One of the choicest occupations here is ripping reputations into pieces. - Irene Dunne

You may laugh of the idea of the good will of others in Hollywood, but it's no laughing matter if you don't have it.

In addition to actual dramatic training and experience, I'd want as much education as possible.

Languages, literature, art, music, history: are all self-evident helps - and even mathematics and sciences, by training memory and demanding the analytical approach, are helpful by indirection.