Thanks for the anecdote about Derek Jacobi, Blossom. I still remember him best in "I Claudius", a series that kept everyone in my apartment glued to the set. They were at Cambridge together and did shows there, and I'll bet they were in other things together over the years, too. Serious theatre in London is not that big a world.
Thanks for stopping in, Blossom! Oh, and if I ever get the copy of Rasputin (that I ordered from the library), I will certainly let you know.
And, yes, if you'd seen "Loving Walter", I am sure you would not forget it. His dad kept pigeons, which Walter loved. His father dies early in the film, Walter a young adult, and his mother (who love/hates her son) doesn't explain about death, only saying "he's gone to be with Jesus". When his mother dies soon after, he really doesn't understand that she's dead and he stays in the house with her, and the pigeons, waiting for her to wake up or go to be with Jesus. She doesn't do either, the pigeons roosting all around, with their droppings everywhere. I wondered, having found out his own mother died when he was twelve, how much he drew on that to play the abject grief of the guileless Walter when the authorities come to take him away. They have to pull him off her, racked with sobs. It's unclear if he knows she's dead, but he knows he'll never see her again. He was wonderful.
Wasn't Derek Jacobi terrific as Claudius? But there were other great performances in that series. Brian Blessed as Augustus and John Hurt's Caligula also stood out for me. I'm sure Patrick Stewart was in there too, though I can't recall which character he played.
I hadn't realised Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi were at Cambridge together, but as they were, perhaps that was when each of them admired the other from afar. Thanks for explaining the storyline of 'Loving Walter.' Although the pictures you featured in your post seemed familiar to me, I cannot say the same of the plot. Harrowing as it sounds, I'm sure it would have left an impression that wouldn't easily have faded ~ so perhaps I confused it with something else.
Yes, Brian Blessed! And don't forget righteous, restrained-passions Maragaret Tyzack as Antonia (the mother of Claudius and Germanicus). And my favourites of all: Sean Phillips as Livia and John Hurt as Caligula, who were nearly as divine as their characters thought they were. Sublime fun it was, watching and hearing all these actors act their pants off in a steamy soap opera set in ancient Rome.
As for "Loving Walter" (aka "Walter and June"), you may merely have forgot those scenes, which were at the very beginning. There was loads more story than that, with grown-up orphan Walter being wrongly sent to a state facility for the seriously impaired (what a place - Jim Broadbent as a weird and wacky orderly there), when his impairment was mild. There he finally meets a very mentally ill woman (played by Sarah Miles) who takes a fancy to him--for a while, anyway. She's a sort of manic-depressive with a mercurial temperament.
*raises hand* Another big I Claudius fan here! *waves to Blossom* Definitely one of my all-time favourite tv-series. It was aired on German tv ages ago (and had a rerun lately), and in this rare case the dubbing was luckily wonderfully done - the voice artists were the finest German theatre actors of their time and the translation was very well done to boot, so it was a real pleasure to watch. It was then when I became of fan of both Derek Jacobi and John Hurt! I know Claudius is available on DVD, but alas, it's rather pricey... I would very much like to have it.
Again, thanks so much for your great tribute to Sir Ian, Mechtild! It's a wonderful read. :-)
I know Claudius is available on DVD, but alas, it's rather pricey... I would very much like to have it.
Too bad I can't burn DVD's! Our library has had the tape set for years, not in very good shape anymore, but the DVD was on their list to buy. Maybe they have now got it? I'll have to check.
So the dubbing was good? That's excellent. When I was Germany decades ago Germans who knew the English versions of films and TV shows were often critical of the choices made for German voice actors. Not that they couldn't act; the complaint was always about poor vocal match to the English language original.
Thanks for stopping in, Blossom! Oh, and if I ever get the copy of Rasputin (that I ordered from the library), I will certainly let you know.
And, yes, if you'd seen "Loving Walter", I am sure you would not forget it. His dad kept pigeons, which Walter loved. His father dies early in the film, Walter a young adult, and his mother (who love/hates her son) doesn't explain about death, only saying "he's gone to be with Jesus". When his mother dies soon after, he really doesn't understand that she's dead and he stays in the house with her, and the pigeons, waiting for her to wake up or go to be with Jesus. She doesn't do either, the pigeons roosting all around, with their droppings everywhere. I wondered, having found out his own mother died when he was twelve, how much he drew on that to play the abject grief of the guileless Walter when the authorities come to take him away. They have to pull him off her, racked with sobs. It's unclear if he knows she's dead, but he knows he'll never see her again. He was wonderful.
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I hadn't realised Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi were at Cambridge together, but as they were, perhaps that was when each of them admired the other from afar. Thanks for explaining the storyline of 'Loving Walter.' Although the pictures you featured in your post seemed familiar to me, I cannot say the same of the plot. Harrowing as it sounds, I'm sure it would have left an impression that wouldn't easily have faded ~ so perhaps I confused it with something else.
~ Blossom.
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074006/fullcredits#cast
Yes, Brian Blessed! And don't forget righteous, restrained-passions Maragaret Tyzack as Antonia (the mother of Claudius and Germanicus). And my favourites of all: Sean Phillips as Livia and John Hurt as Caligula, who were nearly as divine as their characters thought they were. Sublime fun it was, watching and hearing all these actors act their pants off in a steamy soap opera set in ancient Rome.
As for "Loving Walter" (aka "Walter and June"), you may merely have forgot those scenes, which were at the very beginning. There was loads more story than that, with grown-up orphan Walter being wrongly sent to a state facility for the seriously impaired (what a place - Jim Broadbent as a weird and wacky orderly there), when his impairment was mild. There he finally meets a very mentally ill woman (played by Sarah Miles) who takes a fancy to him--for a while, anyway. She's a sort of manic-depressive with a mercurial temperament.
Reply
Another big I Claudius fan here! *waves to Blossom*
Definitely one of my all-time favourite tv-series. It was aired on German tv ages ago (and had a rerun lately), and in this rare case the dubbing was luckily wonderfully done - the voice artists were the finest German theatre actors of their time and the translation was very well done to boot, so it was a real pleasure to watch. It was then when I became of fan of both Derek Jacobi and John Hurt! I know Claudius is available on DVD, but alas, it's rather pricey... I would very much like to have it.
Again, thanks so much for your great tribute to Sir Ian, Mechtild! It's a wonderful read. :-)
Reply
Too bad I can't burn DVD's! Our library has had the tape set for years, not in very good shape anymore, but the DVD was on their list to buy. Maybe they have now got it? I'll have to check.
So the dubbing was good? That's excellent. When I was Germany decades ago Germans who knew the English versions of films and TV shows were often critical of the choices made for German voice actors. Not that they couldn't act; the complaint was always about poor vocal match to the English language original.
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