Ralph Richardson, film actor
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JackFavell
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JackFavell
- Posts: 11926
- Joined: April 20th, 2009, 9:56 am
Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
Well, I watched Long Day's Journey into Night..... and it was. What a mammoth play it is, and
unrelenting. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does.
One of the fascinating things about it is that even without the drug addiction and alcohol, one can relate to the family dynamics - people unable to deal with their own guilt and feelings, who lash out, blaming each other, over and over again, until the blame isn't even real anymore. This play captures that broken record we all seem to be, in which we repeat our stories endlessly in an attempt to find..... something.... maybe an old wedding dress, maybe a note from a brilliant actor showing us ourselves in a better light, or simply our rose colored glasses.
The movie is incredibly good, so good in fact that I watched it nonstop last night. Well, only one break. It goes by quickly, but not comfortably.
The cast is brilliant, with Richardson and Robards stealing it away. Hepburn is absolutely wonderful, but as the pivot of the plot and the focus of these men's lives, she is the only character who has no giant perspective. She is focused completely inward, and she is insulated from what is really going on in the play.
Richardson and Robards seem to have an eye for the ages - their performances show us all humanity's foibles and irrationalities, not just one man's trouble with his son. They play on a grander scale. One thing that is especially pleasing is to see Robards mimic Richardson. Not the overt mocking that Robards does, no! but the way Richardson and Robards seem cut from the same cloth. I wonder did they get together in rehearsal to point this up? Because one really can't tell where Richardson begins and Robards ends - it must have been a pact between them to copy one another's style. Jamie is his father, and that is why they cannot get along. They can't even bear to look at one another. Jamie hates his father's boozing, his miserliness, his grandiose performing when no one really cares. He attempts to wash it away in himself with liquor, becoming just as grandiose and tragic as his father. JamesTyrone's relentless joviality is so strained you think it must crack. He was counting on Jamie to take up where he left off, to be the success he could have been if he had not sold out for money. Jamie throws success away with both hands. James realizes at last that he has created a monster - a boy who could have been, had he not harped always on the failures. It is his fault, so it seems, that Edmund, the younger son, is dying of consumption, and his fault, that Mary is a dope fiend. The moment where Richardson finally glimpses what he has wrought is amazing - his watery eyes large, he is stunned into silent tears, from which he immediately backs away, forcing that horrible knowledge closed, like a window to keep out the incessant fog.
Richardson lets us glimpse Tyrone's reasons, his excuses for his actions, why he is such a penny-pinching miser. His father had walked away from his mother when he was only a baby, they had no food, no comfort, no solid base. And so, money became the most important thing in his life. We end up feeling sorry for the man who is as much a victim of his childhood as his own children are. And Tyrone has his splendid points. He loves his wife beyond anything else - one can see a little of Dr. Sloper here - he loves Mary so much that there is hardly room for his sons in his heart.
Jamie and James have the same faults, the same actor's eye, the same larger than life appetites, the same weaknesses, the same softness inside that must be hidden, the same anger and coldbloodedness. Their difference is what makes the play exciting - Richardson portrays the elder Tyrone as controlled, weepy, but holding despair at bay with the strength of his will. Robards is robust, uncontrolled, despairing, doomed. In the end, though he has the least screen time, Robards is given the best scene in the movie. It is the most emotional, in a movie where you think there is no more emotion to wring, and he steps up brilliantly to show the infinite grace and the infinite waste of a drunken, gifted man on the inexorable road downward.
As Richardson said, "The greatest actors in the world do more than hold up the mirror to nature, they hold the crystal ball up to nature - that imaginative, hypnotic glass in which we can perhaps glimpse heaven....and hell." Both Richardson and Robards do this, and the one thing I wished was that Robards and Richardson had had more scenes together. Unfortunately, their characters are always being deflected from one another by Hepburn and Stockwell.
The movie shows us how the inability to really forgive, or to let go can be devastating to a family. Who or what is to blame when a family is broken? One can't blame events, they are not flesh and blood that you can lash out at. But one can lash out at a man or woman's human failings. You lash out at the person who is there, until the habit of blaming is so set, there is no way to stop yourself from tearing your partner, your son, your brother, your mother, to shreds.
unrelenting. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does.
One of the fascinating things about it is that even without the drug addiction and alcohol, one can relate to the family dynamics - people unable to deal with their own guilt and feelings, who lash out, blaming each other, over and over again, until the blame isn't even real anymore. This play captures that broken record we all seem to be, in which we repeat our stories endlessly in an attempt to find..... something.... maybe an old wedding dress, maybe a note from a brilliant actor showing us ourselves in a better light, or simply our rose colored glasses.
The movie is incredibly good, so good in fact that I watched it nonstop last night. Well, only one break. It goes by quickly, but not comfortably.
The cast is brilliant, with Richardson and Robards stealing it away. Hepburn is absolutely wonderful, but as the pivot of the plot and the focus of these men's lives, she is the only character who has no giant perspective. She is focused completely inward, and she is insulated from what is really going on in the play.
Richardson and Robards seem to have an eye for the ages - their performances show us all humanity's foibles and irrationalities, not just one man's trouble with his son. They play on a grander scale. One thing that is especially pleasing is to see Robards mimic Richardson. Not the overt mocking that Robards does, no! but the way Richardson and Robards seem cut from the same cloth. I wonder did they get together in rehearsal to point this up? Because one really can't tell where Richardson begins and Robards ends - it must have been a pact between them to copy one another's style. Jamie is his father, and that is why they cannot get along. They can't even bear to look at one another. Jamie hates his father's boozing, his miserliness, his grandiose performing when no one really cares. He attempts to wash it away in himself with liquor, becoming just as grandiose and tragic as his father. JamesTyrone's relentless joviality is so strained you think it must crack. He was counting on Jamie to take up where he left off, to be the success he could have been if he had not sold out for money. Jamie throws success away with both hands. James realizes at last that he has created a monster - a boy who could have been, had he not harped always on the failures. It is his fault, so it seems, that Edmund, the younger son, is dying of consumption, and his fault, that Mary is a dope fiend. The moment where Richardson finally glimpses what he has wrought is amazing - his watery eyes large, he is stunned into silent tears, from which he immediately backs away, forcing that horrible knowledge closed, like a window to keep out the incessant fog.
Richardson lets us glimpse Tyrone's reasons, his excuses for his actions, why he is such a penny-pinching miser. His father had walked away from his mother when he was only a baby, they had no food, no comfort, no solid base. And so, money became the most important thing in his life. We end up feeling sorry for the man who is as much a victim of his childhood as his own children are. And Tyrone has his splendid points. He loves his wife beyond anything else - one can see a little of Dr. Sloper here - he loves Mary so much that there is hardly room for his sons in his heart.
Jamie and James have the same faults, the same actor's eye, the same larger than life appetites, the same weaknesses, the same softness inside that must be hidden, the same anger and coldbloodedness. Their difference is what makes the play exciting - Richardson portrays the elder Tyrone as controlled, weepy, but holding despair at bay with the strength of his will. Robards is robust, uncontrolled, despairing, doomed. In the end, though he has the least screen time, Robards is given the best scene in the movie. It is the most emotional, in a movie where you think there is no more emotion to wring, and he steps up brilliantly to show the infinite grace and the infinite waste of a drunken, gifted man on the inexorable road downward.
As Richardson said, "The greatest actors in the world do more than hold up the mirror to nature, they hold the crystal ball up to nature - that imaginative, hypnotic glass in which we can perhaps glimpse heaven....and hell." Both Richardson and Robards do this, and the one thing I wished was that Robards and Richardson had had more scenes together. Unfortunately, their characters are always being deflected from one another by Hepburn and Stockwell.
The movie shows us how the inability to really forgive, or to let go can be devastating to a family. Who or what is to blame when a family is broken? One can't blame events, they are not flesh and blood that you can lash out at. But one can lash out at a man or woman's human failings. You lash out at the person who is there, until the habit of blaming is so set, there is no way to stop yourself from tearing your partner, your son, your brother, your mother, to shreds.
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JackFavell
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Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
Well, because I was so emotionally weakened by Long Day's Journey, I leapt in and re-watched The Fallen Idol yesterday.
I hadn't seen it in a while, and had forgotten some of the most wonderful and frightening aspects of the movie. Richardson has always held me so spellbound that anything that is not about him falls away from my memory of this movie.
I would love to see a day of movies told from the viewpoint of children on TCM one day. I think a good line-up would be
Meet Me in St. Louis
Curse of the Cat People
The Fallen Idol
Night of the Hunter
maybe
The 400 Blows No. That one is too scary.
The night-time hide and seek game to make Phil forget his pet snake really stands out for me now. So vivid and pleasurable, and terribly scary, it will have you on the edge of your seat. I literally sucked in my breath when I saw those legs from under the table, even though I had seen it before:
Phil thinks thee are Julie's legs, but are they?
Notice the open door behind little Phil.... who is behind it I wonder?
Baines turning off and on the lights to make it more fun.
"We'll catch him and kill him..."
What a tour de force of film-making. The dutch angles, the deep black and white contrast, the low light, the sheets flying in the air like ghosts, Baines, Julie and Phillip all dashing madly about like maniacs.... then the silence of the dining room...waiting....and the patterns on the floor as the lights are flickering on and off.... This is why Reed is one of my favorite directors.
I hadn't seen it in a while, and had forgotten some of the most wonderful and frightening aspects of the movie. Richardson has always held me so spellbound that anything that is not about him falls away from my memory of this movie.
I would love to see a day of movies told from the viewpoint of children on TCM one day. I think a good line-up would be
Meet Me in St. Louis
Curse of the Cat People
The Fallen Idol
Night of the Hunter
maybe
The 400 Blows No. That one is too scary.
The night-time hide and seek game to make Phil forget his pet snake really stands out for me now. So vivid and pleasurable, and terribly scary, it will have you on the edge of your seat. I literally sucked in my breath when I saw those legs from under the table, even though I had seen it before:
Phil thinks thee are Julie's legs, but are they?
Notice the open door behind little Phil.... who is behind it I wonder?
Baines turning off and on the lights to make it more fun.
"We'll catch him and kill him..."
What a tour de force of film-making. The dutch angles, the deep black and white contrast, the low light, the sheets flying in the air like ghosts, Baines, Julie and Phillip all dashing madly about like maniacs.... then the silence of the dining room...waiting....and the patterns on the floor as the lights are flickering on and off.... This is why Reed is one of my favorite directors.
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JackFavell
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Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
I watched the Ingrid Bergman version of Hedda Gabler recently. It is on youtube here:
[youtube][/youtube]
Ralph Richardson is very good, playing Hedda's calculating friend, Judge Brack, but all the actors look just the wee tiniest bit uncomfortable with the live TV performance. Richardson could do this part in his sleep, I think. Bergman really gets to the heart of Hedda in a naturalistic way. I love Ingrid and think she can do no wrong, but somehow, at least to me, a less sympathetic, more theatrical performance might have been more exciting.
I also can't for the life of me figure out why Michael Redgrave and Trevor Howard did not switch roles. Howard simply did not fit the role of Eilert Lovborg, the reformed lusty god of literature with the poetic soul, I just could not get around his plain, stubby, pompous performance.
Part of my problem with this version, which was acted well, if not spectacularly, is that I saw a version of Hedda when I was a young girl that completely enthralled me - it is also on youtube, and stars Janet Suzman. I haven't yet re-watched it, but I will post it for those of you who like to compare dramas.
[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]
Ralph Richardson is very good, playing Hedda's calculating friend, Judge Brack, but all the actors look just the wee tiniest bit uncomfortable with the live TV performance. Richardson could do this part in his sleep, I think. Bergman really gets to the heart of Hedda in a naturalistic way. I love Ingrid and think she can do no wrong, but somehow, at least to me, a less sympathetic, more theatrical performance might have been more exciting.
I also can't for the life of me figure out why Michael Redgrave and Trevor Howard did not switch roles. Howard simply did not fit the role of Eilert Lovborg, the reformed lusty god of literature with the poetic soul, I just could not get around his plain, stubby, pompous performance.
Part of my problem with this version, which was acted well, if not spectacularly, is that I saw a version of Hedda when I was a young girl that completely enthralled me - it is also on youtube, and stars Janet Suzman. I haven't yet re-watched it, but I will post it for those of you who like to compare dramas.
[youtube][/youtube]
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JackFavell
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Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
[youtube][/youtube]
I watched Sir Ralph Richardson as Toby Belch in Twelfth Night yesterday. I liked the way he shows up in the credits - his name is longer than anyone else's, and it gives him a stature before we even see him on stage, er, screen. It's a very stagey version of the play, by the way, but I like stagey.
Richardson is by far the most accomplished, most watchable actor in the play, but Alec Guinness gives him a good run for his money (sorry).
Sir Toby Belch (Richardson) is the highlight of the production, to me. Also his partner in crime Maria, played by Sheila Reid, who is a most gifted and natural actress. She has a flair for playing the good-natured buxom servant who wins Sir Toby on the strength of a prank. She remains a warm and charming presence even in plotting her joke against Malvolio. I was extremely jealous of this pretty and responsive actress getting to hug and kiss Sir Ralph and sit in his lap. She and Richardson were the only two who seemed to have the lively fun of a twelfth night celebration in mind.
Sir Ralph is absolutely wonderful - drawing himself up to his full 6 foot frame, large and beaming with drunken pride, wiggling with delight and enthusiasm, keeping himself from tripping down the stairs, heating up the ale and everything else, burping and doing a little descriptive ....what shall I call it? hip grinding when talking about women. You never know what he will do and it's captivating. It is the most physical Shakespeare I think I have ever seen, and I loved every minute of it, because it was tremendously exciting - bawdy and funny.
Richardson instinctively knows that Shakespeare is better when it is not held too high above people's heads. He is not afraid to get into the mud with it - many actors put the bard up on a pedestal and become stilted in doing so, some even in this television play. I think Richardson revered Shakespeare's verse, but knew that it means nothing without some reality thrown into the acting of it. In the comic parts, a little lowdown humanity is called for. It isn't that his Sir Toby is completely realistic, not in any way at all. He is a grand knight, larger than life. It's just that Richardson injects reality into his actions. Never does he "play" drunk. He does all the things a drunk would do - talking too loudly, catching himself off balance, putting his hands on others to steady himself, but never is he trite. He is the one member of the cast who does not seem to be memorizing his steps. He moves beautifully, as if he just thought of it, and makes a wonderful journey on the way to hitting his marks.
Sir Alec Guinness' Malvolio is a morbidly downbeat creature, if this were Spongebob, he would be Squidward. Slow moving and slow speaking, he is irritating beyond belief. I would have liked him a bit meaner at the beginning. Guinness is just a shade too nice to be played such a trick on, but i should not quibble. His prancing in his yellow gaiters is quite amusing, and even though it is right in the text that the ties are too tight, I think this is the first time I have ever seen it played that way perfectly. His ending line makes you wish there were a sequel, so he could turn villain in it. I would love to know if Malvolio ever got his revenge.
Joan Plowright as Viola speaks her lines reverentially and truthfully. I find that I was distracted by her puffed up hair, it annoyed me more than Malvolio's shatteringly slow gait. There is no hairspray in Illyria! I couldn't take my eyes off that puff. How unattractive it made her seem. I couldn't bear it and it ruined her performance for me.
The rest of the cast was ... less than. I enjoyed Christopher Timothy (who played James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small) had a small role and gave it all he had. I like him even though he simply stood around. Gary Raymond, who played Orsino was declamatory and reminded me a lot of James Craig. Adrienne Corri, as Olivia, was fairly good, and had a nice regal demeanor. John Moffatt as Andrew Aguecheek, who was always my favorite character, was more simpering than I would have thought any man could be. Tommy Steele played Feste, and I honestly don't know whether I thought he was great or awful. It's definitely the best thing I've seen Tommy Steele do, but his voice.... well I found it hard to take after a while, and there were times when the director lost control of him and his head was bobbing all over the place. Luckily, I could bump right through the songs.
The direction was alright too, if rather uninspired. A few parts delightful, and then others, merely good. Ah well, it is worth it just to glimpse two great actors doing what they do best.
I watched Sir Ralph Richardson as Toby Belch in Twelfth Night yesterday. I liked the way he shows up in the credits - his name is longer than anyone else's, and it gives him a stature before we even see him on stage, er, screen. It's a very stagey version of the play, by the way, but I like stagey.
Richardson is by far the most accomplished, most watchable actor in the play, but Alec Guinness gives him a good run for his money (sorry).
Sir Toby Belch (Richardson) is the highlight of the production, to me. Also his partner in crime Maria, played by Sheila Reid, who is a most gifted and natural actress. She has a flair for playing the good-natured buxom servant who wins Sir Toby on the strength of a prank. She remains a warm and charming presence even in plotting her joke against Malvolio. I was extremely jealous of this pretty and responsive actress getting to hug and kiss Sir Ralph and sit in his lap. She and Richardson were the only two who seemed to have the lively fun of a twelfth night celebration in mind.
Sir Ralph is absolutely wonderful - drawing himself up to his full 6 foot frame, large and beaming with drunken pride, wiggling with delight and enthusiasm, keeping himself from tripping down the stairs, heating up the ale and everything else, burping and doing a little descriptive ....what shall I call it? hip grinding when talking about women. You never know what he will do and it's captivating. It is the most physical Shakespeare I think I have ever seen, and I loved every minute of it, because it was tremendously exciting - bawdy and funny.
Richardson instinctively knows that Shakespeare is better when it is not held too high above people's heads. He is not afraid to get into the mud with it - many actors put the bard up on a pedestal and become stilted in doing so, some even in this television play. I think Richardson revered Shakespeare's verse, but knew that it means nothing without some reality thrown into the acting of it. In the comic parts, a little lowdown humanity is called for. It isn't that his Sir Toby is completely realistic, not in any way at all. He is a grand knight, larger than life. It's just that Richardson injects reality into his actions. Never does he "play" drunk. He does all the things a drunk would do - talking too loudly, catching himself off balance, putting his hands on others to steady himself, but never is he trite. He is the one member of the cast who does not seem to be memorizing his steps. He moves beautifully, as if he just thought of it, and makes a wonderful journey on the way to hitting his marks.
Sir Alec Guinness' Malvolio is a morbidly downbeat creature, if this were Spongebob, he would be Squidward. Slow moving and slow speaking, he is irritating beyond belief. I would have liked him a bit meaner at the beginning. Guinness is just a shade too nice to be played such a trick on, but i should not quibble. His prancing in his yellow gaiters is quite amusing, and even though it is right in the text that the ties are too tight, I think this is the first time I have ever seen it played that way perfectly. His ending line makes you wish there were a sequel, so he could turn villain in it. I would love to know if Malvolio ever got his revenge.
Joan Plowright as Viola speaks her lines reverentially and truthfully. I find that I was distracted by her puffed up hair, it annoyed me more than Malvolio's shatteringly slow gait. There is no hairspray in Illyria! I couldn't take my eyes off that puff. How unattractive it made her seem. I couldn't bear it and it ruined her performance for me.
The rest of the cast was ... less than. I enjoyed Christopher Timothy (who played James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small) had a small role and gave it all he had. I like him even though he simply stood around. Gary Raymond, who played Orsino was declamatory and reminded me a lot of James Craig. Adrienne Corri, as Olivia, was fairly good, and had a nice regal demeanor. John Moffatt as Andrew Aguecheek, who was always my favorite character, was more simpering than I would have thought any man could be. Tommy Steele played Feste, and I honestly don't know whether I thought he was great or awful. It's definitely the best thing I've seen Tommy Steele do, but his voice.... well I found it hard to take after a while, and there were times when the director lost control of him and his head was bobbing all over the place. Luckily, I could bump right through the songs.
The direction was alright too, if rather uninspired. A few parts delightful, and then others, merely good. Ah well, it is worth it just to glimpse two great actors doing what they do best.
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JackFavell
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Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
According to biographer Garry O'Connor, Ralph Richardson's first marriage to actress Muriel Hewitt was a defining event in Sir Ralph's life. Richardson, later on, when pressed, said that Muriel was "most assuredly in heaven". This is one of the few available quotes from him about Muriel Hewitt, for he seldom spoke of her.
Richardson and Hewitt met when she joined Charles Doran's company at the age of fifteen. Ralph Richardson was just 20, already a seasoned actor, and took it upon himself to be her guardian angel. He had an odd, old fashioned air about him that suited a man of thirty, not twenty, and she brought out his protective instincts. She was small, delicate looking, with almond shaped eyes and instinctive responses. He took her for rides in his car, which was always a passion for him. She was lithe, like a dancer, and had "the heart of a lion" according to Richardson. Once, he came upon her at her apartments, having just frightened off a burglar. Instead of shaking or crying, Muriel, or "Kit" (short for kitten), was ready to plunge after the man and felt cheated that she couldn't lay hands on him.
Kit could have been one of the great English actresses. Her first role was as Puck, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, that same year of 1923. It seems to be almost unheard of in Repertory theatre that a new student would take such a role, but Hewitt was extremely talented, and more to the point, looked like a young boy.
She was attracted to Ralph almost immediately, though they were polar opposites - he was clumsy and searching - blundering into his newfound role as actor by accident, making strides at random. She was graceful, direct, dry and precise in her approach. They both shared ambition. Richardson was not all a bumbling fool, he was also charming, humorous, courteous, and enormously reliable. They saw one another every day for the next year.
In Devonshire Cream
They separated when Ralph left the company to tour in modern dress plays, but at the end of another year, he could not bear to be without her anymore. His poetry, wit and innocence had touched her heart, and she left the company to be with him. They married and were taken into the Birmingham Repertory, proving ground for so many great actors, under a joint contract. She was seventeen, he, 22.
She advanced much more quickly than did Ralph. She was, according to Ralph,
Richardson and Hewitt met when she joined Charles Doran's company at the age of fifteen. Ralph Richardson was just 20, already a seasoned actor, and took it upon himself to be her guardian angel. He had an odd, old fashioned air about him that suited a man of thirty, not twenty, and she brought out his protective instincts. She was small, delicate looking, with almond shaped eyes and instinctive responses. He took her for rides in his car, which was always a passion for him. She was lithe, like a dancer, and had "the heart of a lion" according to Richardson. Once, he came upon her at her apartments, having just frightened off a burglar. Instead of shaking or crying, Muriel, or "Kit" (short for kitten), was ready to plunge after the man and felt cheated that she couldn't lay hands on him.
Kit could have been one of the great English actresses. Her first role was as Puck, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, that same year of 1923. It seems to be almost unheard of in Repertory theatre that a new student would take such a role, but Hewitt was extremely talented, and more to the point, looked like a young boy.
She was attracted to Ralph almost immediately, though they were polar opposites - he was clumsy and searching - blundering into his newfound role as actor by accident, making strides at random. She was graceful, direct, dry and precise in her approach. They both shared ambition. Richardson was not all a bumbling fool, he was also charming, humorous, courteous, and enormously reliable. They saw one another every day for the next year.
In Devonshire Cream
They separated when Ralph left the company to tour in modern dress plays, but at the end of another year, he could not bear to be without her anymore. His poetry, wit and innocence had touched her heart, and she left the company to be with him. They married and were taken into the Birmingham Repertory, proving ground for so many great actors, under a joint contract. She was seventeen, he, 22.
She advanced much more quickly than did Ralph. She was, according to Ralph,
He collected her notices more assiduously than he did his own. Her Ophelia was considered to be one of the best of the time, for according to critics, she "made Ophelia real, tormented and extremely moving". She had a bright future ahead of her."The perfect example of the natural actress. Nothing was any trouble for her, everything she did was right. Grace in movement, with perfect diction and a serenity unruffled under any stage conditions."
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moira finnie
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Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
but if JackFavell doesn't finish this compelling story by the end of today I may be tempted to do so...
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet I'm not going to cheat by looking up Muriel Hewitt on the internet
but if JackFavell doesn't finish this compelling story by the end of today I may be tempted to do so...
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JackFavell
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Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
I'm working on the finish! I was afraid that my long post would either be deleted, or that I would bore everyone to death by writing the full story. Sorry!
Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
Bore?!? I'm on the edge of my seat wondering what comes next! (I have a feeling it won't be happy...)
But Moira and I will be patient. :) I'll just go post some Branded pics you know where while I chill out waiting. ;)
But Moira and I will be patient. :) I'll just go post some Branded pics you know where while I chill out waiting. ;)
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JackFavell
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Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
Kit moved up much more rapidly than did Ralph at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. She started work in the main London troupe, while Ralph was relegated to the number 2 company, which stayed in Birmingham. Still, he did well at what he was given. He starred as Dick Whittington in The Christmas Party that year:
with Jean Herbert
He then took the role of Dearth in Dear Brutus. In this play he was rejoined by Kit, who played the dream daughter.
J.C. Trewin, the knighted drama critic described her as
Olivier thought Richardson was "unreasonably ponderous and huffy". Richardson thought Olivier callow and presumptuous, "a cocky young pup full of fire and energy". Richardson finally offered to take Olivier for a drive - he was inordinately fond of cars and kept his polished right down to the spokes. He was showing off. Olivier, Kit and Ralph all squashed into the front seat. The car overheated, and as Ralph hopped out to see what had happened, Kit and Olivier started talking excitedly about the play, not paying the least attention to Ralph. He pulled the radiator cap off as steam came whistling out of the radiator. It might as well have been out of his ears because by this time he was really mad. Olivier jumped out, rushed up to Richardson, and instead of asking if he could help, asked of he could call Muriel, "Kit".
The next play Richardson did was in London and was called Yellow Sands. It was a step up. He and Kit both got good reviews from critic James Agate, though Kit had a more prominent role, and received more praise from the fussy critic - "one will look for her again." Yellow Sands ran for 610 performances, and Richardson credited the long run with the making of him as an actor.
with Viola Lyel and Cedric Hardwicke in Yellow Sands
At this point, Olivier went into a down point in his life - his marriage was breaking up. The two actors had worked together on 3 plays. No one seems to know who broke the ice, whether Ralph took the kindly initiative or whether Olivier warmed, but they started going out for drinks together at lunch. Their cock of the walk rivalry transferred itself to cars, with Olivier taking Ralph's car at fifty miles an hour through a crossroads in town ("If I live to be hundreds and hundreds of years old, Laurence, I shall never forgive you for that.") . Richardson retaliated by driving Olivier's American car at eighty past Apsley house from Picadilly. "Sheer madness!" according to Olivier. They became friends.
with Olivier (right) in Bees on the Boatdeck
Garry O'Connor, Richardson's biographer, says that at this point during the run of Yellow Sands:
It took some time for the disease to progress in Kit's case. Kit was left an invalid, dull and lifeless - she who had been the essence of gay and reckless youth. Then she would have periods of seemingly spontaneous recovery. Always she fell back into the waking sleep. Meanwhile, Ralph had to step up, work even harder to make money in order to find help for Kit at home or for visits to the hospital. Eventually, he hired a couple to look after her when he was working, and spent his free time trying to comfort her as best he could, in her dream-like state. He himself would have said that his own feelings were nothing, and should not be considered in light of Kit's own sufferings. He did say that it was unspeakably hard for her to bear.
There was no scandal ever written of in Richardson's life at this time. If a reporter came backstage, he would most likely find Richardson smoking a pipe quietly. He threw himself into work and action, taking up motorcycling, joining men's clubs, pal-ing around with Olivier and Gielgud, who had also become his dear friend. He painted, golfed, played tennis and squash avidly, as he did for the rest of his life. He read literature.
Around 1940, Kit moved to the country with the couple who were her caregivers because of the war. She remained young looking, half dreaming her life away. She had been somewhat able to care for herself, paralysis had not yet gotten hold of her. She remained uncomplaining and tried to be cheerful. Ralph was driving on his motorcycle to see her one day, and was rushing. He was in a near fatal crash, landing on his head after being thrown 40 feet. He was in the hospital for weeks, but Kit was able to come and see him. He thought it tremendously brave of her.
In 1942, while Ralph was in the military, kit was taken to her doctor - she complained of intense pain in her back which signalled a lumbar puncture. This meant the disease was progressing. She started having terrible spasms, unable to control her movements. Each spasm was followed by an inability to move. Her caregivers had to watch carefully, if she fell into an uncomfortable position, she would have to be lifted in order to get some relief. She was subject to chills and often had to wear scarves and sweaters. Bed was the most dangerous place for her due to the chance of suffocation, if she were to fall she would be unable to lift herself. There was ongoing, agonizing pain throughout the month, and on October 4th 1942, she told her helper Violet that she didn't think she could bear the pain any longer. That night, she was reading with the light on. The next morning, she was face down on the pillow, which was higher than normal, with a red scarf wrapped around the bedpost and a knot at her neck. She had suffocated sometime in the night.
Kit Hewitt was only 35 years old. It had been fourteen years since her last stage appearance in Yellow Sands.
Garry O'Connor attributes Ralph's ability to show compassion, even for the weakest of characters, to his experience of Muriel's tragedy. He thinks that perhaps something of Muriel survives in Sir Ralph's work.
with Jean Herbert
He then took the role of Dearth in Dear Brutus. In this play he was rejoined by Kit, who played the dream daughter.
J.C. Trewin, the knighted drama critic described her as
Kept apart again by work, The two struggled along separately, Richardson was lonely in Bimingham. Kit unwittingly picked up a young admirer in her company. Only nineteen years old, with unruly black hair and impossibly thick eyebrows, this young man seemed unperturbed that Kit was already married. He was egotistical enough to think he could win her away. Ralph got a chance to meet this younger rival on the stage when they performed the inauspicous Barber and the Cow in London. They disliked one another immediately, striving against one another on stage and off. Ralph learned the young man's name was Laurence Olivier."crying from the impalpable that is carrying her away, "Come back; I don't want to be a might-have-been."
Olivier thought Richardson was "unreasonably ponderous and huffy". Richardson thought Olivier callow and presumptuous, "a cocky young pup full of fire and energy". Richardson finally offered to take Olivier for a drive - he was inordinately fond of cars and kept his polished right down to the spokes. He was showing off. Olivier, Kit and Ralph all squashed into the front seat. The car overheated, and as Ralph hopped out to see what had happened, Kit and Olivier started talking excitedly about the play, not paying the least attention to Ralph. He pulled the radiator cap off as steam came whistling out of the radiator. It might as well have been out of his ears because by this time he was really mad. Olivier jumped out, rushed up to Richardson, and instead of asking if he could help, asked of he could call Muriel, "Kit".
The next play Richardson did was in London and was called Yellow Sands. It was a step up. He and Kit both got good reviews from critic James Agate, though Kit had a more prominent role, and received more praise from the fussy critic - "one will look for her again." Yellow Sands ran for 610 performances, and Richardson credited the long run with the making of him as an actor.
with Viola Lyel and Cedric Hardwicke in Yellow Sands
At this point, Olivier went into a down point in his life - his marriage was breaking up. The two actors had worked together on 3 plays. No one seems to know who broke the ice, whether Ralph took the kindly initiative or whether Olivier warmed, but they started going out for drinks together at lunch. Their cock of the walk rivalry transferred itself to cars, with Olivier taking Ralph's car at fifty miles an hour through a crossroads in town ("If I live to be hundreds and hundreds of years old, Laurence, I shall never forgive you for that.") . Richardson retaliated by driving Olivier's American car at eighty past Apsley house from Picadilly. "Sheer madness!" according to Olivier. They became friends.
with Olivier (right) in Bees on the Boatdeck
Garry O'Connor, Richardson's biographer, says that at this point during the run of Yellow Sands:
Many who were infected with the disease died in the first stage - settling so deeply into slumber that they couldn't be wakened. Many recovered, but the severest attacks left those who survived in a kind of waking sleep, sapped of their vitality and completely unable to do anything. The disease was not diagnosed at the time, and was surrounded with a lot of fear and superstition. Ralph, when asked some years later, said that Kit's career had been "brilliant but brief" and that her courage was terribly tested. She fell under "some rare and nervous attack, perhaps akin to polio." This attests to his foundering when it came to knowing what was really happening. Sleeping sickness seems to have been similar to Parkinsons. Around 1960, medicine was found that helped wake these sleepers, sometimes in people who had had it for years - I believe the movie Awakenings was about this very illness.A perceptive member of the audience might, on some nights of the play's long run, have noticed strange and worrying signs in Kit's behaviour on stage. At one point, she might be seen to be blinking several times as if her vision suddenly clouded and she had to clear it, but it wouldn't wipe clean. At another time she might catch her hand involuntarily trembling as she raised it to another member of the cast. On a third occasion she might feel an irresistible urge to run across the stage when she knew she had to execute a carefully measured walk.
She had been caught in an epidemic of worldwide proportions which before it had finished had taken or ravaged the lives of nearly five million people - and which then disappeared as mysteriously and suddenly as it had arrived. The year she was infected, 1927, was the year sleeping or 'sleepy' sickness, encephalitis lethargica, ceased to spread. She was among the last to catch it.
It took some time for the disease to progress in Kit's case. Kit was left an invalid, dull and lifeless - she who had been the essence of gay and reckless youth. Then she would have periods of seemingly spontaneous recovery. Always she fell back into the waking sleep. Meanwhile, Ralph had to step up, work even harder to make money in order to find help for Kit at home or for visits to the hospital. Eventually, he hired a couple to look after her when he was working, and spent his free time trying to comfort her as best he could, in her dream-like state. He himself would have said that his own feelings were nothing, and should not be considered in light of Kit's own sufferings. He did say that it was unspeakably hard for her to bear.
There was no scandal ever written of in Richardson's life at this time. If a reporter came backstage, he would most likely find Richardson smoking a pipe quietly. He threw himself into work and action, taking up motorcycling, joining men's clubs, pal-ing around with Olivier and Gielgud, who had also become his dear friend. He painted, golfed, played tennis and squash avidly, as he did for the rest of his life. He read literature.
Around 1940, Kit moved to the country with the couple who were her caregivers because of the war. She remained young looking, half dreaming her life away. She had been somewhat able to care for herself, paralysis had not yet gotten hold of her. She remained uncomplaining and tried to be cheerful. Ralph was driving on his motorcycle to see her one day, and was rushing. He was in a near fatal crash, landing on his head after being thrown 40 feet. He was in the hospital for weeks, but Kit was able to come and see him. He thought it tremendously brave of her.
In 1942, while Ralph was in the military, kit was taken to her doctor - she complained of intense pain in her back which signalled a lumbar puncture. This meant the disease was progressing. She started having terrible spasms, unable to control her movements. Each spasm was followed by an inability to move. Her caregivers had to watch carefully, if she fell into an uncomfortable position, she would have to be lifted in order to get some relief. She was subject to chills and often had to wear scarves and sweaters. Bed was the most dangerous place for her due to the chance of suffocation, if she were to fall she would be unable to lift herself. There was ongoing, agonizing pain throughout the month, and on October 4th 1942, she told her helper Violet that she didn't think she could bear the pain any longer. That night, she was reading with the light on. The next morning, she was face down on the pillow, which was higher than normal, with a red scarf wrapped around the bedpost and a knot at her neck. She had suffocated sometime in the night.
Kit Hewitt was only 35 years old. It had been fourteen years since her last stage appearance in Yellow Sands.
Garry O'Connor attributes Ralph's ability to show compassion, even for the weakest of characters, to his experience of Muriel's tragedy. He thinks that perhaps something of Muriel survives in Sir Ralph's work.
Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
Ohhhh. That is the saddest thing. :( To be caught in a lingering decline like that. :(
That is correct.I believe the movie Awakenings was about this very illness.
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JackFavell
- Posts: 11926
- Joined: April 20th, 2009, 9:56 am
Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
Personally, though there is not a shred of evidence written up in any books, I think Kit's dreadful lingering illness and eventual death reverberates in all of Richardson's film work, from about 1938 onward. I don't know that he ever got over it.
I do think that he carried Kit with him through the years, somewhere within him, kept away from the public eye, as O'Connor has suggested. Though again, there is only conjecture.
I see a lot of incredibly textured layers in his best film work, as well as an unfathomably deep emotion that he lets loose very rarely - a combination of suffering, pain, helplessness and guilt, all of which I am sure he knew about intimately. There is also denial - a turning away from things too tragic to talk about or acknowledge. These add richness to his performances, but must have been the very devil to face when working in front of the camera or on the stage. Perhaps he never confronted these demons, but left them to be worked out in character form - we most certainly recognize them in the characters he played.
I do think that he carried Kit with him through the years, somewhere within him, kept away from the public eye, as O'Connor has suggested. Though again, there is only conjecture.
I see a lot of incredibly textured layers in his best film work, as well as an unfathomably deep emotion that he lets loose very rarely - a combination of suffering, pain, helplessness and guilt, all of which I am sure he knew about intimately. There is also denial - a turning away from things too tragic to talk about or acknowledge. These add richness to his performances, but must have been the very devil to face when working in front of the camera or on the stage. Perhaps he never confronted these demons, but left them to be worked out in character form - we most certainly recognize them in the characters he played.
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Bronxgirl48
- Posts: 1604
- Joined: May 1st, 2009, 2:06 am
Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
Hello, Jackie!
Wonderful to see a Sir Ralph thread, because, out of the "Big Three", he's the most "natural". Richardson has an ease of technique that seems quite remarkable to me; I never really catch him "acting". The characters just seem like extensions of his eccentric-uncle self, lol.
Wonderful to see a Sir Ralph thread, because, out of the "Big Three", he's the most "natural". Richardson has an ease of technique that seems quite remarkable to me; I never really catch him "acting". The characters just seem like extensions of his eccentric-uncle self, lol.
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Bronxgirl48
- Posts: 1604
- Joined: May 1st, 2009, 2:06 am
Re: Ralph Richardson, film actor
I've been incredibly ignorant about Richardson's wife, her tragic illness and death, and how this might possibly have affected and informed many if not all of his performances. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.