Part1: Ontology of the Film Actor
1. Remarks on the Actor
2. Audience Actor and Star and Types: Cycles as Genres
3. Screen Acting and the Communication Test
Part2: The Creation of the Film Actor
4. The Changing Status of the Actor
5. The Histrionic and Verisimilar Codes in the Biograph Films
6. Pictorial Styles and Film Acting
7. Crafting Film Performances: Acting in the Hollywood Studio Era
Part3: Style and Technique
8. Lillian Gish in True Heart Susie (1919)
9. A High Class Job of Carpentry: Toward a Typography of Early Sound Comedy
10. Masculinity in Crisis: Method Acting in Hollywood
11. Film Acting and Independent Cinema
Part4: Character and Type
12. Typcasting
13. The 1950s: Black Stars
14. In Praise of Character Actors
15. The Lives of Supporting Players
16. Supporting Character: The Queer Career of Agnes Moorehead