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Letter: You can tell a good actor by the way they blink

Published 29 January 2025

From Steve Archbold, Chichester, West Sussex, UK

The report that blinking gives your brain a break by taking pauses while reading reminds me of the views of Hollywood film editor Walter Murch in his 1992 book In the Blink of an Eye (11 January, p 17).

He says the difference between a good actor and a bad one is in the timing of a blink. A good actor will blink at the point where their character understands what has been said, usually coinciding with the end of a sentence, whereas a poor actor will blink randomly.

Issue no. 3528 published 1 February 2025

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