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.
