Showing posts with label caligula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label caligula. Show all posts

Tuesday 12 February 2019

REMEMBERED TODAY: ACTOR RALPH BATES



REMEMBERING: Born today in 1940, RALPH BATES. Sadly, no longer with us. A talented actor and a truly gentle and kind man. The great, great nephew of the renowned French scientist Louis Pasteur developed into a strangely handsome dark haired, pale complexioned English actor. Ralph Bates was born in 1940 in Bristol, England and attended the University of Dublin and studied at the Yale Drama School. His dramatic talents first came to audiences attention playing the evil Emperor Caligula in the well received BBC TV series The Caesars (1968). However, the Hammer studios resurrection of the horror genre was then in full stride, and Bates was soon engulfed in the swirling cloak of Hammer's success as he appeared in several horror films in quick succession.  


FIRSTLY in a support role as demonic Lord Courtley in Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), followed as the lead character Baron Frankenstein in The Horror of Frankenstein (1970), then as Giles Barton in the sexy Lust for a Vampire (1971) and as the well meaning Dr. Jekyll in an unusual spin on the Robert Louis Stevenson story in Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971) and 'Fear in the Night' with Peter Cushing in 1972. Bates brought a new zest to Hammer and with his stylish dialogue delivery and film acting methods, he quickly won himself quite a few fans in both critics and regular film goers!


UNFORTUNATELY, by the early 1970s there had been a downturn in Hammer studios fortunes, and Bates then found himself turning to more traditional character work in other production houses and he appeared in several films before snaring other superb villainous role as George Warleggan in the 18th century period piece Poldark (1975). After Poldark, Bates himself kept busy in a few forgettable UK made TV shows and television film roles which did not really do justice to his remarkable talents. In the late 1980s his health rapidly deteriorated, and he sadly passed away from cancer aged only 51 on 27th March 1991.



Monday 22 January 2018

REMEMBERING ACTOR JOHN HURT: ONE YEAR ON . . .


TODAY we remember actor, JOHN HURT. Hurts career spanned six decades. He initially came to prominence for his supporting role as Richard Rich in the film A Man for All Seasons (1966). He played leading roles as Quentin Crisp in the film The Naked Civil Servant (1975), John Merrick in David Lynch's biopic The Elephant Man (1980), Winston Smith in the dystopian drama Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), Mr. Braddock in the Stephen Frears drama The Hit (1984), and Stephen Ward in the drama depicting the Profumo affair, Scandal (1989). He is also known for his television roles such as Caligula in I, Claudius (1976), and the War Doctor in Doctor Who. Seventy Seven seems no age to leave us these days. I think there will always be a very sizeable space, left behind now that Hurt is no longer with us...it would take a very considerable talent and skill, to even approach even the sides of that space... 😉 We Remember John Hurt today . .


John Hurt Alan Bates and Susannah York in THE SHOUT (1978) 


IT'S ONLY MY OPINION but, I have always thought, for an actor, a man with such an instantly recognisable face, Hurt did an incredible job in his characters. He wasn't really an actor who used false noses, teeth and other aids. His portrayals come form within, the heart. He truly did play from the inside out. There will always be 'The Elephant Man' and one or two others, where the addition of prosthetics were used. 


JOHN HURT  as THE WAR DOCTOR in DOCTOR WHO

BUT FOR ME, the roles that stand out, are the ones were it was, him vanishing by his skill. From very early on, in a film like The Ghoul, that face, those eyes...it's John Hurt! There after, he could be anyone, he chose. I only know one other actor today, who comes anywhere near that ability, and that is Gary Oldman . .


 JOHN HURT as KANE ALIEN (1979)


JOHN HURT as KANE from iconic scene from  ALIEN (1979) appearing in spoof SPACE BALLS (1987)

 



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