This is part of a series of the collected thoughts and sayings by influential members of the Johns Hopkins community. All the following quotes were taken verbatim from a personal interview with John Astin.
Astin is currently a professor in the Theatre Department at Hopkins. He has been a professional actor for decades, performing on stage, television and in motion pictures. He is most well recognized for originating the part of Gomez Addams on the television series The Addams Family.
As a child I had no idea or interest that I would ever be an actor. I thought I would be a scientist, a mathematician. I got a scholarship to college as a math major, and I didn't think I'd have to take freshmen English, but it was a requirement, so, while I was in that class the professor got me to take part in a play reading, and then the next year we put on a play -- a one-act play -- and after that I decided to find out more about theatre. After one semester I was a drama major.
Some of my very first plays were in the Barn or on the stage at JHU. The very first time I had a lead in a play, in my life, was with the Barnstormers. When I came back to Hopkins, to give a lecture, I noticed that so much had changed. c9 I wanted to bring back theatre to Hopkins. c9 I just thought that it would be good for the school.
I really have learned the most from the students. The students are great, and they've shown me lots of things that I didn't believe before I started teaching. One of the things is that acting can be learned c9 that it's not something that you have it or you don't. I have never turned anyone down for acting classes. Even if it's something that you don't feel comfortable about c9 it's a very good discipline. I think anybody can benefit from it. A former student, I only had one semester, told me how much studying acting for one semester has meant to him as a med student.
One of my favorite parts was my performance as Edgar A. Poe in a one-man show about Poe. I think I couldn't ask for more than I got playing Poe.
In television, you don't get enough rehearsal c9 but television has the advantage of reaching a whole spectrum of people many times over c9 so it's important because it is powerful. We should try to use it to c9 make life better. The Addams Family was so popular that it lasted over 40 years after it was off the air. Not a day in my life has gone by where I've gone out of the house where I haven't been asked about The Addams Family c9 and it shows that it meant a great deal to a lot of people. [It's what I'm most well known for] first because it was on television and second because it was on television so long.
I think I'm very fortunate that The Addams Family has been seen by so many people. It's really almost a reward to hear feedback. There are undoubtedly parts that I didn't play because I did The Addams Family. I began to be identified by it. But as you can tell by [the list of my works] on www.imdb.com it hasn't kept me out of work. I've done hundreds of television shows, over 40 motion pictures c9 and they don't even list the theatre credits.
I'm proud of all five of my children. One is an inventor. One is with Metlife. One is a programmer/actor. Two others are actors. I hope Sean [Astin] continues to do good roles. Most people know him as Sam [from The Lord of the Rings]. It's great that he did that c9 but my favorite is Rudy. Sometimes he asks my opinion before he takes a role. Sometimes he doesn't.
I hope that he [Sean Astin], Mackenzie [Astin] and I do a play together. We almost did it last summer, I just had too much on my plate. We'll probably do it here first. Baltimore's a good place. Who knows? Wouldn't it be neat if we did it at the Barn or at the museum?
I'm saving my outrageous anecdotes for the book. A lot of people have tried to get me to write a book. I think I will. Got to get through the semester first!
