I can’t say I know much about Paul Scofield, who appears to have been a noted Shakespearean actor. Somebody tell us about him? Anybody ever get to see him perform?
Shakespeare makes life better.
Shakespeare makes life better.
I can’t say I know much about Paul Scofield, who appears to have been a noted Shakespearean actor. Somebody tell us about him? Anybody ever get to see him perform?
He’s popped-up in quite a few films – he’s Peter Brook’s choice for Lear (a dark film – with a powerful Lear)and (if I remember correctly) he was Hamlet’s father’s ghost in the Mel Gibson Hamlet.
You might know him as Thomas Moore in ‘A Man for All Seasons’ – which is where I think he got his Oscar.
I did see him live a couple of times on stage – completely dominant and totally convincing.
Yes, he was King Hamlet’s ghost is the Mel Gibson version. He’s a wonderful actor. He gave a great performance in A Man For All Seasons, he played the French King in Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V, and he appeared as Judge Danforth in The Crucible with Daniel Day Lewis.
You’re lucky, Alan, to have seen him onstage. I really love his performances on film and I wish I could have seen him live.
He had the knack of quietly seizing an audience’s attention and holding it. No huge gestures, no chewing scenery, just immense empathy. His voice was spellbinding–deep and resonant. Like the Ancient Mariner, once you stopped to listen to him, you could not chose but hear.
Forgot to mention it was as Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus”that i saw him – before the film was made – and I still don’t understand why he wasn’t given the role in the screen version.