Claire Danes Deserved It

Last night on a long dark drive I listened on my iPod to a novel, one of whose characters states that actors are all children inside and you have to treat them as such. She herself is a young woman abandoned by her parents at an early age who learns right then to "manage" people, in her case the six young boys she is sent to live with. When she grows up, she becomes a very competent and actual stage manager. As I drove I also listened to NPR and caught an interview with the autistic Temple Grandin, someone the medical community wrote off as a child in the early 1950s, saying she would likely have to spend her life in institution.  Wrong. Today she has a PhD and is the leading expert in the humane treatment of animals destined for slaughter.But what really struck me as I listened is the fact that I knew right away I was hearing Temple Grandin. Though I had never before heard her speak, I simply recognized her voice. And the reason I recognized is it that Claire Danes played her in Temple Grandin, the HBO special, which, not incidentally, just won five Emmies.Claire is a great actor and was even back in the '90s as girl, playing Beth in Little Women with Susan Sarandon  and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio. But in this role she more than plays Temple Grandin, she almost becomes her. Watch these two very short clips and see if you don't think so too. This first one is Temple herself – just watch 30 seconds if that’s all you have time for. Then under it is Temple as played by Claire. Click on it and just try to remain unimpressed.Maybe actors are like children on some level, but aren't children often wisest ones among us? In my book the fine actors are so gifted they're practically touched by the gods - just like Temple, who thinks in pictures and can move the world with her mind.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAu6_Llfh2A&feature=related][youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG6UI5BmhuA&feature=related]