The theatrical world has recently lost three great men
THEATRE has its exits as well as its entrances. This week, I feel moved to pay tribute to three people who died recently: a great actor, Albert Finney; a theatrical allrounder, David Conville; and a dynamic producer, Duncan Weldon. I knew them all, to a greater or lesser extent, and feel their loss keenly.
Finney’s story, especially, fascinates me. I’ve seen various obituaries that describe him as the original ‘angry young man’ of British cinema and a specialist in kitchen-sink roles. It’s true that he first made an impact on screen as Arthur Seaton in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, but he was infinitely more than that. He could play the big heroic parts, such as Marlowe’s Tamburlaine and Pirandello’s Henry IV, was an accomplished farceur and excelled in the contemporary plays of John Osborne, Peter Nichols and Ronald Harwood.
An actor friend recalls being told by Finney that you have to go out on stage as if you ‘own the space’—that ability to relish the art of performing characterised everything I saw him do.
By a lucky accident of geography —I was brought up in Leamington Spa—I was able to watch his growth as a young actor at Birmingham Rep in 1956/7. He instantly revealed his exuberant inventiveness. I first spotted him in a whimsical Irish melodrama, Happy as Larry, in which he was one of a chorus of dancing tailors; with his stocky frame, mischievous grin and flattened centre parting, he was riveting.
Esta historia es de la edición February 20, 2019 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición February 20, 2019 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds