The role of smoking

Re “Screen vices,” editorial, Aug. 23

Although I am vehemently against smoking, I believe that a film such as “Good Night, and Good Luck” could not have been accurate without depicting just how much people smoked back then, particularly Edward R. Murrow.

Perhaps they could add a list of which characters died as a direct result of smoking: “Edward R. Murrow -- died at age 57 of lung cancer,” and so on for emphysema and other smoking-related diseases. And make it in BIG LETTERS.

Kathy Kuczynski

El Toro

The Times defends the practice of actors smoking in movies with the statement that it “can convey a tremendous amount of information about a character.”

As noted in the same editorial, 80% of our population does not smoke. Isn’t it amazing that actors successfully manage to convey sufficient information about these characters without the prop of a cigarette?

Surely they could do so for the other 20% of the characters without resorting to a cigarette. That’s why it’s called acting.

Jeff Miller

Long Beach