Actors were more enjoyable when they had publicists who didn’t let them speak to the public & reveal how stupid they were.Being someone the camera “likes” and having the ability to produce on demand the believable appearance of a particular emotional state are quite specific traits. These traits are not necessarily highly related to intelligence, common sense or sanity.
Are they valuable and scarce characteristics? Certainly. Are they markers of great wisdom and insight? Not even close, as evidenced by the generally chaotic and often self-destructive lives actors lead off-screen/stage.
Many were politically naive libertines when my father encountered them in the Hollywood of the 20s and 30s, most are no better today. “Grown-up pretty children” playing at make-believe while the cameras roll.
