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Last night BBC News carried obituary of Leo McKern, who played part of Rumpole
I thought it a horrible choice of words that he was characterized as "blustering".
In my recollection he was anything but blustering. But I am quite unable to think
of a single word that characterises his sly good humor. Comments, please.
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Not sure I can do that justice, Bill.
But sad to record his final parole - a fine actor who gave much joy. Incidentally, I chuckled to realise this 'quintessential Englishman' was an Aussie (see, yah can do subtle and civilised when yah want to, guys!). I was also stunned to hear how he moved to the UK in pursuit of a woman he loved, asking her to marry him 50 times before she agreed... now that is love that deserves a life sentence.
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Dear Mav: And I hope his beloved was not the proto-type of "she who must be obeyed."
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old hand
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Curiously enough, watching the BBC news item on his passing made me think of you, maverick. Mortimer's comment on the death of McKern was that he, McKern, never reached his full potential as an actor. Specifically, Mortimer felt that McKern would have made an outstanding Lear, a role he never got to play.
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made me think of you, maverick... never reached his full potential...
Thanks, stranger ~ it's as if you know me from top to bottom ;)
No Lear, me either, but a passable Fool.
hey, anyone want to hear my theory about the Fool and Cordelia?
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old hand
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>No Lear, me either, but a passable Fool.
Something made me think that for some reason you are particularly well-acquainted with my least favourite of Chris's works, the play that makes Hamlet seem as sunny The Lion King.
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anyone want to hear my theory about the Fool and Cordelia?
I do, very much--you can whisper it in my ear, if you like. Um...who's Cordelia?
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veteran
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No Lear, me either, but a passable FoolPerfect, mav! 
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Um...who's Cordelia?
King Lear's youngest daughter. Lear's older daughters Goneril and Regan profess their complete and utter love for Lear when he divides his kingdom of Britain in three. They say what he wants to hear so he believes them. Cordelia, who is faithful to the king, cannot lie and tells him the truth that her love has its limits. He takes this as a rebuffal and divides her share between the two others. The rest of the play gets a bit complicated to discuss here but you'd really like it. I did five (yep, five) Shakespeare (or Marlowe, as sjm suggests above) plays at school and that was the only one I really liked. I remember watching the tv play with Olivier in the lead. An astounding performance and cast and I highly recommend it.
Edit: Incidentally, Leo McKern played Gloucester in that same production.
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but you'd really like it.
Oh no I wouldn't. Not unless it was translated into a language I can understand. Hrmph. [curmudge, curmudge]
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>Oh no I wouldn't. Not unless it was translated into a language I can understand. Hrmph. [curmudge, curmudge]
Save it for when you need to be cured of feeling happy or upbeat - Lear is very good for that.
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Save it for when you need to be cured of feeling happy or upbeat - Lear is very good for that.
Figures. [more curmudging]
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Pooh-Bah
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The first time that I saw McKern was in a movie entitled "The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film" probably in the early '60s. It was a Goon Show kind of production, black and white and very amateur. I recall a sketch where McKern beckons someone (I think Spike Milligan) across the width of a small field to come closer and closer and closer and then hits him with a boxing gloved hand that had been hidden until that point. The twist being that while this came as a surprise to the audience it obviously should not have done to Spike. Sounds silly I know, but we were all less sophisticated in those days and could still enjoy a good belly laugh.
dxb
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re: The running, jumping and standing still film. This 9-minute film was made by Dick Lester in 1959 with help from Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and the afore-mentioned Leo McKern. Our film society screens it every four or five years.
Watch out for Leo McKern's last film, Molokai: the story of Father Damien, directed by another Australian, Paul Cox. He plays the local bishop in it and, in an interview in today's Melbourne Age, Cox recalls: "At one stage, he had to be put on a big boat in Honolulu. He was a bit heavy, and had to be carried up on a forklift. All the while, he kept blessing everybody. Another day, I had an accident on the set. I was lying spread-eagled on the lawn, with a big hole in my head. When I came to, the bishop was standing beside me, giving me his blessing. He was always making jokes. At lunchtime on the set, he'd take off his bishop's robes and sit there in his shorts and white legs, and say, 'Don't look at my milk bottles!' One day we were in a restaurant in the Hilton in Honolulu, drinking chianti. Someone came up to us with one of the hotel's serviettes, asking for Leo's autograph. Leo looked at the napkin, then up at him and said, 'Hilton Honolulu. What an interesting name'. He then wrote, 'To Hilton, from Leo McKern'. … he loved to pretend to be chatting up the girls. The costume designer … loved him very much and went out of her way to look after him. Playfully, he'd say to her, 'My God, darling, if only I was two years younger'. In a final tribute, Cox reflects: "I feel very blessed by having worked with him. He was a humble giant. They don't make that kind any more."
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As I said at the beginning, he was anything but "blustering", even in his roles.
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Thank you, my sweet paulb, for giving me a good idea of what this man was like; I was unfamiliar with him. I am SO glad to see you here, and how I love your long arms! 
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