Never a typical Hollywood star, the Oscar-nominated actor known for such classics as «MASH» and «The Long Goodbye» is as colorful and distinctive as the unorthodox characters he’d played
For Elliott Gould, all the world’s a stage, even when that stage is a backyard patio in Los Angeles. «To be or not to be. That’s the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end it?» Gould is rehearsing Shakespeare’s signature soliloquy. But he’s not playing Hamlet. He simply decided, at 82, it was time to memorize it. He’s never been a typical Hollywood star – not now, and not in 1970, when Time magazine put the «MASH» actor on its cover. «Donald Sutherland, one of my best partners, great actor, said to me, ‘What good does it do to know everything when you don’t understand anything?'» said Gould. Pretty sure Gould understands acting. For seven decades, from «The Long Goodbye» to the «Ocean’s» movies and «Friends,» his characters have been unconventional and distinctive. Six times he played himself, hosting «Saturday Night Live,» a return home to his New York roots. Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz asked Gould, «Where are you from?» «I am from Brooklyn, New York. I was conceived in Far Rockaway, and born and brought up in Brooklyn. «My next question was, ‘Where were you conceived?'» Mankiewicz laughed. His birth certificate reads Elliott Goldstein. His mother, Lucille, changed his last name without telling him. She also nudged him into show business. «My mother would say to me, ‘I’m your severest critic’ – she used that word – ‘and all you have to do is please me.» And I thought, «That’s not very fair.’ As I got to know myself, I said that, ‘What you’re saying then is, I can’t please myself until you’re pleased.
