TinaII2None said:

 

---

especially if I compared her to Bujold or Dorothy Tutin.

Dear Dorothy Tutin, I saw her in so many things, it seems amazing that she's been gone 10 years now and perhaps didn't get the credit she deserved as Anne, being overshadowed by Keith Michell's Henry.

DuchessofBrittany said:

---

Tina, I am so glad to find a fellow Russell Crowe fan. I really noticed his “Henry quality” after seeing “The State Within.”
My favourite role is Maximus (I cry at the film everytime). I also love him in “Body of Lies,” Robin Hood, and I thought he was good in “The State Within.”

A note about “Body of Lies”: a triumvirate of Crowe, Di Caprio, and Mark Strong (great actor, little known) does not get much better.

Russell as Henry: a dream come true! 

DoB — glad to meet a fellow Crowe fan as well! I had seen him in movies before Gladiator but it was his Maximus that really clicked with me and made me a fan. Hard to believe it came out 11 years ago! (Oh my gosh! It'll be 11 years this coming May!!!!) Then I spent a few months of renting movies to play catch-up with all his previous movies, especially LA Confidential (which I actually saw before it was nominated for best picture to go up against Titanic).

Oh you mentioned Mark Strong — he's a fine supporting actor and I'm just sorry he hasn't really jumped out there.

Now of course you have my little brain going. Mark Strong has been in — I think — two movies with Russell: Robin Hood and Body of Lies. I'd just love to see them in a Henry VIII epic movie together!  One that sticks closer to the facts because if you film the reality of those people's lives, it beats anything She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named or Michael Hirst could fictionalize.

Neil Kemp said:

DuchessofBrittany said:

 

---

 Mark Strong (great actor, little known) does not get much better.
 

---

Duchess, Mark Strong is, I would venture to suggest, well known in the UK, I can always remember him playing a baddie in one of the “Sharpe” adaptations on television and being thrown down a well by Sean Bean! He also appeared in the 2003 (Ray Winstone) version of Henry 8th, as did Sean Bean, It's a small world.
P.S. I also believe he is in Robin Hood with Russell Crowe so the links go on and on.

Good grief — Mark Strong DOES get around. I loved the “Sharpe” series and I probably saw him and never knew him (it was the same with Paul Bettany who was in the Battle of Waterloo episode). I have very vivid memories of Sean Bean in the Winstone Henry VIII…but where the heck was Mr. Strong? Or should I say — who the heck did he play?

Neil Kemp said:

---

Tina, That's great to hear, I thought I was the only “Sharpe” fan on here! The series is repeated on satellite in this country very often (“Sharpe's Battle” is on tonight) and I must have seen them more times than is good for me, but I still love watching them. Mark Strong played the bad colonel Brand in “Sharpe's Mission”, where Sharpe and his men have to go behind enemy lines and blow up a gunpowder store and unmask Brand as a traitor in the process. Sharpe decides pushing him down the well was a better outcome for natural justice than a court – martial (Yah!). In Henry 8th he played Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, father of Henry Howard, his eldest son. He was sentenced to death with his son but survived as his execution was scheduled after Henry's death, his son, as we know, wasn't as lucky with his timing.

I became a “Sharpe” fan after seeing Sean Bean as Boromir in Lord of the Rings — friends recommended the series and I found myself enjoying most of the episodes immensely. While I haven't studied the late Georgian/early to mid-Regency eras with the intensity I have the Tudors, it's still one of my favorite periods of English history (and as a young girl, I remember watching the old Poldark series too — that'll take you back a few LOL). I tend to be more fond of the RN though, which is why the Patrick O'Brien books and Jack Aubrey appealed to me, but Sharpe's a great character. (And friends of mine who had seen and loved the Sharpe series were telling me spoilers, which didn't ruin my enjoyment at all. In fact, I was glad when they warned me about the evil wife whose bosom seemed about ready to pop out of her bodice by the time the one season ended LOL). I vaguely remember “Sharpe's Mission” — might have to check that one out again on DVD (that was how I saw the series anyway — it has NEVER aired in my location in the States, unlike so much of British TV).

I can't remember Thomas Howard at all in the Henry VIII series LOL Come to think of it, I don't remember much about it at all. I became a Winstone admirer when I first saw him in “Sexy Beast” but his Henry just never rang true with me — especially when he opened his mouth and THAT accent came out. As some of you have already commented, Winstone plays most of his characters in a thuggish manner, and I just never believed that at any time, his Henry at one time was a Renaissance prince. But I digress. Anyway, I don't remember Mark Strong at all, but I don't remember a lot about that Henry miniseries. I remember: Winstone skinny dipping in a pool at one of the royal castles; I remember Helena Bonham Carter's Anne Boleyn; I remember Henry backhanding Jane Seymour and sending her into labor…and I remember him and Sean Bean's Robert Aske drunk and singing. That's it. LOL It'd almost be worth me looking up the series on Netflix or YouTube to see if I can catch a Mark Strong scene — I think he's a wonderful character actor.

Anyway, thanks for the info Neil. Much appreciated.  

PS: Thomas Howard surviving his son and two nieces and a nephew was pretty remarkable to me and yes, how was that for timing. I always wondered how those Seymour brothers — well, Edward specifically — let him slip between the cracks, but then, John Dudley did too. I remember that when I read of him being released (along with Edward Courtenay and Stephen Gardiner) from the Tower when Mary ascended the throne, I was like “You mean HE'S STILL AROUND?”  

Neil Kemp said:

Thanks Tina, just to note, I think you'll find that all of Sharpe's women had a bosom that was about to pop out of their bodice! Yes, I remember Poldark well, every Sunday night over here as I recall, as a lot of series like this were – “The Onedin Line” was around the same time (Sunday evenings), but set a little later in historical time (how old does all this make me feel). Poldark was very Cornish and I have to say looks a bit dated if viewed now. I think the main problem with Ray Winstone was the accent ( I half expected him to say “I'll send the boys round” at any time ), although having said that I think he could only have made an older Henry into a believable character, he never fitted the bill for the youthful Henry. I can remember HBC from the 2003 version (is that woman ever out of a period costume?) and other scenes from the film (mini-series), but like you would need to revisit it for certain specifics. I must admit to having found “Sharpe” through the television series, but then got into the books and indeed anything by Bernard Cornwell, who I think does a very good job with his historical research. On that note I had better end before anyone complains that we have managed to get onto the Peninsular War from a topic of “Who plays the best Henry”!

P.S. Yes, I shall be watching “Sharpe” again tonight – we've all got to get our fun somewhere, haven't we.

LOL Yes, let's steer it back to “best Henry” but about HBC first LOL — I think the only times I saw her out of a period costume may have been Fight Club with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt; in fact, it took my brain a while to even accept that it WAS her! LOL

I was LMAO when you said that you thought Winstone would say “I'll send the boys round” in one of his scenes! About the one thing missing was for Bob Hoskins to stroll in so the two could perform a Tudor version of The Long Good Friday! Seriously, I agree with you that had he played Henry say post-Anne Boleyn (as Charles Laughton did), perhaps it would have gone down better with me. But they had him playing Henry from roughly his early 30's (give or take, and I'm only basing this on Anne and Percy's engagement in the story) and I'm sorry, but it just wasn't convincing, not to me anyway. I think Winstone's a wonderful actor. I was one of the first of my friends and relations to even notice him (thanks to Sexy Beast as I mentioned). I'm just iffy about his Henry.

Sharon said:

 

---

---

 My SIL mentioned a movie he was in called, Tenderness.   She says it was a murder mystery.  I've never heard of it.  Have you seen it? 

Crowe is another actor who can play any part.  He has a memorable voice like Richard Burton.  I love it.  He'd make a great Henry.

 

Sharon, just on a note of interest, “Tenderness” is a recent film (couple of years old) which was filmed in Staten Island and Rockland, New York. Crowe only agreed to take the role if they extended his part from the original script and also allowed him to do a voice over narrative in the film. Both of these demands were of course met, so you can enjoy listening to even more of Crowe's voice in this film, enjoy!

Neil Kemp said:

Thanks Tina, just to note, I think you'll find that all of Sharpe's women had a bosom that was about to pop out of their bodice! Yes, I remember Poldark well, every Sunday night over here as I recall, as a lot of series like this were – “The Onedin Line” was around the same time (Sunday evenings), but set a little later in historical time (how old does all this make me feel). Poldark was very Cornish and I have to say looks a bit dated if viewed now. I think the main problem with Ray Winstone was the accent ( I half expected him to say “I'll send the boys round” at any time ), although having said that I think he could only have made an older Henry into a believable character, he never fitted the bill for the youthful Henry. I can remember HBC from the 2003 version (is that woman ever out of a period costume?) and other scenes from the film (mini-series), but like you would need to revisit it for certain specifics. I must admit to having found “Sharpe” through the television series, but then got into the books and indeed anything by Bernard Cornwell, who I think does a very good job with his historical research. On that note I had better end before anyone complains that we have managed to get onto the Peninsular War from a topic of “Who plays the best Henry”!

P.S. Yes, I shall be watching “Sharpe” again tonight – we've all got to get our fun somewhere, haven't we.

My mother and sister loved Poldark. I suspect it had a lot to do with Robin Ellis and his tight breeches than the story line…

Sharon said:

---

Duchess, one of the first times I ever saw Crowe was in the movie The Quick and the Dead.  We can thank Sharon Stone for his being in that one.  She picked him out and refused to have anyone else play the part. I'm so glad she stuck to her guns…no pun intended. I watch it everytime I see it listed on TV.  I don't know if L.A. Confidential  was before or after that.  I didn't like that one so much.  I love Gladiator, Robin Hood, Body of Lies, and 3:10 to Yuma.  We were just talking about him at dinner yesterday.  My SIL mentioned a movie he was in called, Tenderness.   She says it was a murder mystery.  I've never heard of it.  Have you seen it? 
Crowe is another actor who can play any part.  He has a memorable voice like Richard Burton.  I love it.  He'd make a great Henry.

 

LA Confidential came a year or so after The Quick and the Dead, and you're right about Stone being the one who wanted him to come from Australia to play Cort. Tenderness is a very little known movie he made a couple of years ago as a favor for a friend, who is a director – can't recall the director's name, but the two of them played gay lovers in one of Russell's Aussie movies.
You are so right Sharon in saying he can play any part. And you're so right about the voice — one of those few actors who can read a phone book and leave you entranced. Maybe one day someone will finally write the perfect Henry VIII screenplay, get a director worthy of it, and they approach Russell about the part. Like I said, he could channel Henry so much that I think we'd all walk out of the theaters totally awestruck.

TinaII2None said:

Sharon said:

---

Duchess, one of the first times I ever saw Crowe was in the movie The Quick and the Dead.  We can thank Sharon Stone for his being in that one.  She picked him out and refused to have anyone else play the part. I'm so glad she stuck to her guns…no pun intended. I watch it everytime I see it listed on TV.  I don't know if L.A. Confidential  was before or after that.  I didn't like that one so much.  I love Gladiator, Robin Hood, Body of Lies, and 3:10 to Yuma.  We were just talking about him at dinner yesterday.  My SIL mentioned a movie he was in called, Tenderness.   She says it was a murder mystery.  I've never heard of it.  Have you seen it? 
Crowe is another actor who can play any part.  He has a memorable voice like Richard Burton.  I love it.  He'd make a great Henry.
 

---

LA Confidential came a year or so after The Quick and the Dead, and you're right about Stone being the one who wanted him to come from Australia to play Cort. Tenderness is a very little known movie he made a couple of years ago as a favor for a friend, who is a director – can't recall the director's name, but the two of them played gay lovers in one of Russell's Aussie movies.
You are so right Sharon in saying he can play any part. And you're so right about the voice — one of those few actors who can read a phone book and leave you entranced. Maybe one day someone will finally write the perfect Henry VIII screenplay, get a director worthy of it, and they approach Russell about the part. Like I said, he could channel Henry so much that I think we'd all walk out of the theaters totally awestruck.

I saw the Australian movie where he played a gay man.  I can't recall the name of it.  I remember his lover, but don't know his name. Enjoyed that one, too.

“The Sum of Us.”  That's it.  And John Polson played Greg.  Thanks Neil…and see…you are not getting old.  It's my memory that has failed, not yours.