Richard Masur Quotes
"No one will ever argue that someone could have played Helen Keller better than Patty Duke. It was an incredibly demanding role and I don't think anyone can argue that it was a false performance."
- Richard Masur
(Related: Performance, Will)
"There is no relation to sound for deaf people. It is a totally different mental process."
- Richard Masur
(Related: People, Sound)
"The deaf community is in a favorable position because they have a national theatre and training groups of their own to get them started. Deaf actors have often acquired very valuable skills and experience before they get their break."
- Richard Masur
(Related: Experience, Actors, Community, Theatre, Training)
"Spelling is very easy to practice yourself whereas signing is not. So I would sit on the subway riding around New York and I would spell whatever I would see. When I watched a movie I would spell words as they came up."
- Richard Masur
(Related: Practice, Spelling, Words)
"Most profoundly deaf people have speech that is very difficult to understand."
- Richard Masur
(Related: People, Speech)
"I know deaf people. I have discussed the issues with them I've also thought about them a lot so I have some insights that go a little further than people who haven't had contact with the deaf community."
- Richard Masur
(Related: Thought, People, Community)
"I actually then went on to direct an after-school special where one of the characters was deaf. They hired me without even knowing I had any connection to the community."
- Richard Masur
(Related: Community, Connection)
"For example, the first time McDonald's put a deaf person in a commercial they saw a jump in sales. I think that happens with other kinds of disabilities and products and that is something that is being realized more and more."
- Richard Masur
(Related: Time, Being, Example, First, Sales)
"Being an actor myself I realize that all actors believe they are qualified to play any role. If you showed me a script with a black woman character I would tell you that I could do it. That is what we do. We act as if we are someone else."
- Richard Masur
(Related: Character, Actor, Actors, Being, Play, Woman)
"You have to give people the opportunity to prove themselves."
- Richard Masur
(Related: People, Opportunity)
"But people who think they can project themselves into deafness are mistaken because you can't. And I'm not talking about imagining what a deaf person's whole life is like I even mean just realizing what it is like for an instant."
- Richard Masur
(Related: Life, People, Project, Talking)