Mildred Natwick on BAREFOOT IN THE PARK
"Mike Nichols—and I’ve said this before—never said a word that wasn’t absolutely perfect."
The best experiences I had in the theatre were those that were best constructed: There was a good play; there was a good director; there was a creative and attentive cast. And everything went into its proper places. I don’t even know who first analyzed the word playwright and focused on the wright portion. It’s about construction, building, crafting. Like a wheelwright, and Neil Simon was very much like this. His play [Barefoot in the Park] was perfectly built. There was not a bad corner or a sagging beam in that play.
Mike Nichols—and I’ve said this before—never said a word that wasn’t absolutely perfect. He could be quiet for a long time. Watching and waiting. Polite. Silent. And then he would walk up to us and give us a few sentences, and everything snapped into place. He had to feel a scene for a while. He had to come to know us. He understood so much about us. He would come to me and tell me that he noticed that I favored a particular leg, or that when I was nervous as the character, I would do something with my hand. I was not aware of this. He was. He would then incorporate it into the character, and some of my funniest moments—my moments of reality—came from what he saw and he chose to emphasize.
Mike said that Elizabeth [Ashley] was galvanic, and I agree. I studied the word, and I do remember thinking that Elizabeth altered the energy of every room, and the entire theatre. Never in a way that brought attention to herself, or that affected the play, but eyes and the light always found her. She just vibrated with magic and energy. I loved watching her—both as an actress and as my daughter. I became very fond of her. I became very fond of Robert Redford, of Herbert Edelman, of Kurt Kasznar. Mike made us all a family, a group of lucky people who always felt, I think, that we had found our way into a remarkable situation, and because Mike would always point out how wonderful he thought we were, how much more we could do, we saw it and appreciated it in others. It was one of the best times.
Mike would sometimes lose his temper, or he would appear agitated, but it was always because he felt he had failed us, or because he could not understand why we didn’t see all that we were capable of doing. That was a wonderful challenge to have: Let’s not disappoint Mike or each other.
Mildred Natwick Interview with James Grissom/1991