The Person I Am Playing

Early in my planning for playing the role of John Jacob Astor I found a picture of him walking along the street with his second wife Madeleine and his Airedale dog Kitty. He has a walking cane and is looking ahead not towards the camera. The photograph was taken, I think, soon after their marriage. As Madeleine was only 19 and Astor was divorced the marriage caused a lot of press interest and there is some suggestion that they had gone to Europe to get away from the publicity.

The fact they were photographed walking down the street shows they were seen as a newsworthy couple. The equivalent, perhaps, of the paparazzi that follow celebrities today snapping a photo of them. When I started looking at what kind of person Astor was this picture made me imagine him as slightly aloof, probably used to having his photo taken at a time when it cannot have been all that common. Also one of the richest men in the world, and used to dealing with people on that basis.

All that is helping now in the final stages of the rehearsals. For example, with the crew I imagine I would have been formal with them. Talking to them in a formal way, not exchanging conversation readily. People would want to talk to me because of the wealth I had, to be able to tell their friends they had spoken to JJ Astor. Then suddenly, as the disaster unfolds, finding that all the money I had could not prevent me from dying on board the ship like everyone else that could not get into a lifeboat. Saying goodbye to my young wife, who I know is pregnant. That leads to a scene where I am leaning on a rail of the ship with other characters pondering our final fate as the ship is about to sink.

Even after the disaster people wanted to tell stories to highlight Astor’s role. For example that, as the ship was sinking, he was seen on deck calmly smoking. Or that he had gone to the kennels to release the dogs. Or that he helped to put a young boy into a lifeboat. Perhaps none of these stories are true, but it makes you realise what a celebrity I am playing and how he was perceived at the time.