Miranda Richardson, underrated British actress

[stuart.uk]

A British actress that maybe doesn't get the same recognition as Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Kate Winslet or Emma Thompson, but IMO she's a great modern day actress.

I've only seen her play 4 roles, but one was in the failed sit-com Viviane Vile, which starred Jennifer Saunders, as a sort of female Jerry Springer. The show died.

However, in the other 3 Miranda was brilliant, playing 3 famous real life characters from history. Admittedly the 1st was a spoof when Miranda played Elizabeth 1st in Blackadder with Rowan Atkinson, but IMO her best role came in The Lost Prince when she played Queen Mary from the early 1900s till the end of WW1, even managing to make the prim and proper Queen sexy as she aged from her late 30s to her 50s. She potrayed Mary in a restrained prim and proper manner, she still managed to show her as a caring woman, who loved her children

Though it was a small supporting role, Miranda stole IMO the show with her performance as the formitable Cabinet Minister Barbara Castle in Made In Dagenham

[JackFavell]

Oh, man! You hit on one of my very favorite actresses! Even if she had only played Elizabeth I in Blackadder II, I would have loved her. She is the best thing about the series, and that is saying a lot, considering the cast. I also like her very much as Amy Hardwood, the Elusive Shadow in Black Adder the Third.

She was superb in Enchanted April, of our four heroines, she and Polly Walker are my favorites, though I love them all. Rose Arbuthnot's shyness just oozes from her pores, and the scene in which she basks in the sun shows just how beautiful she really is. I always want her to run away with Michael Kitchen though.

She is ALWAYS memorable. In The Young Victoria, she makes you despise her only to turn you around at the end and make you feel sorry for her.

I highly recommend Dance with a Stranger, in which she played hard Ruth Ellis.

Other films in which she stands out are The Hours, in which she plays Vanessa Bell, sister of Virginia Woolf, and Empire of the Sun.

She is marvelous as the voice of Mrs. Tweedy in Chicken Run, which is also HIGHLY recommended (by me).

[stuart.uk]

Wendy

Here's 2 links from The Lost Prince

[JackFavell]

I saw it when it was on here, but thanks for the links. It was very good, one of the best shows I've seen in the last few years.

[Lzcutter]

Jacks,

I totally agree with you about Miranda Richardson and the Black Adder series. It is one of my very favorite series of all times and both hysterically funny and very touching, especially in the final season.

[JackFavell]

Lynn, I just started re-watching Black Adder, and its still just as funny, if not funnier now.

[CineMaven]

I will never forget her performance in "DAMAGE." Her reaction when she discovers her husband's infidelity chilled me to the bone. Richardson, Judy Davis and Wendy Hughes are among film's unsung treasures. They're about the work.

[stuart.uk]

BBC - Films - Made in Dagenham
Made in Dagenham shows how, at some expense to their family lives, in a country ... strikes, and with a little help from colourful political firebrand Barbara Castle, the Dagenham ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms/film/made_in_dagenham

Here's the trailer to Made In Dagenham, another great Richardson performance

[Rita Hayworth]

Jacks,

I totally agree with you about Miranda Richardson and the Black Adder series. It is one of my very favorite series of all times and both hysterically funny and very touching, especially in the final season.

Lynn, I just started re-watching Black Adder, and its still just as funny, if not funnier now.

I will put my 2 cents in this thread ... I like the Black Adder series too. She was fabulous as Queenie ... she was a hoot!

I just love the expressions on this wonderful series

[JackFavell]

I totally agree, Maven - love Richardson, love Davis, don't know much of Wendy Hughes. Damage was not a comfortable movie to watch, but Richardson was compelling. Have you seen Dance with a Stranger? It might be something you would like.

[srowley75]

I'm a rabid Miranda Richardson fan. I recently saw Dance WIth a Stranger for the first time and thought her superb. And I thought she was robbed -big time - of a Supporting Actress Oscar in 1992, for either Damage (for which she was nominated) or The Crying Game. I'm also wanting to see Made in Dagenham.

If this I, Claudius movie that's been talked about on and off for years ever materializes, she must play Livia or else I won't see it.

[charliechaplinfan]

I love her Queenie in Blackadder II, despite my brother having the series on video in the 80s, it got played over and over again, yet the set of characters don't lose their hilarity. I just wonder how many people actually think that Elizabeth I was like Queenie.

I've loved her in all her roles since.

[JackFavell]

One could only hope so.

[stuart.uk]

What about a biopic of Barbara Castle, whom she played in Made In Dagenham. Castle in the 60s and mid 70s was probably the most powerful female polititian in the UKs history. maybe even the Western world

[CineMaven]

Jackaaaaaaay, I saw "Dance With a Stranger" when it came out, but to be honest I don't remember the details. But how can I call myself a Richardson fan if I haven't seen "Black Adder" huh? Yeah, I"ve never.