EGOT or GATE (more commonly EGOT) is an acronym surrounding the few people in this world who have ever hit the “Grand Slam” per se´, in show business. It stands for: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony or Grammy, Academy, Tony, Emmy, respectively. Literally only eleven people have made the cut with an additional three honorable mentions to date.
Quite possibly one of the best actresses of all time, Audrey Kathleen Ruston (better known as Audrey Hepburn) was number 5, achieving her Grammy a whopping forty-one years after her Oscar. What is even more remarkable was that Audrey Hepburn had a debilitating case of stage fright; one that made speaking in public a personal nightmare.
As if that wasn’t interesting enough, Barbra Streisand also makes the list, with a Special Tony, and she spent three decades avoiding live performances due to one traumatic instance of lyrical amnesia. All it takes is that one blank brain page in front of a live audience, and you may very well be scarred for life. Well what happens, if a stage performance is your livelihood?
As it turns out, there is a laundry list of performers and actors alike that have fessed up to their spotlight shakes. From Adele to Taylor Swift to Andrea Bocelli, Hugh Grant, Mel Gibson, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Carly Simon, the list goes on and on. Carol Burnett actually admits to having thrown up nightly before each show!
While this sure seems like quite the career hazard, it is earnest and comforting to find out that stars endure stage fright too. Small scale public speaking can induce a racing heart or a set of sweaty palms in most of us average humans. Imagine an amphitheater!
To all of these brave souls tormenting themselves solely for our entertainment (the ones not using illegal drugs to cope) we say Kudos!