An Obituary for Acting

Another actor obituary, another reminder of how little we understand acting.

As Diane Keaton is celebrated for her quirky individuality or Robert Redford for his eternal good looks, what’s really being praised is recognisability. For many viewers—and for most obituary writers—good acting seems to mean being reliably oneself on screen. Keaton is the perfect case study: the same mannerisms, the same tone, the same American brightness that fans adored and I found unbearable.

The essence of great acting is transformation—the ability to disappear into a role, to be unrecognisable from one film to the next. That’s why Daniel Day-Lewis or Meryl Streep stand apart. Even actors with limited range, like Clooney, who oscillates between charm and irony, can show flashes of depth when they step outside their comfort zone, as in Syriana. The obituaries for Keaton, in praising her sameness, reveal exactly what her admirers valued—and precisely what I did not.