York, Michael - world renowned Shakespearean Actor
By: Dominick A. Miserandino
While Michael York is famous for his role of Basil Exposition in Austin Powers, you might not have known that he's also an avid traveler, writer, lecturer and is now performing classical pieces.
DM) From what I've read about you, you're an avid traveler and you've seen everywhere there is to see?
MY) Don't believe everything that you read! (laughs)
DM) Having done a lot of traveling, what made you decide on L.A.?
MY) I was originally living in London and I came here to make a movie. I married an American by the way. Because I'm working all over, I don't have to be based anywhere in particular. I lived in Monte Carlo for a bit, which is a little unreal, but every time I came here to Los Angeles, I grew more and more fond of LA .
DM) And with all of your traveling for movies and for pleasure, I guess it doesn't really matter where you are based?
MY) Yes. I went to Charlotte, North Carolina for the night and I'm still paying for it. I was doing a lecture, which is something I do around the country. Normally I give myself two nights... you forget how big this country is. When you're making a movie you get to plant your roots and settle in a place, which is something I really love about the business.
DM) You have a lot going on in your career. What makes you happiest?
MY) I think that in terms of happy, the career is very important. I think the way you live your life, and the rewards you obtain from it takes precedence. At certain times I think the two are aligned. Obviously when you're young and ambitious you need to get started and get out there, and get your foot in the door. I think maybe now that I'm on in my years, I'm a little more philosophical about things, and I can see what really matters. The great thing about this job is when you get to my age, the early 60's... well for my parent's generation you were put out to pasture. For me that is completely unthinkable. As long as you can practice your trade, you can keep on going.
DM) When you look over your career, you've had a pretty varied one- Shakespeare to Austin Powers.
MY) I've done it that way. Maybe it was my background as a British actor, where that's what you tend to do. You don't sit in one pigeon hole, you do everything. I think it's more interesting that way. It may have caused problems, but too bad. That's the way I wanted it. Now I notice to crossover from one medium to the other is more accepted, almost standard.
DM) Do you find that there's one common theme from one role to the next?
MY) Nope. (laughs) I hope not. I try to push the envelope in as many ways as possible. It's all whether you read a script and a light goes off. Ultimately you may have agents and advisors, even wives giving their ten cents worth. Ultimately it comes down to you . You have this wonderful thing called creating your own destiny.
DM) You were describing the philosophy that you've developed over the years. How has the outlook of your career over the years changed?
MY) I've learned that work may be important, but it's not as important as it once was. There are other things, there are ancillary things, that are as equally important. You have to take time to smell the roses. And also, you have to take time to start giving things back, especially if you're fortunate.
DM) What specific ancillary things?
MY) I've been doing lecturing all around the country, which I enjoy enormously. It fulfills a lot of interests... for example, the travel one. These aren't lectures, but they're also performance pieces, getting in front of an audience. It meant that it was a little thing that was yours. You can do it anywhere in front of an audience or in front of a theater. Now more recently we recorded Richard Strauss' Enoch Arden with pianist John Bell Young. And more recently we've been invited to perform it live. It's an unexpected door that has opened and I'm happy to step through. If one had confined oneself to strictly being a movie actor, one would have missed out on an extraordinary affirmative experience.
DM) It sounds like when you get to certain points you adapt to the opportunities that present themselves at that time?
MY) I think you have to. I think if you're too rigid you'll get damaged. I think there's a certain ebb and flow, which I think you have to accept. It happens in all careers and in all lives. That's the pattern of energy. It's an up and down. It's following that wave. As Shakespeare said in Julius Caesar, "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries."
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