True Story.

Yesterday I ran into my friend, Ken, at an audition. Ken's a theatre veteran, having survived quite a long time in "the biz" and made a name for himself in some notable productions. He's always good for a story or two...or more. One of my fondest memories of him took place during a cast warm-up prior to a performance. As we all stood in a circle getting ready for the coming curtain, Ken leaped into the center and began a mad jig. In short order his shirt was off on the jig had reached levels of madness never seen before. Ken is all of five feet three inches tall and sometimes crazy as a loon. Needless to say, it was a lively performance that day.
At any rate, I ran into Ken and he shared another of his stories with me. Early in his career, Ken had performed with George C. Scott on stage. This happened at the height of Scott's PATTON success. After the show had closed, Ken found himself in line for one of the Actors' Equity required auditions, meaning he was lined up in a hallway with dozens of other actors. Out of one of the studios comes...George C. Scott, there to direct another project. He spies Ken in line and greets him, then offers to "put in a good word" for him and promptly joins the line. After a few minutes, he turns to Ken and asks if he has to stay in this line until called and Ken replies "yes". Scott apologizes and says he has to get back to his rehearsal and can't wait any longer. Ken said as soon as he left a collective sigh went up from the others in line. For ten minutes, they had wondered why George C. Scott was in line to audition and were sure they could never compete with him. True story. I have no idea if Ken got the job.