Count-Down: Number 9
Welcome to Count-Down! All throughout the month of October, I’ve been counting down my Top 31 favorite portrayals and reimaginings of the King of the Vampires, Count Dracula! Today’s depiction proves that the Count of Tranvsylvania can beat the God of Mischief any day. Number 9 is…David Suchet.
For the record, no, the image of the actor used here is NOT of him in-character as Dracula. I’ll get to why that is in a bit. In 2006, two different takes on Dracula came out, both managed by the BBC…and both, coincidentally, featuring David Suchet. For those who don’t know, David Suchet is a highly respected English actor; he’s done many things in his long career, but he is MOST famous for being the most definitive and long-lasting portrayal of Agatha Christie’s Master Detective, Hercule Poirot – one of my favorite fictional detectives. If you’re expecting Poirot’s dignified dandyisms here, however, think again. Now, you may be wondering what the bit about the “God of Mischief” has to do with all this. Well, one of the two BBC productions was a TV film – I mentioned that one in the Honorable Mentions, as the version which starred Marc Warren as the vampire. In that production, Suchet played Van Helsing. HOWEVER, the other BBC production was a radio version, which starred Suchet as the vampire. DOUBLE-HOWEVER, the real top-billing star was not Dracula himself, but rather the actor playing Jonathan Harker: Loki himself, Tom Hiddleston. Now, make no mistake, Hiddleston is fantastic – definitely one of the best takes on Harker out there – but of equal if not greater interest to me is Suchet’s work as the Count of Transylvania.
The BBC Radio version, for the most part, sticks pretty darn accurately to the book’s dialogue and events, and that accuracy goes so far as the portrayal of Dracula. In some ways, I think Suchet is one of the most frightening Draculas: he doesn’t play the part with much suavity or romance, but instead envisions the character more like Stoker had in mind: a mesmerizing demon who feasts on youth and innocence, but is always and eternally depraved. He’s hypnotic and even alluring in his own way, but he’s not exactly conventionally attractive. His Dracula has a great deal of power, command, and intensity to his vocals, and Suchet does a great job convincingly managing the character’s evolution vocally…but he’s never a sympathetic Dracula. He’s fascinating in his powerful presence and vocal strength, not so much in his complexity. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however. This radio production is undeniably my favorite of its kind. I’ve heard other audio and radio plays of Dracula before – including the one featuring Orson Welles, which was covered earlier in the countdown – but this one just transports me and immerses me in the Gothic world of the story in a way few others do. The cast is sensational and it doesn’t need to change much to make the story work as brilliantly as it does. Suchet shows the strength of this rendition single-handedly: take a great actor and a great story, and they will give you a great performance. It’s frankly as simple as that. The countdown continues tomorrow! Hint: They’re Arguably the Most 80s Dracula of All.