It's like history is, in a way, a playwright who hands you only a few facts about the character you're playing, and you fill in the rest, all the gaps that history leaves, by reading up on a person and by trying to imagine what it's like.
It was 1988 when Milly Kondracke was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. That diagnosis inexorably changed not just her life, but that of her husband, Fox News political commentator Morton Kondracke. He's written a heartrending book about their life together, and their joint battle against a crippling disease. (Update: Milly Kondracke died July 22, 2004 from complications of Parkinson's disease.)
It's like history is, in a way, a playwright who hands you only a few facts about the character you're playing, and you fill in the rest, all the gaps that history leaves, by reading up on a person and by trying to imagine what it's like. 
