Acting Horror Stories: Don’t Forget Your Dignity By Katherine Schreiber
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nnFrom the outset of her acting career, Julie Garfield (daughter of John Garfield) found herself in a series of tricky situations, primarily involving the inevitably oversized egos people in the acting world occasionally possess. Her first unfavorable encounter occurred under the not so empathetic auspices of famed Director John Dexter.nnGarfield was overjoyed when she landed the role of Jessica Kolner in the 1977 Broadway production of The Merchant. But Dexter’s treatment of the budding actress quickly curtailed her personal growth both on and off the stage.nn“The most abusive person who ever directed me — and I’ve had very abusive people direct me — was John Dexter,” Garfield recalled. “I felt like his preferred person to torture; he picked on me throughout the whole production.”nnDuring a winter rehearsal where the theater the cast was performing in lacked adequate heating, Garfield opted to wear boots to keep from freezing. Apparently Dexter would have none of this, demanding that the young actress change her shoes on the sole basis that “he didn’t like boots.” Garfield refused the request, which prompted an emotionally volatile Dexter to run towards her placement on stage with a hand poised to strike her across the face.nn“I was sick of running from these rehearsals in tears,” Garfield said. “I didn’t believe I was good enough. I was so insecure. I validated his cruelty to me by taking it personally. But finally something just snapped and I said to him, go ahead. Hit me.”nnBy inviting him to culminate his cruelty with a physically verifiable act of violence, Garfield imagined she’d finally have a valid reason to quit.nn“I challenged him, essentially saying, I’m not going to take your sh*t anymore. He sort of dropped his hand, then he walked away. He never messed with me again after that.”nnnThe lesson Garfield learned? “If you’re working for somebody who’s cruel, who’s mean, do not take it inside of yourself. Confront that person and do not let them treat you that way.”nnGarfield swears by her own experience that it’s better to get fired than to allow someone to treat you inhumanely. She believes that accepting cruel treatment from anyone you work with in the theatre world can hinder your success as an actor by indelibly scarring the engine(s) of your artistic success — your humanity, your dignity, and your soul.nn“My biggest problem was that I didn’t have self confidence. One of the reasons I’m done with acting,” Garfield admits, “is the build up of bad experiences of not sticking up for myself.”nn“To be an artist, you must not be intimidated,” she adds. “It took me a while to understand that.”n