What accounts for this drastic reversal in status – from the dregs to the heavens – for the acting profession on both sides of the Atlantic? Maybe it's a question best left to sociologists, but I'd guess that broadcasting and mass communication had something to do with it. When a whole population, rather than just a select and mostly local live audience, can witness en masse a fine performer reflecting and distilling a recognizable and important facet of the character of the age, they way the best actors can; when appreciation for a performer's skill and loyalty to the truth becomes universal; when people who know each other only casually, or not at all, can debate the merits of the latest TV series, Hollywood film, or Oscar nominations over the water cooler or the Internet; then the stars of those productions have ascended to the heights of respect as well as fame, and in the process become cultural demigods.
It's no wonder, then, that the British now make their heroic thespians – their Captain Picards, Obi Wan Kenobis, and "M"s as much as their Hamlets and Falstaffs – into Sirs and Dames, no matter what the Lords and Ladies of Downton Abbey would have thought.
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Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
Jon, you hit on something here. I think actors are now America's royalty too. Perhpas they will replace the monarchs in jolly old England one day as well, the Sirs and Dames rising to Kings and Queens. We've already had an actor president and I'll wager many more are to follow. Can anyone say President Affleck? I think Jen Garner would make one smashing First Lady too!
2 - Jon Sobel
Fred Thompson had a brief presidential run, too. Al Franken's in the Senate. Glenda Jackson is a member of the British Parliament.
3 - Dr Dreadful
Yes, Jon, you are on the mark with your observation that the broadcast media have contributed to the status elevation of the acting profession.
In the UK, it also has a lot to do with the popularization of the honours system that occurred during the 20th century. Before that, the only way you could get an honour was if you were a senior military officer (there's still a separate honours system for the armed forces) or had rendered some distinguished service to the Crown - which, under the rigid class system that prevailed before the two world wars, you would only have the opportunity to do if you were part of the Establishment, i.e. a member of the aristocracy or landed gentry or moved in the upper echelons of commerce.
Nowadays, while the above-mentioned classes of people do still get honoured, the emphasis of the system is on public service. The most humble of individuals, for example a long-serving charity worker, teacher, nurse or even a garbage collector, can receive recognition: they just have to be nominated. But the criterion is also commonly understood to include those who have risen to prominence in the fields of entertainment, broadcasting or sport. (For example, David Beckham, Andy Murray, Jessica Ennis and Bradley Wiggins are all inductees of the Order of the British Empire.)
I think that Americans invented the star system to fill that void: over time, it has expanded from the silver screen to Broadway, television, music, professional sports and, to a lesser extent, the written word.