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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2021 14:34:12 GMT
What about Elizabeth McGovern? An Emmy and Oscar nominee who has been a regular fixture on London (and regional UK) stages for some decades now, even appearing opposite Matthew Broderick in Kenneth Lonergan's West End debut production. She has done theatre in New York, as well, though she works much more frequently in the UK - I'm not sure what the status of this production is now, but she was hoping to bring a play about Ava Gardner's final London years to the West End (with her in the lead role, natch ) - she mentioned it at the Blue Plaque ceremony at Gardner's former London residence. Like Glenn Close, she is often the only American in a cast full of Brits, pacinoyes - most notably in Downton Abbey. In the early 90s she also appeared in a filmed BBC adaptation of Thomas Middleton's Jacobean hit The Changeling opposite Bob Hoskins and Hugh Grant - this is available to stream now on Amazon Prime, Mattsby!
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 16, 2021 2:28:22 GMT
(Ustinov, who I may discuss here another day, for he certainly deserves it) I was gonna post in the absent-awards thread bc Ustinov only has 1 BAFTA nod?? But that may be bc of the late-added Supporting Actor category - still it seems low. Then I checked here and he might be the most accomplished actor undiscussed !Actingwise - 2x Oscar winner, and not only 3x Emmy winner but 3/3 and only Olivier has more wins for Lead in a mini/movie and nobody has as many (Pacino, Hopkins, etc say hey at 2). It's impossible to find some of his tv work, like Rod Serling's A Storm in Summer or his first Emmy win (The Life of Samuel Johnson) where he beat Mickey Rooney-The Comedian! From what I've seen, he was a great and creative actor and very wise-seeming. But I'm an Ustinovice ( ) when it comes to his work... I've seen We're No Angels, Spartacus, Topkapi, Barefoot in Athens, and what turned me into a fan the hilarious Hot Millions. I know I'm missing some bigs... Poirot... and what else? pacinoyes And how high would you stand him with the top contenders in this thread across mediums stephen ? Seems the type who shouldve done more on stage (very nearly EGOT). Also, tell me this isn't a GOAT pic... Smokeoff of the Sirs on Set of Spartacus:
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Post by stephen on Feb 16, 2021 2:43:28 GMT
(Ustinov, who I may discuss here another day, for he certainly deserves it) I was gonna post in the absent-awards thread bc Ustinov only has 1 BAFTA nod?? But that may be bc of the late-added Supporting Actor category - still it seems low. Then I checked here and he might be the most accomplished actor undiscussed !Actingwise - 2x Oscar winner, and not only 3x Emmy winner but 3/3 and only Olivier has more wins for Lead in a mini/movie and nobody has as many (Pacino, Hopkins, etc say hey at 2). It's impossible to find some of his tv work, like Rod Serling's A Storm in Summer or his first Emmy win (The Life of Samuel Johnson) where he beat Mickey Rooney-The Comedian! From what I've seen, he was a great and creative and wise actor. But I'm an Ustinovice ( ) when it comes to his work... I've seen We're No Angels, Spartacus, Topkapi, Barefoot in Athens, and what turned me into a fan the hilarious Hot Millions. I know I'm missing some bigs... Poirot... and what else? pacinoyes And how high would you stand him with other top contenders in this thread across mediums stephen ? Seems the type who shouldve done more on stage (very nearly EGOT). Man, did I really never bring up the king of the scene-stealing supporting character actors and give him his due? Shame, Stephen. Shame. Anyway, I really can't give enough props to Ustinov as he really was the whole package. His wit was unparalleled, to the point that I'd argue he is the most entertaining raconteur you could ever want to watch. The man could spin a yarn for hours on end and you'd be utterly riveted and delighted. His memoir, Dear Me, communicates that so very well and I heartily recommend anyone give that a read. It also translated in his performances, as even when he played servile lower-class types, his penchant and capacity for bloviating made him immediately endearing. I mean, this is a man who played Nero, and he did it in such a way that he communicated the emperor's buffoonery so thoroughly and yet didn't lack that menace that made him such a horror-show (even if it was couched in ludicrousness). Ustinov's two Oscar wins are among the very best in the category. Indeed, I rate his first win for Spartacus was the best supporting actor performance of all time because, for me, it exemplifies everything a good supporting performance is and should be, and he goes toe-to-toe with titans at their peaks in Laughton, Olivier and Douglas and steals the show from under them so cavalierly, and when you know the behind-the-scenes stories where all three of them were more or less at each other's throats, it was the mediator Ustinov who walked away with the gold -- poetic justice, that. His second win, the much lesser-discussed Topkapi, is a comic marvel and it is such a whimsically delightful win that would never happen now, not for a project like that, and yet it did because he just couldn't be ignored. It's tough to find a pair of wins that so exemplify an actor's skill set and show just how unique they were. His 1960s, by the way, was deceptively strong. You had The Sundowners the same year as Spartacus, and he's totally nom-worthy in that. Sandwiched between his two wins was Billy Budd, which he starred in and directed, and gave Terence Stamp his big break. His work there is confident, deft, and shows that he really was a renaissance man who could handle every corner of the business. Blackbeard's Ghost is a childhood delight and Hot Millions rules. Then of course he was Poirot (and for me, he was second only to Suchet in that role, and only slightly), and lemme tell ya, if you haven't taken that journey, Mattsby, you're in for a real treat. Even if there is a steady decline in the quality of the movies he's in, his work never falters. And that's the thing about Ustinov. He was always on his A-game. Even if the work didn't deserve him, he was committed and classy.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 16, 2021 8:53:43 GMT
(Ustinov, who I may discuss here another day, for he certainly deserves it) From what I've seen, he was a great and creative actor and very wise-seeming. But I'm an Ustinovice ( ) when it comes to his work... I've seen We're No Angels, Spartacus, Topkapi, Barefoot in Athens, and what turned me into a fan the hilarious Hot Millions. I know I'm missing some bigs... Poirot... and what else? pacinoyes And how high would you stand him with the top contenders in this thread across mediums stephen ? Seems the type who shouldve done more on stage (very nearly EGOT). For me I first think of him not as an actor at first - though he was a very fine actor - but as a guest on talk shows and things like that. Like VHS tapes of Merv Griffin and stuff like that ........ where he would be very funny, and charming and brutally honest and a fantastic storyteller and that's how I first saw him in a way that I noticed anyway - it was only later that I got a handle on who he actually was......there's one interview where he talks negatively about Olivier and then turns and calls him the best........like he was very sure of his own stature to do that sort of thing ( Duvall does that, although he's less charming and frankly less intelligent when he speaks on acting and actors imo - probably because Ustinov wrote & directed too) Jesus of Nazareth which is a very big deal in my family was one of my first seeing him act and was a gateway to like EVERYBODY........every known actor appears - Olivier, Ustinov, James Earl Jones, Plummer, Steiger, Richardson and on and on. .........As for a little gem - a somewhat fascinating film - or fascinating production anyway - with an insanely diverse cast with him in it The Purple Taxi with Charlotte Rampling, Fred Astaire (!), Philippe Noiret
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Post by stephen on Feb 16, 2021 13:54:06 GMT
From what I've seen, he was a great and creative actor and very wise-seeming. But I'm an Ustinovice ( ) when it comes to his work... I've seen We're No Angels, Spartacus, Topkapi, Barefoot in Athens, and what turned me into a fan the hilarious Hot Millions. I know I'm missing some bigs... Poirot... and what else? pacinoyes And how high would you stand him with the top contenders in this thread across mediums stephen ? Seems the type who shouldve done more on stage (very nearly EGOT). For me I first think of him not as an actor at first - though he was a very fine actor - but as a guest on talk shows and things like that. Like VHS tapes of Merv Griffin and stuff like that ........ where he would be very funny, and charming and brutally honest and a fantastic storyteller and that's how I first saw him in a way that I noticed anyway - it was only later that I got a handle on who he actually was......there's one interview where he talks negatively about Olivier and then turns and calls him the best........like he was very sure of his own stature to do that sort of thing ( Duvall does that, although he's less charming and frankly less intelligent when he speaks on acting and actors imo - probably because Ustinov wrote & directed too) Ustinov gave credit where credit was due, but in Olivier's case, he also had to contend with the ego. Same with Laughton, although Ustinov got along much better with him (but he still wasn't above giving Laughton a bit of ribbing about his own prima donna nature).
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 16, 2021 16:16:49 GMT
For me I first think of him not as an actor at first - though he was a very fine actor - but as a guest on talk shows and things like that. Like VHS tapes of Merv Griffin and stuff like that ........ where he would be very funny, and charming and brutally honest and a fantastic storyteller and that's how I first saw him in a way that I noticed anyway - it was only later that I got a handle on who he actually was......there's one interview where he talks negatively about Olivier and then turns and calls him the best........like he was very sure of his own stature to do that sort of thing ( Duvall does that, although he's less charming and frankly less intelligent when he speaks on acting and actors imo - probably because Ustinov wrote & directed too) Ustinov gave credit where credit was due, but in Olivier's case, he also had to contend with the ego. Same with Laughton, although Ustinov got along much better with him (but he still wasn't above giving Laughton a bit of ribbing about his own prima donna nature). Imagine a one man show of his impersonations ...........quite the mimic he was.......
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Post by stephen on Feb 16, 2021 16:41:52 GMT
Ustinov gave credit where credit was due, but in Olivier's case, he also had to contend with the ego. Same with Laughton, although Ustinov got along much better with him (but he still wasn't above giving Laughton a bit of ribbing about his own prima donna nature). Imagine a one man show of his impersonations ...........quite the mimic he was....... Well, you're in luck:
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2021 17:02:33 GMT
Have we never mentioned Mia Farrow in this thread? Hoping we can all still appreciate her work as an actress even if we don't believe her accusations. Anyway, she began her career on stage (an American with the Royal Shakespeare Company!), then of course there was hit television with Peyton Place, which then led to one of the most iconic film performances of all time in Rosemary's Baby... She also acted intermittently on Broadway before beginning with Woody Allen - and she really is excellent in all of their collaborations.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2021 18:14:16 GMT
Oh, definitely need to add this random (but awesome) bit of trivia about Farrow - she was Liliana Cavani's first choice for Charlotte Rampling's role in The Night Porter. Could you ever imagine an American actress in that part, pacinoyes?
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Post by stephen on Mar 5, 2021 13:53:11 GMT
I mentioned her briefly in my original reply here, but in the wake of the passing of her legendary father, I think we should take time to pay tribute to who could arguably be considered the most mercurial and intense actress alive: Amanda Plummer. No one phrased it better than her own father in his memoir when describing her christening at an Ontario church: “[T]here must have been some mysterious potion lurking in the rough waters of the font that day; some ‘eye of newt’ or ‘tongue of dog’, for a little demon grew up inside Amanda that would bring forth in her later youth a talent, deeply intense, utterly original, which could, if it had a mind to, stir up the ‘terrors of the earth.’” Something of the distaff equivalent of Brad Dourif or Joaquin Phoenix, Amanda Plummer has made neurotic instability her bread and butter for so long that it feels like to cast anyone else would simply be due to a schedule conflict on Plummer's end. She blazed onto the scene with her Tony-nominated turn in A Taste of Honey, but it was her follow-up in Agnes of God where she truly made her mark (and won her Tony). Her role as Sister Agnes (a role that was given a fair cinematic turn by Meg Tilly, but I do wish they had kept Plummer on board for it) proved her gifts at playing twisted, deranged souls, and by all accounts she was so riveting that she blew Geraldine Page (a legendary actress and my all-time favorite) off the stage. To once again quote Chris, “Watching her, I saw nothing of myself, except perhaps a facial similarity, poor thing. I didn’t possess her kind of talent—nothing she did or suggested seemed familiar to me; none of it had come from my genes, nor from her mother’s . . . She was indeed unique. And now, at Agnes of God, sitting in an audience I didn’t know was there, she succeeded in frightening me to death. It was not my daughter up there on that stage but a perfect stranger—nothing of me in her at all. There have been very few performances that have made me forget I was in a theatre. Ruth Draper’s monologues, Ruth Gordon in The Matchmaker, Helene Weigel in the Berliner Ensemble’s Mutter Courage, Bobby Morse as Truman Capote, Nigel Hawthorne as C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands and Amanda as Sister Agnes.” Of course, most of us have likely never seen Amanda on the stage, and know her only for her works in film and television. And she is known for playing either wilting wallflowers, nervous mutterers, or psychotics. There’s her sweet turn as a lovelorn lady in The Fisher King, where I feel she was unfairly passed over in favor of a brasher co-star (no disrespect to the dynamic Mercedes Ruehl, whose win is still cool in my books). And then there is my favorite role of hers: the perennially tortured husband-slayer Nettie Cobb in Needful Things, who becomes the plaything of Max von Sydow’s demonic interloper. Nettie should’ve been Plummer’s slam-dunk Oscar play, if the Academy actually bothered to watch it, but alas, she was unfairly snubbed by everyone sans the Saturn Awards. She’s also a lot of fun in things like So I Married an Axe Murderer and, of course, Pulp Fiction. Her television work is where she’s been most lauded. She won several Emmys for wildly different works: a Holocaust survivor in Miss Rose White, a murder suspect in a fantastic episode of The Outer Limits, and a schizophrenic rape victim in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. All are very much worth watching to see a true master of the craft at work, and one who can be so spellbinding that it is uncomfortable to watch. I’ll leave it with one final note on her acting, and I’ll let her father once more after the final say: “She has occasionally been described as a mannered actress; she is not always easy to watch. She can make an audience uncomfortable because she has the guts to stick to her guns and never compromise, but there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt in our philosophy. In Agnes of God she radiated each ecstasy one moment and such terror the next with no visible bridge between. I knew my “Manders” had greatness in her and I envied her like I’d never envied anyone.”
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Post by stephen on Mar 11, 2021 18:33:52 GMT
While I was discussing the great Amanda Plummer, I briefly mentioned her as the distaff counterpart to Brad Dourif, who is today’s artist du jour. Dourif first blazed onto the scene in one hell of a breakout: the overly anxious and tragic Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which earned him a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, as well as an Oscar nomination. Dourif’s late ‘70s also featured some crucial films such as an early Cormac McCarthy television project called The Gardener’s Son (check it out if you haven’t seen it; Dourif plays it almost like an antebellum James Dean and it is compelling), Eyes of Laura Mars, and what should’ve been a cinch of a Best Actor play for his magnificent turn as Hazel Motes in John Huston’s Wise Blood, which perfectly encapsulates Dourif’s feverish intensity. Dourif’s 1980s was chockfull of auteur projects, beloved and otherwise. He appears in Michael Cimino’s titanic flop Heaven’s Gate (a film I quite like despite its flaws), then reteamed with Milos Forman for Ragtime. He then followed that up with a one-two punch from David Lynch: the demented mentat Piter DeVries in Dune and one of Frank Booth’s thugs in Blue Velvet. But it was 1988 that gave us not just another re-appearance in a Best Picture contender ( Mississippi Burning) but also his most iconic character and certainly his most lucrative: Charles Lee Ray/Chucky in the Child’s Play movies. The doll’s apparent innocence and Dourif’s ferocity was a marriage made in hell, and it’s no wonder it became a roaring success. Dourif starts off the 1990s with a terrifying performance in The Exorcist III (a turn that should’ve netted him a second Oscar nomination if there were any justice in the world), and four years later he would give what I consider to be the best performance of his career: that of death row inmate-turned-psychic Luther Lee Boggs in the X-Files episode “Beyond the Sea.” For many, this was the episode that cemented The X-Files’s legendary status and made Dana Scully a great character, as up to this point she was largely sidelined by Mulder. Gillian Anderson gives an incredible performance opposite Dourif (as most of his scenes are him interacting with her one-on-one), and Dourif should’ve snatched an Emmy for that performance. It’s a magnificent sizzle reel of a performance that should be studied even today, and feels very much of a piece with scenes like the processing sequence in The Master. The rest of Dourif’s 1990s were a smattering of genre fare (including a couple more Chucky movies—including the magnificently campy Bride of Chucky, which introduced his unexpected and unbelievable chemistry with Jennifer Tilly). The early 2000s were a return to prestige projects for him, though, as that was when he appeared in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings series as the loathsome Grima Wormtongue (fun fact: Dourif was so committed to the role that he spoke in Wormtongue’s accent throughout the whole production, and when the cameras finally stopped rolling and he started speaking in his usual Southern twang, Bernard Hill thought he was putting on a voice, as he’d thought Dourif was British). He would also appear in Deadwood in a surprising reversal of type as the traumatized, tubercular Doc Cochran, a role which should also have netted Dourif an Emmy if we lived in a just world. During this time, he also becomes a regular staple of Werner Herzog, patron saint of weirdos and oddballs. He lends some gravitas to the Rob Zombie Halloween franchise as well; honestly, probably he’s the MVP of those movies looking back on it. I bring up Dourif in conjunction with Amanda Plummer because the two of them starred together on an off-Broadway revival of The Two-Character Play in 2013, and the production was not without its difficulties. In one notable instance, when Dourif was not able to perform due to a death in his family, Plummer refused to go on stage that night, even though there was an understudy. It is remarkable that the two of them had only just started acting against each other in that, because they seem to be born to be a duo.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 15, 2021 14:11:25 GMT
With today's Oscar nominations.... Glenn Close has 24 Triple Crown nominations now (Oscar/Emmy/Tony) - look how this stacks up with some "all-time" Americans - and they ALL have an Oscar. She is almost unarguably the "best" actor / actress - not merely the best "film" actor / actress not to have won the big prize - tied for 8 with Peter O'Toole. in Oscar nods without a win atm.......at least in terms of acclaim. Her numbers are - almost ridiculous - and in terms of a balance across all mediums almost unprecedented by her American colleagues. Streep 26 Triple Crown nominations Close 24 Triple Crown nominations
Kathy Bates 18 George C. Scott 18
Pacino 15 Lemmon 15 Geraldine Page - 15
Nicholson - 12 Newman - 12
Duvall - 11
Washington - 10 Spacey - 10
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Post by Mattsby on Mar 17, 2021 2:40:36 GMT
I mentioned her briefly in my original reply here, but in the wake of the passing of her legendary father, I think we should take time to pay tribute to who could arguably be considered the most mercurial and intense actress alive: Amanda Plummer. I’ll leave it with one final note on her acting, and I’ll let her father once more after the final say: “She has occasionally been described as a mannered actress; she is not always easy to watch. She can make an audience uncomfortable because she has the guts to stick to her guns and never compromise, but there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt in our philosophy. In Agnes of God she radiated each ecstasy one moment and such terror the next with no visible bridge between. I knew my “Manders” had greatness in her and I envied her like I’d never envied anyone.” I wonder how he felt with her winning the Tony at what 25y/o? (He was 45 when he won his first Tony.) As for her work, two perfs I'd single out: her screen debut Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981) - for which Pauline Kael said, "The only other actress I've ever seen make a movie debut this excitingly, weirdly lyric was Katharine Hepburn." That came out right during her initial Broadway streak - she must've caused many to wonder how far this absolute spark of an actress will go. Not as far as deserved! And a smaller perf in Drunks (1995) - in a cast with Parker Posey, Sam Rockwell, Howard E Rollins, Faye Dunaway, Dianne Wiest, etc... in a monologue-driven play adaptation... Plummer feels the most authentic and unnerved of the lot. As unpredictable and manic as she can be... she could also sometimes be interestingly sweet onscreen too. Very recently I kinda liked her much-too-brief girly hangout with Judy Davis in Ratched.
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Post by Mattsby on Mar 22, 2021 22:07:03 GMT
Small bump for Anthony Hopkins post-Oscars... Only 10 working actors have 6 or more Oscar noms - DiCaprio, Duvall, Denzel, Bridges, Hanks, Hoffman, De Niro, Pacino, Caine, and now Hopkins. It’s a great list we oughta appreciate before Bradley Cooper joins them in like two years. Very excited to see The Father later this week and I've been going thru Hopkins career recently, mostly his television work so I wanna quickly discuss the range and challenges he's faced there. On TV he's played within the worlds of Shakespeare, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dickens, Ibsen…. and he's played a wildly varied span of roles outside of those: Guy Burgess, Galeazzo Ciano, Danton, Quasimodo, Hitler, etc. Some within the same years. Most of these come before the 90s - it might even shock some to see just how much he's done. He won a Lead Actor Emmy in 1976 for The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case but that might've been a bit of luck, though he's good there (noteworthy on the courtroom stand), his role is actually really small. He won another Emmy in 1981 for The Bunker which makes more sense - there's a really ominous hum to the movie that helps him but he's great anyway, with chronic discomfort and paranoid cracks not unlike his later Nixon perf. One scene in particular ("It's all a dream, I am nothing") he's masterful - strange and snide, finally recognizing his defeat, he starts "acting" and kinda mocking himself....to distract himself. Drawing out words, making unnatural gestures, he animates a clever reversal of mania. I've recently posted about him and some special moments from Othello, and the underrated Guilty Conscience (1985). He's also very flamboyantly good in Blunt (1987). More recently....there's Westworld where he's mysterious and very good - there's a video "What Makes Anthony Hopkins Great" that breaks down a single scene and explores just how much Hopkins suggests on a micro inflective level. He's (sort of) failed too.... recently tackling two huge roles in The Dresser and King Lear, that should've been home runs.... but, outside of some moments, I wasn't very impressed with him in either. Anyone have a tv fav from him?
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 22, 2021 22:47:35 GMT
Small bump for Anthony Hopkins post-Oscars... Only 10 working actors have 6 or more Oscar noms - DiCaprio, Duvall, Denzel, Bridges, Hanks, Hoffman, De Niro, Pacino, Caine, and now Hopkins. It’s a great list we oughta appreciate before Bradley Cooper joins them in like two years. Anyone have a tv fav from him? The difference is ALL his Oscar nominations are after the age of 50 (all shot after 50 - a record) which is jaw-dropping. I once did a poll that asked is he the best actor in English during that Oscar run - 1991-2021 ........which is still arguable imo. Hopkins slowing his stage work - with some exceptions from the early-mid 70s on - though he still did the original Equus and a late 80s Lear - is about the only bad thing I can say about him period - and it's not even bad - because he did it anyway even when he said he wouldn't - though in such a way he likely cost himself awards talk (like Pacino in his later stage work he often seemed to be doing "exhibitions" rather than full staged productions which is fine but kept him out of the Triple Crown running probably. I like that he has a history with theater on film - he made sure he got Lear on film and The Dresser too, and yeah he lost Equus to Burton but swiped The Father from Langella dammit - he is the British Pacino in that way too imo. I think his Emmy winning turns are both notable - playing Hitler and Hauptmann - 2 Germans - that's pretty rare and he was dead on in both though small as Hauptmann as you said. He's a world class actor ...........no question.......
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Post by Mattsby on Mar 24, 2021 18:42:10 GMT
What do we think of Patrick McGoohan - stephen pacinoyes anyone. I don't think I've seen enough to do an accurate breakdown but he was a rising talent on the London stage thru the '50s - Shakespeare, Brecht's Brand (he did that on tv as well and won a BAFTA; a perf of hurdling religious panic), and Orson Welles' Moby Dick - Welles was so impressed with him and later said he could've been a major actor of his generation "if TV hadn't grabbed him." Indeed a TV star in the '60s as John Drake and Number Six..... and on, a 2x Emmy winner for Columbo - he played the murderer more than anyone else on the series and only a few directed more of it too. He's excellent in those turns opposite Peter Falk who called him a genius ("You could hear his brain humming"). He only made like 25 movies.... It's an odd looking career of curious gaps and intentional steering - he turned down many roles including Bond. He once said, "I'm not particularly ambitious to be a film star or to earn millions. Being a film star is probably one of the most confining occupations in the world. The last word I would associate with it is freedom." Speaking of freedom, he's so frighteningly great in Braveheart as King Edward... you can hang on every little moment of that perf which I think just as easily could've been an Oscar win. Before that though he hadn't done a feature film in ten years, since '85, which is also the only year he did Broadway - Drama Desk nom'd in Pack of Lies opposite Rosemary Harris. NYT called him 'an icy silver fox.' But anyway... like I said I haven't seen much, but he seems to rarely carry a false note and is often unusually intense. Do we feel he might've been worthy of the major actors in this thread? Or is that too much? Was he too "hard" on screen? Any fav perfs to recommend are welcome too....
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Post by stephen on Mar 24, 2021 18:44:56 GMT
McGoohan has always been a personal favorite of mine. This was a man who could be unbelievably fierce and flinty on screen, and he certainly had gravitas to spare. His television work is sensational stuff; The Prisoner is groundbreaking TV and his Columbo turns are fantastic. And yes, this man was unbelievable as Longshanks. It still boggles the mind he wasn't nominated for it; that man was legendary in that performance.
He definitely rejected a lot of major opportunities (he was known for not wanting to have romantic interests in film as he was devoted to his wife, for instance), but what he was able to do, he made a hell of an impression.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 24, 2021 18:56:43 GMT
Love him very much - and hadn't thought of him for a while until Archie cast a vote for him as Villain of the Year for Escape From Alcatraz in '79 which made me mad I didn't think of it first dammit. I particularly love him in Columbo By Dawn's Early Light where he rivals all those great early 70s villains (Cassidy, Cassavetes, Janet Leigh - oh she counts! Mattsby) You can have fun swapping him out of some roles with the great Max Von Sydow with whom he shares that same icy quality and overall commanding presence.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 21, 2021 13:37:34 GMT
I don't think we've covered him yet but Fredric March (?!?) is a record holder of an incredible statistic........... he is the only male actor - who won 2 Oscars and 2 Tony Awards (for females the previously covered Helen Hayes is the only one to do that). Viola Davis is going for this, this Sunday too....... A few people have it in some combination (2 of one, 1 of the other) but March not only won 2 in each - he won ALL 4 in Lead which is......generally, imo........much harder to pull off. I don't actually think of him as a great film actor the way that some do - to me March was, in movies at least - a "surface deep" actor until he got older in the mid-1940s. But he was terrific across material before that also - especially in how he could fit into material. I love him in I Married A Witch (1942) where he is at times marvelously droll opposite a force of nature Veronica Lake .......... and they actually hated each other - THAT'S acting! - One day someone will equal that "2 Tonys, 2 Oscars" mark or even surpass it but this is a record he's held for over 60 years across many eras which is just astonishing imo........almost as astonishing as this thread being this long without having him covered.
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Post by stephen on Apr 21, 2021 13:47:26 GMT
March's biggest problem, I think, is that the arena with which he made his biggest mark is the one that is the most difficult to maintain in terms of longevity: the stage. It's like that old standby line when you've regaled someone with a funny story and no one laughs. "I guess you just had to be there."
As a film actor, March could be very good. His first Oscar win is fine although I do think it feels a bit dated nowadays because of the overt theatrics (and the prosthetics) that March indulges in, although he is far better than Spencer Tracy's woeful attempt a decade later at playing those roles. His second win is far and away his better work, even though I think Dana Andrews really was the one who deserved the Best Actor laurels from that film. March's elder statesman energy lent gravitas and respectability to anything he did, and he was rarely ever bad from my recollections. I also think March suffers from not having any cool roles to his name (Jekyll and Hyde probably come closest in that regard), but I think he's one of those guys that if you review his catalogue and see the work he put in, you can see why he was as highly regarded as he was.
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Post by Mattsby on Apr 22, 2021 18:11:30 GMT
I like Fredric March a lot.... He seemed in his time more touched by talent than most. One film historian said something interesting about him: “For most of his career he has been a dedicated no-nonsense actor, authoritative and reliable; if you look at publicity stills of March you will find them more direct, less affected, than those of any other leading star: he does not pose.” Not that publicity stills matter, but that "He does not pose" bit made me think. Especially later in his career, he didn't seem very concerned with charming or totally winning over viewers. I think he had a lot of trust in the audience and saw great worth in the material that he didn't have to bend but deliver. While he fit right into where you put him... whether it was daring pre-codes with the spearheading Arzner (The Wild Party ("I'd like to meet him again sometime, perpendicularly!") still awaits rightful regard; Merrily We Go To Hell)... horror (Jekyll, a surprising, effective, vicious perf)... comedies (I Married a Witch, or sparring w/ Lombard in Nothing Sacred) and etc. He noticeably improved as leading man... Best Years of Our Lives, Death of a Salesman - I recently looked at every screen version and he's the only one who stands with Hoffman - and Middle of the Night. To me, those are his three best - very deep, nuanced, soul-knotted perfs. But between those, he does Executive Suite and Desperate Hours. He's good in both... but you put him next to Bogart, you see the star scale leap toward Bogie, and in Suite he becomes small and pathetic almost too easily! He moved his talent to character work with great finesse though. He gave variety to his antagonists (Inherit the Wind, Hombre) and continued to deliver in his last perfs (Tick Tick Tick, Iceman Cometh - two scared, eccentric, interesting perfs). W/ Clift and Tallulah Bankhead; The Skin of Our Teeth :
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 23, 2021 22:41:28 GMT
Well, figured I should bump some of the GOAT people across all 3 mediums who come up in this thread because they are 4 biggies who could make history in some way at Sunday's Oscars. I'll update the thread if there's any exciting "Triple Crown" related news......all the people below are covered in this thread : Viola Davis - Triple Crown Winner is the only African American Triple Crown winner - male or female AND the youngest (55) - a win would put her in a great spot to win the Triple Crown TWICE which has never happened (she'd need a 2nd Emmy and is playing Michelle Obama this year. She has 2 Tony's, 1 Emmy, 1 Oscar currently. Glenn Close - Tony & Emmy winner - Would become the 25th actor to win the Triple Crown with a win - and the 16th woman. Currently 15 females, 9 males ever. Anthony Hopkins - Oscar & Emmy winner - Would become the 2nd British actor ever to win 2 Oscars where 1 of the 2 is for Best Actor if he wins (DDL is the only one to currently do it) Frances McDormand - Triple Crown winner - A Triple Crown winner like Davis, she is pursuing her 3rd Oscar and has 1 Tony, 1 Emmy. We've also covered Oscar winners and nominees Sunday Gary Oldman and Olivia Colman in this thread as well.
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Post by pacinoyes on Apr 26, 2021 6:46:43 GMT
Well, figured I should bump some of the GOAT people across all 3 mediums who come up in this thread because they are 4 biggies who could make history in some way at Sunday's Oscars. I'll update the thread if there's any exciting "Triple Crown" related news......all the people below are covered in this threa Anthony Hopkins - Oscar & Emmy winner - Would become the 2nd British actor ever to win 2 Oscars where 1 of the 2 is for Best Actor if he wins (DDL is the only one to currently do it) Frances McDormand - Triple Crown winner - A Triple Crown winner like Davis, she is pursuing her 3rd Oscar and has 1 Tony, 1 Emmy. We've also covered Oscar winners and nominees Sunday Gary Oldman and Olivia Colman in this thread as well. McDormand also becomes just the 2nd Triple Crown member with 3 Oscars tying Ingrid Bergman (yeah she won it too, going Old School Baby!) Congratulation to both ........
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Post by franklin on Apr 26, 2021 10:05:04 GMT
She didn't deserve a third Oscar win.
#CancelFrancesMcDormand
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Post by stephen on Apr 26, 2021 12:28:45 GMT
She didn't deserve a third Oscar win. #CancelFrancesMcDormand Can you just go away?
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