Actress Kathleen Turner fielded questions from the professional to the personal when she spoke with drama students. Photo by Jessica Katz

On October 8, actress Kathleen Turner—star of such movies as Romancing the Stone and Body Heat and plays such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Graduate—came to Juilliard to share some of her wisdom with the acting students and faculty. Seated onstage in the Drama Theater, she spent an informative hour fielding questions ranging from the personal to the professional.

Turner began with a discussion of her first experiences in New York City as an actress in 1977. She also detailed the steps by which she got an agent, and what responsibilities they have to an actor (and an actor to the agent).

"Make all the mistakes now; find out your range," she advised students. "Go for it while in school." She urged them to make bold choices and sometimes even metaphorically fall down-but learn from those experiences by picking themselves up again and making even bolder choices. If acting students know their limits, they can then use training and technique to expand beyond those walls.

Turner told the students how, early in her career, she would frequent the offices of every casting director and agent, in order for them to become familiar with her face. She explained how, without even seeing her work, they would come to think they were familiar with her—not realizing that it was primarily from office visits. Making strong, unapologetic acting choices that allowed her to be unique as a performer also helped her get an agent and work. She cautioned everyone, once they got an agent, to not depend entirely upon that person or agency, but to continue to look for work on one's own as well.

Turner briefed the students on techniques she uses, whether in a stage production or a film, to eliminate any "class system" among actors. Arriving at the theater or set, she is sure to make contact with and greet all members of the company, prior to the pre-show yoga. No one in her cast gets away without a hug and a hello before they hit the stage for warm-up. In film, she talked about how she would go into the other actors' trailers and rehearse the scenes prior to the shoot. With the entire company moving as one unit, the film or show will benefit from the absence of a hierarchy of actors.

Her extensive experience in film also enabled her to let the actors know exactly what is the focus of a shot, so the actor can use the space to its full potential. Turner wanted to make sure everyone in the room who would be part of any production is well versed in the vocabulary and technical aspects of a film, so that those actors could (as she put it) "use the camera."

Clancy O'Conner, a first-year drama student, says he found the presentation inspiring. "Kathleen Turner is tenacious. She knew exactly what she wanted when she launched her career and went after it."

Though Turner performs eight shows a week, she still finds time to be a loving wife and the mother of a 14-year-old daughter. Asked about how to have a family and be a professional actress, she remarked wryly, "You and your husband need to make enough money to hire a wife." Her private life is partly connected to her work, as she pointed out, because she spends the day preparing for her evening by working out, eating the right foods, and mentally getting ready.

The hour that Kathleen Turner spent with the Drama Division was laden with bits of wisdom for the rapidly approaching professional careers of Juilliard's young actors. One last noteworthy piece of advice given that afternoon—in response to a student's inquiry as to whether she ever didn't enjoy working with an actor—was, "Never talk about other actors; it can be misconstrued."

The Juilliard School frequently brings distinguished guests to the Drama Division so that students might find encouragement and wisdom in these professionals' experiences. With her unique calm, collected wisdom, and wit, this veteran of the stage and screen made the professional world of acting a little bit clearer to all who attended. 

Keith Scott McDonald is a second-year drama student.