Gay Director George Cukor to Jack Lemmon: 'Could you give me less, darling?'

​Village Voice's Michael Musto just blogged a post on Jack Lemmon's son's one-man show "A Twist of Lemmon" and reminded AKSARBENT of another, shall we say, overly-emotive actor, James Cagney, who did not acquit himself well on screen until five years before he died, in a terrific performance in 1981's Ragtime, by which time Cagney had become an octogenarian diabetic and had calmed down considerably.
     Lemmon's Ragtime was, of course, Save the Tiger, in which he turned in a fine performance, not overacting a bit, and was rewarded for his efforts by a Best Actor Oscar.
     Musto's piece recalled the following Chris Lemmon anecdote explaining how director Cukor handled the senior Lemmon's scenery-chewing:

The flaming George Cukor directed Jack in his first film, It Should Happen to You (1954), and after one energetic take of a scene, he said to the actor:

"Oh, gosh, Jackie, look at you go! It's really ducky, isn't it?

"But could you give me less, darling?"

Jack did less, but it wasn't enough for Cukor, who wanted even less.

This went on for a bunch more takes, after which Jack exasperatedly said, "If I gave you any less, I wouldn't be acting."

Replied Cukor, "Exactly!"