During emotional acting scenes, Eddie Albert cried ''real tears''

"I know that the actor who's supposed to be dead isn't really dead. But I'm crying, anyway. Real tears."

On Now
Oliver gives a memorable speech on Green Acres!
Up Next:

When actors hear the word "action" while on set, they usually get into character mode because they're about to film. There are some scenes, like emotional ones, that require the talent to cry. For viewers, the waterworks are a crucial part of making the setting feel real, but what if there was an actual reason for the tears?

To an audience, it's make-believe, but to Eddie Albert, it's deeper than that. During an interview with The Press Democrat in 1966, the Green Acres star revealed how actors stay young, and it's all within the emotions viewers see in scenes.

"Actors tend to stay younger than other people," Albert began. "If this is true, and it might be, one reason is that actors have a release for their tensions. In front of the camera, I can get angry and yell and carry on in a way that would get a bank clerk booted out of his job."

He continued, saying, "Man gets rid of a lot of hostilities being an actor. And he gets paid for it. I am not at all hostile to money."

Getting rid of bottled-up hostilities wasn't the only benefit of acting for Albert. He also "cried real tears" even though the situations were unreal.

"Synthetic the emotions may be, but they seem to work. I can express sorrow, and the glands work for me," the actor revealed. "When I laugh, it comes from my toes. In a crying scene, you can bet that I'm really weeping. Not being an idiot, I know that the actor who's supposed to be dead isn't really dead. But I'm crying, anyway. Real tears."

When the interviewer, Donald Freeman, chimed in and said, "But it's make-believe," Albert said that was irrelevant.

"My own motor machinery doesn't know it. I'm expressing legitimate emotions that the rest of society must usually suppress," he said. "So they end up grinding their teeth at night..."

Albert believed that actors have many problems, but suppressing their emotions has never been one of them.

Watch Green Acres on MeTV!

Weeknights at 9:30 PM

*available in most MeTV markets
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
Close

26 Comments

Deleted 21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
Deleted 21 months ago
This comment has been removed. Load previous comments
21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
LoveMETV22 21 months ago
The topic of the retconning of Happy Days is "stale", "repetitive", it's been discussed to death. No offense, but not interested.

Again TV shows, whatever the show, from past to present have no need to explain every change whether it's character(s),storyline, etc....Your wishing for something that didn't and likely will never occur. It's fictional television, for entertainment purposes, The shows were not documentaries presenting factual information. Your fruitlessly wishing or looking for explanations that are not necessary to begin with.
21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
TonyClifton 21 months ago
It's an acting technique called "sense memory." Where, during the scene, you mentally conjure up a real event in your life that has made you sad (death of a friend, a dog, death of a friend's dog, etc.) and you use that to play the scene. It's really quite therapeutic and cathartic, actually.
LoveMETV22 21 months ago
JMO: Some actors have the ability to shed real tears more easily than other actors. What's important is the believability of the emotion and how it comes across on screen. They can "cry a river", but if it doesn't translate that way in the scene "what's the point?"
hrob11 21 months ago
They are getting ride of gomer Pyle
Snickers hrob11 21 months ago
We all know someone who won't be happy to hear that news.
Snickers 21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
hrob11 21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
Snickers 21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
LoveMETV22 wallyandbagfan 21 months ago
Just a guess, but Moriyah most likely has Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. on DVD. She does collect memorabilia pertaining to the show.
LoveMETV22 wallyandbagfan 21 months ago

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few items Moriyah has shared.
LoveMETV22 21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
Runeshaper 21 months ago
Sounds like he put his "all" into acting (-:
Andybandit 21 months ago
I didn't realize Eddie Albert cried on GA. His Character Oliver is usually a grouch
Mblack Andybandit 21 months ago
It was probably his reaction to the good people of Hootersville, who so often were at odds with how he saw the world.
Snickers 21 months ago
Don't ever remember seeing him cry but really liked him in " The Longest Day". Played beside some real big time stars in that movie, John Wayne and Richard Burton to name just a few.
Load previous comments
wanderer2575 Snickers 21 months ago
He played a widower nursing home resident who was still grieving over his wife's passing in a 1987 Twilight Zone episode ("Dream Me a Life"). His real-life wife had passed a few years earlier and, according to the episode's writer (J. Michael Straczynski), playing the role was very difficult for him at times. His was a spectacular performance, but I'm sure the grief and tears he expressed were real.
MrsPhilHarris 21 months ago
This comment has been removed.
Coldnorth Snickers 21 months ago
I’ve been to alaska. A beautiful state. I was in Anchorage to see my sister. The mountains are breathtaking
Snickers Coldnorth 21 months ago
I have fell in love with this state, most amazing scenery and wildlife.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?