you?
I'd been a performer all my life...started singing Irish songs on radio on WCAU in Philadelphia in 1944!....sort of last gasp of vaudeville...but my love of theater started slowly...got into plays in my all boys Catholic High School to meet girls....(It worked!) but then in college I started doing plays but still wasn't sure about it all until I saw Douglas Campbell the great Canadian actor as Gideon with Frederic March as G-d in Paddy Chyevsky's play Gideon on a Weds. and then saw Paul Scofield and George Rose in A Man for All Seasons on a Saturday and I was hooked....I wanted to be up there doing that......

Can you describe your training? Did you study acting at college or a conservatory program?
My training was very hodge podge.....as I said I came out of ethnic vaudeville and by the 1950's I'd started doing night club work as a singer and working a la my idol Lenny Bruce with a stripper in "joints" around Philly. I then, under the influence of the early Black rock stars such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard, formed a white cover band that played other "joints" in and around Philly and South Jersey.....so no pinning away for Laurence Olivier for me....but lots of fan worship of Elvis.....so at La Salle College I majored in French and Philosophy and did plays. I starred in over 22 plays as an undergrad and learned to think in terms of "show biz" and being a star rather than LORT and being in the ensemble. My first mentor, Dan Rodden was a product of Walter Kerr and Catholic U and he taught me that theater was "just" about learning your lines, hitting your marks and making your faces".......He isn't totally wrong....and his "method" works great for TV. He would have understood the note I always got when doing sit coms...."Hey Pat, can you be louder, faster and funnier"? After La Salle I went to Tulane where I studied under some great teachers including Paul Hostetler, Tony Distler and the brilliant Richard Schechner....under these mentors especially Schechner I learned to expand my theater vocab to include Growtowski and Stanislavski and we did plays in the nude and the dark....(it was 1963-64 after all) and my ability to expand in different roles and styles of plays increased immeasurably but I was still the Irish pug from Philly who thought about the Jersey Shore and making a buck

Can you describe your first professional acting job? How has “the industry” changed since you began your career?
After going to the TCGs in 1964 the forerunner of the URTE auds today, I got three Equity offers and took the one in Memphis Tenn at The Front Street Theater. I got my Equity card in 1964 for playing the Devil in Damn Yankees. It was not a happy experience....the director who will remain nameless was a Svengali lunatic and the company was mostly made up of Carnegie and Yale grads and they were very busy speaking amongst themselves and never to me....I used to come of stage at night and turn to my "fellow actors" and say "you were great tonight .....how was I"? Since they never noticed me at all it did end all conversation....a good thing as I recall. I also joined Equity about 2 or three years to soon. There are several changes in the 40 years I've been a professional actor.....some good....more opportunities for women and people of color, more facets of the business including new opportunities in video games and subsidiary markets such as DVDs etc....some bad.....leaner meaner "what have you done for me lately?" Rampant ageism where women especially are "washed up" at 40. Less money for people at the middle and the bottom while stars make 22 mil a picture and they want people such as me to work for scale plus 10....used to be you could be a stage OR a film star OR do TV....now if you don't do it all and specialize in TV/Film you can't make a middle class living as an actor


Do you feel that a college degree is essential to a successful career in acting? What about an MFA?
No but a college degree is essential to a successful life and unless you hit big early the college degree gives you options you won't have without it. I suggest that unless you are a drop dead gorgeous Matt Damon or Angelina Jolie type in which case you need to "hit" it big before you are 25, that you should at least get a BA. If you are sure you want to do theater or if you are a certified character "type"....a Kathy Bates or Ned Beatty...where youth is not quite so important...then you should get the training that a good MFA program provides. In my case my MFA didn't play a part in my life per se until I was in my 50s but then it enabled me to have a third career (first as a stage actor, second in film and TV) as a college professor.

In general, do you feel that students are adequately prepared for the business of showbiz? What do you wish more aspiring actors understood about a career in acting?
I am sorry to say that today's young actors are not at all prepared to enter the market place. I think the villains are universities that refuse to teach "the biz" because of snobbery and lack of knowledge. Last week at a workshop I gave over 200 young actors with BFAs and MFAs were unable to answer the most rudimentary questions about the business. I asked them what is the most an actor can make doing only theater without Broadway or National Tours. Not one had the remotest idea. The answer is about 35,000 dollars and that is an inflated figure and would be earned by very few stage only actors. Can you imagine a room of young accountants who didn't know what the earning levels were of their profession? They didn't know anything about unemployment laws or if they were eligible for unemployment. Sad. I wish today's young actors understood that our business is both a business and an art form. You can do artistic work but you should also know how to make a living and they need to know that if they can't schmooze and do the art of the audition and the call back they might as well not have any training or talent at all for all the good it will do them.

You had a highly successful career spanning three decades in Los Angeles. In your opinion, which of your qualities enabled you to succeed where so many give up in frustration?
My agent of 30 years Commercials Unlimited has only one thing on their wall in their office in Beverly Hills a sign which reads " Patience and Perseverance are all you need to be a successful actor." You have to keep at it no matter what happens and you can't stop trying.

The other quality I possess in addition to the ability to just keep on keeping on is the ability to read people and situations. Many actors have what I call low grade death wishes. They talk too much or not enough; they zig when they should zag; they try to cultivate the wrong people and make enemies of the right ones. They wait two months to get an audition and then spend the 15 minutes before they go in to the producers "catching up with their other out of work actor friends". They are always 10 minutes late to every aud they do get and they go in to the "room" unprepared. They don't dress right and they don't know how to conduct themselves when they are in the "room". I got over 250 jobs in my 25 years in LA because I rarely sabotaged myself. I dressed for the role; knew my lines and had worked out the acting problems in the scene before I walked in to the "room". I was pleasant and friendly in the room but never slick or over bearing. I didn't try to be funny or become anyone's friend. I was always solid and professional and when I got the job I made myself liked and respected on the set. I had recurring roles on over 11 series and this was not because I was more talented than other actors, far from it, but when I was on the set I was always ready, always knew my lines before anyone else and was always pleasant. I didn't speak to the stars unless spoken to and I never made a pest of myself trying to ingratiate myself into the "family" that is a series regular group. These are qualities that can be taught and can be learned but it doesn't just happen. Too many actors want our profession to be about talent and art and the cosmos....it is finally about doing a job like a professional and treating it like a business....leave the autographs and sunglasses at home and bring your union cards and your smile and your common sense.

Despite your numerous appearances on shows such as Seinfeld, Mad About You, Home Improvement, and Family Matters, there were no doubt many times you didn't get the job. What is your attitude regarding the constant rejection faced by actors? What has kept you going?
There are two kinds of actors: those who are insecure and those who lie about it. If you hit between 10 and 20 percent of your auds you will be a very successful actor but that means you are being rejected at least 80 to 90 % of the time. I dealt with it by being a pro and not a dilettante. I never let the highs get too great and therefore the lows didn't get too low. Sure you'll be disappointed a lot, but if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. What always kept me going was I believe that I am one of the best actors in the business and the money I earned and the respect I got from people I admire, kept me going during the down times. It finally doesn't matter to me what you think of me; only what I think of me really counts. The phrase actors use "what do they want" has never been in my vocabulary. I only care about what I want. If "they" knew what they wanted do you really think they'd be having auditions?

Patrick teaching a class at ETSU

An actors’ career will inevitably have ups and downs. When you're working a lot, what have you done to prepare for potential “lean years”?
Save money and invest in real estate. Linda Buzzel in her great book "How to Make it in Hollywood" says you must have "screw you money" and she is right. Always have enough money to tell people you are not interested in doing that. I once told someone I didn't want to shoot a commercial they were doing and a week later they were paying me 20,000 for a shoot that should have cost them 500 and all because I had enough money in the bank to say "i'm sorry I don't want to do that" Psychologically, I prepared for the lean years by always doing a lot of different things. When TV dried up I did theater. When theater was not hitting for me I did commercials and industrials. When NY was not working for me I went to LA and when neither of them worked I went home to Philadelphia. Don't be a victim. Take charge of your career and keep working....think Cassie in a Chorus Line....all you really need is the mirror and the chance to dance.

In other careers, it’s easy to see “the ladder” that one must climb to reach the top. Is that also true of a career in the arts? If so, what is the actors’ equivalent of the corporate ladder?
It isn't quite the same. First of all few of us reach the top. I averaged over 50,000 a year for 30 years....this is peanuts for most white collar professions and peanuts compared to what stars make...but compared to 90% of the union actors in the world I made a fortune, so the ladder is what you say it is. Sure I wanted to be a star but I was very happy making a living and if you're not happy with a living then you should get into Wall Street

I often hear actors lament, “I don’t date other actors”. Yet you and your wife, Betsy, also an actor, managed to keep a roof over your heads and raise two fantastic sons. What are the unique challenges faced by two actors raising a family, and how did you overcome them?
Put your marriage first and your career second but you both have to do that. Betsy gave up a great role in a movie in our first year of marriage to be with me and not on location. 6 years later when my career was hot I turned down a Broadway show to be with my wife when our second child was born. There is always another job coming; there is only one marriage. Also be sure you can handle the competition you will both feel. When my wife out earned me for the first five years of our marriage I had to live with being Mr. Colen. When I made more than she did, she had a very difficult time adjusting and the ups and downs of our careers almost ended us but we always managed to put the "biz" and life into perspective. I think, though, it is easier for an actor to be married to a writer...in the business but not the same area...but it can be done but not without price and struggle.

In your opinion, when should an actor give up and go get a “normal” job?
When the pain of poverty and lack of respect becomes intolerable. I went to LA at age 35 with a thousand bucks and an unemployment claim. I gave myself two years to get an agent and 5 years to be making a living....i got there about three years ahead of schedule. I think if you are honest with yourself you'll know when it is time to re train.

You began your career teaching, and after 30 years in LA, you've returned to teaching. How has your approach to teaching changed over the years? Have students changed?
I now am ready to take second place to my students' careers and their futures. It is their turn now and I am delighted to help them get ahead. I have over a dozen actors in top grad programs and another 12 or so working as professional actors. It is very exciting to be a mentor and to give back. I teach now by mid wifing my students. When I was younger I tried to force my students to be me. Much better now. Students are brighter and in better shape but they have little sense of the history of their profession. There is much too much influence of American Idol on the young. They want to be a reality celeb not actors. This is a shame and makes for greater numbers of "failures" because unless you finish first ...second is first loser. Very sad.

In your opinion, can you teach someone to be a great actor, or is it one of those “you've got it or you don't” things?
I can teach craft and timing and tricks and I can help students get to great emotional places but that "spark of divine power" is not mine or anyone's to give. I can take a bad actor and make her good but I can't take an actor from competent to great...that is my opinion

Patrick in Krapp's Last Tape

After a break from performing, you recently returned to the stage to perform Krapp’s Last Tape. How has your process of creating a character and rehearsing a show evolved over the years?
I'm much less "stagey" now and much more influenced by film acting and film technique. I think acting has gotten much more honest over the years and that is good. Mamet and Meisner and their disciples have made acting much "realer" and that is all to the good. I'm much tighter and more inner in my work now and that please me a lot...I think the audiences like it also.

Do you still get the same thrill from performing as you did when you first began?
Better now. I'm 64 in three weeks and I feel like a fine wine that is ready to be uncorked. I no longer need the applause; I only need the inner magic that is the creative process. I could do a show now for just one other person and be fulfilled. God it feels great to be alive and to be creative.

Despite what appears to be a very comfortable life you've set up for yourself, you continue to reach out and take on roles in low-budget independent films such as Forever For Now. Why?
An actor is only an actor if she is acting. If you are not acting then you can only say you "used to act" but not now. When I heard that two young film makers were doing an "indie" in Denver, I was thrilled to be asked to be a part of it. I was not disappointed. The energy on the set for Forever For Now was pure magic. The young leads; the young script writers and the young director made me feel young and in love all over again with the process of acting and film making. Indie films are the future and until I die I want to be a part of the present an the future and in so doing honor but not live in my past.

Why should audiences continue to go see live theater when we have so many other entertainment options? Why is theater important?
There is nothing like the communal nature of the theater. In the theater even the silences are by Mozart. In watching films or TV, even great films and great TV, we are in passive mode being acted upon. In the theater we are all in the dance and the power of the now enters are souls are we are back, back back thousands of years ago in the dancing circle learning how to be alive in our natures and in our culture. No other art from has the pure religious power of theater and as long as people yearn for God and for understanding, then the other art forms will not be enough.