Applause for a lost art

THANK you for your much-deserved attention to classically trained British actors [“Advantage Britain” by Charles McNulty, Feb. 18]. Watching Dame Dench battle-ax her way through her own vulnerabilities and angst while simultaneously and systematically dismantling several lives was breathtaking [“Notes on a Scandal”]. “It’s a minefield” indeed!

Dame Mirren’s flawless roaming from the sublime to the meticulous and back was mesmerizing [“The Queen”]. They inhabit every role they accept, it seems.

Thank goodness the BBC released to us “Waiting for God,” led with Elizabethan elegance by Graham Crowden and the BAFTA [British Academy of Film and Television Arts]-winning Stephanie Cole as well as the amazing young Janine Duvitski, all virtual unknowns here.

Again, I thank you. I wish the L.A. Times did more articles like this one. And by the way, why do you think it is that we do not teach young people to act, really act? It baffles me.

DEE GREGORY

Los Angeles