PATRICIA CLARKSON
The prestigious Yale School of Drama ought to be mighty happy with itself.
Alumni are the most distinguished in stage, film, television and other creative genres. They proudly hang the exalted sheepskin — handsomely framed no doubt — of this hallowed graduate professional school on one wall or another or stow it for safekeeping in a lockbox.
Or in the attic.
But rarely in the basement; this is simply not basement material.
Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, YSD offers five-star training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design (set; costume; lighting; projection; and sound), directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, theatre management and technical design and production.
A faculty of 79 — working professionals in their fields and in many cases, graduates of the school themselves — teach 194 students and the institution operates in partnership with the Yale Repertory Theatre.
There are notable alumni in each discipline but to the lay observer the names of the actors are those which are most recognizable.
To wit:
Meryl Streep, Paul Newman, Sigourney Weaver, Robert Klein and Henry Winkler. Paul Giamatti, David Alan Grier, Angela Bassett, Joan Van Ark and Dick Cavett. John Turturro, Polly Draper, Courtney B. Vance, Liev Schreiber and Tony Shalhoub. Lupita Nyong’o. Frances McDormand. Sanaa Lathan. Lewis Black. Elia Kazan. Kathryn Hahn. Ken Howard. Wendy Wasserstein. Enrico Colantoni. Kate Burton. Lance Reddick. Ernie Hudson. Chris Bauer. Willie Garson. Amy Aquino. Aja Naomi King.
A sampling of a very impressive roster but incomplete without Patricia Clarkson.
Patricia Davies Clarkson is a daughter of the South, the eldest of five sisters raised by a New Orleans politician and councilwoman and a school administrator (LSU School of Medicine) in the Algiers section on the West Bank of the Mississippi River.
From O. Perry Walker High School Clarkson went on to LSU to study speech pathology before she had a change of heart which impactfully altered her life’s course.
In 1980 she transferred to Fordham to pursue a degree in drama, enrolling in their undergraduate acting program.
With degree in hand — she graduated summa cum laude — it was off to YSD where in 1985 she earned her Masters in Fine Arts. While there she performed in a wide range of productions including “Electra,” “Pericles,” “Twelfth Night,” “The Lower Depths,” “The Misanthrope,” “Pacific Overtures” and “La Ronde.”
Then it was on to New York City where she impressed the East Coast critics in 1986 with her portrayal of Corrina in “The House of Blue Leaves” and with her work in such other plays as “Eastern Standard” (1988) and “Wolf-Man” (1989).
The acting world would become her oyster; an organic approach to the specialty, her signature.
The flaxen-maned Clarkson is not classically beautiful but she is an attractive woman, a handsome woman with a husky, throaty, whiskey voice seemingly summoned on command. Her presence is powerful and she is highly intelligent and adaptable.
With a wealth of experience she has earned her stripes; she has played so many leading and supporting roles on stage and screen (big and small), she is a certifiable superstar by any measure.
Described by IMDb as a “remarkable, one-of-a-kind actress [who] has, since the early 1990s intrigued film and TV audiences with her glowing, yet careworn eccentricity and old world-styled glamour,” she is very much in demand as a character player but generally prefers the indie “out-of-the-way projects” to “the temptation of money-making mainstream [major studio] filming.”
It appears that this mindset has only enhanced her image and reputation.
Has there ever been an actor or performer who achieved even a modicum of success without a struggle at first? Waiting tables to make ends meet. Living month to month. Worried about making rent.
Ryan Seacrest shared a one-bedroom apartment with “another dude.” Kesha lived in her car “for a little bit…Well, just, like, here and there.” Madonna got fired from her job at Dunkin’ Donuts in Times Square — during her first shift. Seems she accidentally squirted jelly filling on a customer.
Lady Gaga was signed by Def Jam Records at nineteen, only to be unceremoniously dropped by the label three months later. “It just wasn’t for them,” she remarked.
Jim Carrey recalls living in a Volkswagen bus with his family for eight months as a teenager before he and his siblings pitched a tent in his older sister’s backyard.
Oscar winner Halle Berry slept in a homeless shelter for a while in her early twenties. “A girl had to do what a girl had to do,” she said. “You can do that when you’re 21 and ambitious, and your eyes are this big and you don’t want to go home.”
Agent 007 — the Daniel Craig rendition — slept on some of the finest park benches in London when he couldn’t make enough money to pay the rent.
J.Lo? ‘Jenny from the block’ and her mom butted heads over the younger’s future — college or pursuing dance. Lopez moved out, tried dance full-time and slept on the sofa in the dance studio. “I was homeless, but I told her, ‘This is what I have to do.’”
Steve Harvey lived in his car for three years.
Nicki Minaj got the hook from Red Lobster.
Naya Rivera worked at Hooters. “I have nightmares about that job, period,” she recalled.
Kristen Wiig sold hot dogs at the mall.
Jon Hamm was a professional waiter until his big break came. “I mean, I’ve probably been a waiter longer than I’ve really been anything else,” he conceded. “Or I’m probably coming up on even. But barely.”
As an actor Clarkson has no fewer than 53 credits stretching from 1985 to 2018. She has been a television guest 21 times gracing the sets of Live With Kelly and Ryan; The Talk; Good Morning America; Larry King Live; The Tonight Show With Jay Leno; Jimmy Kimmel; Today; The View; and Late Night With Seth Meyers among others. She has been a narrator, a host, has two voice credits and one as a reporter. She has five TV Show “appearing” credits including Sunday Morning; Made in Hollywood; and The 25th. Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Her list of industry nominations, accolades and awards is staggering to say the least. Since 1987 she has one Academy Award nomination; two Golden Globe nominations and one win; two Primetime Emmy Awards; one British Independent Film Award; one Tony nomination; six Screen Actors Guild nominations; one Satellite Award; one Saturn Award; and three Sundance Film Festival Awards.
Somehow her struggle to achieve success was minimal; upon graduation from YSD in ’85 she was constantly working, launching her career and carving out her niche right away.
Thirty-four years later she’s bigger than big.
Accepting her 2019 Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series (a Series, Miniseries or Television Film) for her performance as Amy Adams’ overbearing, eccentric mother Adora in “Sharp Objects,” Clarkson included in her remarks a heartfelt nod to her director, Jean-Marc Vallee.
“You demanded everything of me, except sex, which is exactly how it should be in our industry,” she said with a piercing candor and frankness laced with compassion.
Concise and to the point.
No time to waste.
Be gracious, turn on that Southern charm, get to it and move on to the next thing.
Patricia Clarkson. That is she, to a “T.”
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in January 2019.]
