Leading Lady and Leading Man

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In the repertory theater of the English- speaking world, the term Leading Lady refers to the protagonist (then synonymous with female lead / leading actress ) or the role of the female lover of the protagonist. In addition to the leading man ( "leading man"), which is routinely used as a male lover, she is the most prominent and highest paid member of an acting ensemble . Other stock characters (repertoire characters) on the English-speaking stage are the young lovers ( male juvenile - for example: adolescent lover; female juvenile - Ingenue , adolescent lover) as well as male and female character actors and possibly a soubrette .

Actors who particularly attract the attention of the audience through their appearance and their convincing performance and are therefore used particularly often or exclusively for leading roles , keep the title Leading Man or Leading Lady regardless of role, ensemble and theater ( ie beyond the boundaries of the repertoire system). Due to the limited availability of leading roles, which are divided into established Leading Men or Leading Ladies, the number of actors with this title is small in relation to the number of all ensemble actors. Mentor position within the ensembles, which they join for project-related reasons.

Internationally renowned actors

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The ranks of internationally renowned leading actors currently include (selection):

Movie

Based on this usage, the term Leading Lady / Leading Man has always been applied in the English-speaking world to film actors who have the female or male leading role. When Oscar therefore ceremony there are the award in the category Actor / Actress in a Leading Role and Actor / Actress in a Supporting Role .

Hierarchical significance in the Hollywood studio system

The term played an important role during the Hollywood studio system in order to accurately reflect the status of an actor within the studio hierarchy. As a rule, actors were tied to a specific studio by long-term contracts with a term of 5 to 7 years and received a fixed salary during this time. If the actor was not yet established (e.g. he had made a name for himself on stage), his career usually began in so-called bit parts . Below that, small roles were described that comprised a few lines of dialogue. Such appearances were more than extras , but had so little weight of their own that they could often be cut out during the final cut without affecting the overall plot. Actors who could be seen in bits did not have a contractual right to be named in the credit , i.e. the names of the actors.

The next level in the hierarchy was the featured player . This included actors who took on supporting roles and were entitled to be named in the credit . The status of a featured player and a supporting actor who fell under the category of supporting player was not always clearly distinguishable .

The rise to Leading Lady / Leading Man was given when the actor took on the male or female lead. The status of a leading player was an important indicator of the growing importance of the actor in the perception of the fans and was usually the last step towards becoming a star . A leading player was given a role of corresponding importance, but this was not automatically linked to being named above the title or at least on a par with the nominal main actor. The leading player was usually announced by adding with (German with ) after the title of the film.

The prestigious status of being mentioned before the title was reserved for the star or, if both roles (sometimes even several roles) were taken over by another star, the co-star. The contracts of the stars partly stipulated in which order they had to be announced in relation to their co-stars and partly even dealt with the size relation in which their name had to be to the title. This order of billing caused the legal departments of the studios considerable headaches and even prevented the successful cooperation of two stars if they could not agree on the ranking.

A popular compromise for such cases was the division of attribution. Usually half of the advertising and sometimes even half of the rental copies appeared with one name in the first place and the other half with the other. Examples of this were corresponding arrangements between Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers in Once Upon a Honeymoon and between William Powell and Irene Dunne in Life With Father . Another option that was often used in a star cast was to name the contributors in alphabetical order. In television series, especially in the USA, the name of the highest-ranking actor sometimes appears last in the opening credits and is particularly emphasized by the additional mention of his character in the series.

If an actor was already popular outside of film, his existing market value meant he could start entering the film business as a star. When Sonja Henie negotiated a film contract with the 20th Century Fox company in 1936 , she succeeded in never being named in any of her films under the title and never less as a co-starring, i.e. an equal mention next to a male star.

The path from bit player to star could also run the other way around, as in the example of Aileen Pringle or Florence Lawrence , who went through the decline from high-paid film actresses to secondary appearances.

See also

literature

  • Jeanine Basinger: The Star Machine . Knopf, New York NY 2007, ISBN 978-1-400-04130-5
  • Jeanine Basinger: A Woman's View . How Hollywood Spoke to Women 1930-1960. Random House / Wesleyan / Knopf, New York NY 1993, ISBN 978-0819562913
  • Ronald Haver: David O. Selznick's Hollywood . Random House / Bonanza Books, New York NY 1985 (1st Edition, Knopf 1980), ISBN 978-0-517-47665-9
  • Paul McDonald: The Star System: Hollywood's Production of Popular Identities . Wallflower, London 2000, ISBN 978-1903364024

Web links