Some actors just understand the subtlety of screen acting by instinct (and we’re not talking about the Michael Caine masterclass where he orders scrambled eggs with just his eyebrows). There was always something going on behind the Barkworth brow, and this skill was instrumental in his biggest achievement: making the petit-bourgeois businessman, in his suit and tie, into a fully-rounded, nay sympathetic figure. He happily accepted it was the lot of the character actor to put in tne times the work of the leading man for a hundredth of the recognition, and quietly got on with the job of being a pretty damn perfect actor.
FINEST HOUR: As the treacherous Berkeley in Where Eagles Dare. As ever, a performance destined by its quiet brilliance to be terminally underrated.
Paul
October 7, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Also wrote one of the seminal books for the drama student while teaching at RADA called ‘About Acting.’ Still considered one of the best books about the acting mularchy.