In my humble opinion, one of the greatest actors ever, and not as known to US audiences as he should be. Most famous role was of course Francis Urquhart in the original House of Cards, but his career spanned stage, film and television over many decades. Would love to see more of his work made available; he was truly one of the best.
Review Ian Richardson
- Thread starter Amyghost
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Carol
Member: Rank 5
Gosh - he popped up just this evening as a senator in a random ancient Rome thingy I found on channel 5 download. But seek him out as Death in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, just for fun, and in the oldish-but-marvellous Porterhouse Blue. And did you see all of his House of Cards trilogy?
I own it! I also own Porterhouse Blue, and the wonderfully funny two-part Gravy Train series (in which Ian plays a character who's something like an even more malevolent satire of Francis Urquhart, if such a thing is possible--in fact, I've read he was tapped to play FU on the basis of that role). Have you ever seen him in Private Schulz? He's absolutely hilarious as an ineffectual German officer in that.
Have not seen 'Hogfeather', must check that out. One of my favorite of his latter-day roles was as Dr. Joseph Bell in the series The Murder Rooms, playing the man who was the real-life inspiration for Sherlock Holmes. I absolutely love his work, and wish a lot more of his earlier stuff was readily available.
BTW, do you happen to know the name of the Roman thingy? That one doesn't sound familiar, and I'd be thrilled to find something of his I haven't yet seen.
Carol
Member: Rank 5
Ooh, I 'd forgotten the Dr Bell thingy.
Channel 5 were calling the Roman thing Nero... (over 3 hours and I think the first of 2 parts) but on a de-boarded site of all our acquaintance it appears to be Imperium: Nero. It is, by the way, horrifically inaccurate historically (OK so is Shakespeare's Richard III, I know) but it appears - I've only managed the first hour so far - to be finding the warm, fluffy, slightly emo Nero that we haven't read much about. John Simm also phones in his Caligula - it's the Master with a curlier wig. I'll have to watch a bit more and decide whether it's so bad it's good - hope you can track it sone and compare notes.
Channel 5 were calling the Roman thing Nero... (over 3 hours and I think the first of 2 parts) but on a de-boarded site of all our acquaintance it appears to be Imperium: Nero. It is, by the way, horrifically inaccurate historically (OK so is Shakespeare's Richard III, I know) but it appears - I've only managed the first hour so far - to be finding the warm, fluffy, slightly emo Nero that we haven't read much about. John Simm also phones in his Caligula - it's the Master with a curlier wig. I'll have to watch a bit more and decide whether it's so bad it's good - hope you can track it sone and compare notes.
Very interesting. Your description of an 'emo Nero' is hilarious--I love the need to revise every historical portrayal to soothe current sensibilities. Thanks very much for that information, because I'm eager to find this. When I do, I'll be sure to post it here. BTW, a couple of other of Ian's works that are worth seeing:
A Midsummer Night's Dream: really beautiful Peter Brook screen production of the legendary RSC staging with Ian and Judy Dench as Oberon and Titania
Marat/Sade: Ian gives a tour de force performance as Jean-Paul Marat
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: You've likely seen this, but if not it's a must
Number 10: 'Underdog', the story of the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay Macdonald
Mountbatten: Ian seemed an odd choice to play Indian PM Nehru, but he's quite convincing in the part
and Mistral's Daughter: I hesitate to mention this one; a really awful US television adaptation of one of those trashy 'glamor' novels, but Ian is excellent in his role as a Jewish art dealer and pretty much redeems the film by his appearances in it.
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It can be viewed on Amazon streaming, but unfortunately, the on-demand DVD that was available a while back looks to have disappeared. Ebay might be a possible source for finding a copy. Clips from it show up from time to time on Youtube, but I haven't seen anyone upload the entire film yet. A shame, because it's a lovely version, and was highly influential in creating the 'fairyland' look that's the hallmark of so many later films and even artists work, such as Brian Froud. And the acting is a treat for anyone who enjoys hearing Shakespeare beautifully read.
I lucked into getting a region-free DVD a while back, so I've been able to obtain a lot of these discs through Amazon UK in PAL format--some of them, such as Number 10 ad Pvt. Schulz aren't available in the US at all. However, some of these can also be found, a few in their entirety, on Youtube (and I think Netflix and a couple of other streaming services may provide some). I'd like to see a lot more, as I've noted--for many Americans, their only knowledge of Ian is via that set of very clever and funny Grey Poupon commercials that came out some years back.
Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
A great actor....
