"The Guru of Toluca Lake: Acolytes Allege a Hollywood Acting Coach Became a False Prophet"

It is really hard to find any acting or life coach that doesn't exude some sort of Messianic self importance. The trick is finding one that is down to Earth and actually relishes the achievements of their students without claiming that it was all because of their involvement.

[quote]Phil Silvers' daughter is head of a cult! Why knew?

It's not the one who played Jenny Piccolo on HAPPY DAYS, everyone. No need to read the piece now.

After reading the article it's not difficult to come to the conclusion that Silvers and all of these weirdoes and grifters around her all deserves each other. Only in a rich society could so much time, money and angst be wasted on nothing. If you want to learn about acting study the greats and practice your craft. That's it. With some luck and talent you might actually succeed but pursue this career knowing full well that the odds are against you. These people seem starved for religion and as lost souls they're easy prey for messianic, false idol grifters like Candance Silvers. I find it hilarious how they're so skeptical of the Judeo-Christian tradition but will foolishly embrace anything that smacks of "Eastern", however dubious. Their ignorance represents a void that will be filled one way or another. The Beatles were the gold standard of this idiocy.

BTW, thanks for posting, OP - interesting article!

Does her cult get her share of whatever income [italic]Gilligan’s Island[/italic] generates these days?

Somehow this article reminds me of all the the creepy acting guru/teachers who surrounded Marilyn Monroe over the years and made her even crazier and more paranoid than she'd have been otherwise. Marilyn would have done just fine adhering to the advice of the A-list directors she was lucky to work with, dialogue coaches and studio acting teachers. They're the ones who made her a star, not their successors. Instead of trusting what was obviously working, she got mixed up with Paula Strasberg, daily psychoanalysis, experimenting with drugs and thinking she'd have to get a PhD in literature to act in the colorful, amusing farces and comedies she excelled in. Actors are such strange people.

I loved her sister on HAPPY DAYS when I was a kid. I haven’t watched it in decades so I have no idea if she was actually good or if it was just me being a dumb kid.

If Garry Marshall had anything to do with it and Neil Simon did not, then lean towards the latter, R7.