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| As Sebastian Flyte from Brideshead Revisited (1981) |
Go to the Anthony Andrews Blog Count or the Delights of Anthony Andrews . . . or a Valentine's Month Blog Hop! pages for links to the other blog hop participant articles!
And here's the official kick-off for my Valentine's Month Blog Hop for Anthony Andrews!
Ordinarily, I don't like to look up information on the actors I adore. You never know what you might find, but I made an exception for Anthony Andrews because I feel that nothing will change my opinion of him. He's not perfect and I can't expect that of him. And delving a little bit into his personal life won't do me any harm.
Keep going into the post to see more!
Since I'll be starting the Blog Hop with his Ivanhoe from 1982, I figured it would be loads of fun to share this article that I found:
With Ivanhoe and Brideshead, Anthony Andrews' Career Is Picking Up
You get delicious information on him as an actor from 1982, back when he was 34-years-old. You might also find out some things that will shock you, like why he chose to play Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited. I won't go into details on the specifics of that role for this post, but I certainly will once I re-watch and write a post for the film itself. There's a lot of food for thought in Evelyn Waugh's story (one of my favs), and I intend to contemplate it from numerous angles.
I'm even going to try my hand at The Pallisers from 1974! He would have been . . . let's see, 26 at the time. I've never seen him that young!
Remember, if you post anything about Anthony this month, feel free to share it on my Linky down below! :)
Ordinarily, I don't like to look up information on the actors I adore. You never know what you might find, but I made an exception for Anthony Andrews because I feel that nothing will change my opinion of him. He's not perfect and I can't expect that of him. And delving a little bit into his personal life won't do me any harm.
Keep going into the post to see more!
Since I'll be starting the Blog Hop with his Ivanhoe from 1982, I figured it would be loads of fun to share this article that I found:
With Ivanhoe and Brideshead, Anthony Andrews' Career Is Picking Up
You get delicious information on him as an actor from 1982, back when he was 34-years-old. You might also find out some things that will shock you, like why he chose to play Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited. I won't go into details on the specifics of that role for this post, but I certainly will once I re-watch and write a post for the film itself. There's a lot of food for thought in Evelyn Waugh's story (one of my favs), and I intend to contemplate it from numerous angles.
I'm even going to try my hand at The Pallisers from 1974! He would have been . . . let's see, 26 at the time. I've never seen him that young!
Remember, if you post anything about Anthony this month, feel free to share it on my Linky down below! :)
Aww, I LOVE him!! It all started for me with his turn as Sir Percy in The Scarlet Pimpernel miniseries. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's when my love for him started too! If you care to participate, the more the merrier! :)
DeleteI hope you come out the other side of Brideshead Revisited alive. It nearly killed me. I don't know how a six hour movie with two actors I like so very much in it can be less entertaining than watching paint dry, but it took me four goes to get all the way through it -- and that was only because I swore I would not stop until the end.
ReplyDelete*laughs* I remember how you suffered. I never finished it because school started up again, but I admit, it was a bit of a slow mover. Maybe a tad too long. I do love the book though and finished it in 4 days if I remember right. I'm excited to sit down and rediscover the story. I think I'm in the minority of Christians who love it, though! ;)
DeleteIt has some good things and some bad things in it -- story wise. (I quite liked the two hour version with Emma Thompson in it, but it has some moral flaws too.) It's... difficult at times to know what the author meant by it -- is it a condemnation of religion or an affirmation of it? Sebastian struggles mightily because his faith makes his homosexuality a guilt-ridden thing for him, but in the end, in spite of his downfall, the faith of the family attracts the main character to the faith. It's... strange.
DeleteIt's how I feel about The Great Gatsby. There are so many nuggets to be found, possibilities to be gleaned from Brideshead that I love mulling over it. Sebastian is, for me, one of the most tragic character in literary history. A lot of Christians are afraid to discuss homosexuality, but I'm really not, especially characters like Sebastian that are obviously torn between their faith and their baser desires.
DeleteHe is one of my favorite characters of all time, and I just wish I had time to re-read the book for this blog hop. If I started now, I might get the book read in time to post in the 3rd week or so, but I'm not sure if I want to go to that much effort.
The book isn't really that long, from what I remember -- it just FEELS long because it's slow-moving. Maybe I can get it read.
DeleteThe theological problem with Sebastian is that many would point at him as an example of why Christianity is so awful -- it riddled his life with so much guilt that he eventually became an alcoholic. They would argue that had he abandoned it and embraced his sexuality, he would have been happier, but because it was so much a part of who he was, it destroyed him. You can see why Christians might want to avoid this particular book, because it makes a magnificent case for "the other side" of the argument.
That's true, it's not that long. I just put it on hold so it should be available within a day or two. If I just sit down and start reading I'll get it finished within a week.
DeleteWhat a lot of Christians forget is that we need to know what the other side is saying. So many Christians flip out and refuse to read something because it's "of the devil." Seriously, that's what a fellow student said about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in one of my lit classes. Really?! How weak is your (not meaning you, of course) faith if it's going to be blasted to bits by a novel? I'm tired of being afraid of what classics might mean to "the other side." I want to know what they might mean for our side.
Sebastian is actually an iconic representation of the author's belief in redemption through suffering -- which is kind of the crux of the entire novel. But I'll save further explanations for my blog post on Sebastian and his teddy bear.
DeleteI don't know why Christians fear books. It's stupid. (It's one point a guy pastor made about why men don't "dig" Christianity all that much in modern times -- "dude, you're afraid of a little wizard with glasses flying around on a broom?! That's LAME!") I may profoundly disagree with them and refuse to read them for that reason, but I'm not afraid of a book. What's it going to do, bonk me on the head in the middle of the night? =P
I will never read any of Dan Brown's books, not out of fear, but because I would ignite them with my eyes. Nothing he says will change my mind, so why read a book where I'll just fume through the entire thing?
DeleteI'm so excited for your post tomorrow!
I hope it passes muster -- I only rewrote it six times. ;)
DeletePS: I'd suggest watching it together (Brideshead Revisited) -- but... dude, that's 11 hours long!
ReplyDeleteHey, I just ordered it on blu-ray so if you want to, I'm game for it! I could end the blog hop with posts on Brideshead. That could be fun!
DeleteI... don't know. I remember finding it REALLY slow-moving. But if you want to bring it, I guess we could watch one episode together and see what happens. Maybe my tastes have changed as an adult. Or maybe I'll fall asleep. ;)
DeleteHe was in an episode of Marple...while the adaptation is HIGHLY inaccurate, his part is great fun. He was also in an episode of Rosemary and Thyme, both of which I've seen on YouTube. Um...in the eighties he was in an adaptation of Sparkling Cyanide, and definitely check out both the 1974 and 2000 versions of David Copperfield when he played James Steerforth and Mr. Murdstone, respectively. The Woman He Loved with Jane Seymour was a very interesting (and I suspect rather whitewashed) version of the Edward/Wallis Simpson affair, but I believe it's off YouTube now. Jewels is an adaptation of a Danielle Steele novel. While some parts are a bit corny (and it's not worth following after his character dies), his character is really sweet in it. Anyway, those are some of my favorites off the top of my head. I've seen roughly 20+ films/shows/miniseries that he's in - results of a crazy binge a few years ago - sooooooz I have a lot to recommend! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm abooooout a fourth of the way through Brideshead the miniseries after reading the book last year. Such a tragic story, like Gatsby.
Anyway! What an exciting blog-hop! Really looking forward to reading more!
Yeah!! I'm glad you came on over! And thanks for all those recommendations! I'm dying to see Jewels, but my library doesn't have it. I might have to hunt around a bit on Youtube for some of the others that you've mentioned. I had no idea that Anthony and Jane had done another film together! At some point I'll write for Ivanhoe too, possibly a couple of posts since I've got a couple of different angles that could use expounding.
DeleteI'm planning to release new posts every Mon, Wed, and Fri, and maybe one on Saturday, a smallish one. My post for this Friday is on Tommy and Tuppence from that episode of Marple you mentioned! I just saw the episode last night and LOVED it, even though it's nothing like the book. I read it several years ago and I don't recall Miss Marple being in it, unless I've gone totally nuts.
Brideshead. The blu-ray was probably delivered to my house this afternoon, and I'll spend the next couple of weeks watching it, and possibly re-reading the novel. It's been a long time, even though the book is one of my favorites. And yes, it is a highly tragic story. Not one to watch when you're feeling depressed. Charity, another participant in the blog hop, is releasing a post on Sebastian tomorrow over at her blog, if you're interested. I'm excited to see what nuggets she's come up with.
I'm so happy to have met another Anthony fan!
You sure you're not me? I think I've seen most of everything he's ever done -- including "Jewels" (AGES ago... it might have even been a VHS loan from the library, and I recall almost nothing about it). He really is a lovely actor, though -- very underrated, and even if the movie he's in is rubbish, he's always good. :)
DeleteI discovered this blog accidentally. I'm glad I did. I'm an introvert. And I too don't like to look up about the actors I like. It's like they are human, they will not be perfect and knowing about them might ruin the character for me. I also like to "contemplate [anything] from numerous angles". I share much with this blog post.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to drop a comment to let you know Anthony Andrews fans are still finding and delighting in your posts :)
ReplyDelete