As many of you already know, I’m not always a big fan of actors as people. They tend to be pretty high on the charts of ego-centricity and my experience with them off the stage has usually been pretty one-sided as to who does the talking and who does the listening.

I’ve also written a number of times about the ludicrousness of our country’s silly hang-up of thinking of our movie stars as our royalty – as if the fact that they can play a hero in a movie actually makes them a hero in real life. I choose not to watch them act up on the red carpet – except to get a good laugh.

I am, however, just as attracted as the rest of you to their talents and to their shining moments as artists. Having had a life in show biz, I’ve had a chance to work with many of them and very much admire their ability to hold the attention of millions while they tell a story.

OK, in order to write this post, I’ve gotta do some name-dropping here. I don’t feel particularly self-glorified to have known or worked with stars. Once you do, you realize they’re just people like the rest of us with their own hang-ups and their own life problems as well – usually ego related.

But I’ve seen each of them shine in their moments and been fascinated with what made them great, what made them a star. Schoolteachers and chemical engineers and even lawyers have their shining moments as well. They just don’t usually have them in front of millions of people.

I’ve worked with Meryl Streep and Al Pacino, Shirley MacLaine, Helen Hayes, Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, John Lithgow, Zero Mostel, Melina Mercouri, Alicia Keys, Diane Keaton, Sam Waterston, Alfre Woodard, Carly Simon, Christopher Plummer, Danny Devito, Ted Danson, Bette Midler, and Denzel Washington, to name but a few.

They all had certain things in common, of course, the first being the gift of talent. Talent can be defined in many ways, but for tonight, let’s just call it that ability to fully define a moment in time with the tools of your art form. Stravinsky and Picasso could certainly do that. So could Miles Davis and Ernest Hemmingway. So could Helen Hayes.

Once while directing Ms Hayes (at age 90) I worked with her in rehearsal on the telling of a joke. She tried it several different ways using the same text, but slightly different timing as she approached the punch line. Each time she would get to the punch line moment, she would pause in a slightly different way. Each time we rehearsed the joke she would elicit a laugh from me; each time it was truly funny.

Now I never though of Helen Hayes as a comedienne, but in this moment she was using all her acting craft to land this punch line. She worked it over and over in its subtlety to get to the perfect reading. She would not settle for just getting a laugh. She wanted to bring the house down.

We left the rehearsal with her considering a number of choices. I’m sure she went right on working and considering the moment, for that night in performance, when she got to the joke, she was the master of the moment. I watched in amazement as she approached the punch line. How would she handle it?

When it came the moment, it was like this tiny 90 year old woman suddenly hit us with s sledge hammer. She nailed the moment and the entire audience went into hysterics and then wild applause. The moment far surpassed the joke. It was a great star at her best. Talent, yes, but more than that, it was commitment to the moment. Her commitment was sledge-hammer total.

From that little joke I learned a great lesson. Commitment is the power behind greatness. Talent is important, but I have also known far too many wonderfully talented people who never “made it” – a dreadfully overused and misunderstood term. They often called it “not getting the breaks”. I now see it as not making the commitment.

All the people in my above list have that understanding in their art. They make the commitment – not only to the moment, but to the career, to the art. They want it so bad that they are driven. They work so hard that they often burn themselves out in inglorious ways, but when they are great, they are great because they commit their talent to the moment.

Most people who can’t quite get there, can’t quite get there because of fear – fear that once they get there they won’t have what it takes. And so they shy off the mark at the last second or simply don’t do the work. Fear is the culprit.  It keeps us from committing totally.

On a completely different subject, but apropos to the moment, I once played football for a great coach. I was not a committed tackler. Simply put, I was afraid of getting hurt. Coach saw this in me. He pulled me off the field one day and said, “Link, what you don’t understand is that the truth is that the harder you hit, the less chance you have of getting hurt.”

I took him at his word and tried it. He was right. Once I committed to tackling with all my might, I never got hurt. I played defensive safety that year on a football team that was un-scored upon for the entire season. I had total commitment. I was successful.

These stars have that sledge hammer commitment as well. Commitment to the moment. The ability and the drive to stay with a moment and think it through and do it over and over and over again if necessary to get it right. And then, when they fully understand all the ramifications of the moment, all the angles, all the possible readings and doings and feelings and choices, they make a solid commitment to one of them and go at it with all their hearts and minds – and yes, talent.

But that’s what talent is. “That ability to fully define a moment in time.” Truth is, we all have talent. I believe that’s God-given. In this life experience we have to learn commitment. By doing that, it brings out our God-given talents.  Don’t bury your talents under a rock. Exercise them; commit to them.

If each of us can do this, I believe we can become a ‘star’ in our own right.

For more inspirational music, thoughts and ideas from Peter Link,
please visit Watchfire Music.