Sep 28, 2023
RIP Michael Gambon (19.10.1940 - 28.9.2023)
"Paul Schofield said something like, 'If I'm not acting in a play, I don't really exist.' Those weren't the exact words, but he meant it's only when I'm acting in a play that I've got something to say about the world. And then why should I talk, when people can come to see it?"
"Every part I play is just a variant of my own personality. No real character actor, of course, just me."
#michael gambon#rip#death ment tw#character actors#theatre#the singing detective#maigret#the borderers#fraud squad#the cook the thief his wife and her lover#softly softly: task force#nothing but the night#the beast must die#special branch#zodiac#mountain language#tales of the unexpected#absurd person singular#gosford park#doctor who#new who#the hollow crown#a genuine acting icon and a legendary screen presence. his journey to stardom and household name status was actually fairly slow but he#caught the attention of significant and influential figures within the theatre from the very beginning; Olivier was quick to see his#potential‚ he became a latterday muse of Ayckbourn and Pinter‚ and directors Peter Hall and Eric Thompson were instrumental in castings him#in big roles. i feel like his screen career never quite matched his enormous success onstage (and his later career was certainly a touch#quantity over quality in terms of projects chosen) but there were some diamonds in there; The Singing Detective high among them of course#as always a recommendation of a lesser known work: the tv broadcast of Pinter's Mountain Language‚ a short but devastating piece about#suppression via the prohibition of a native language. Gambon's sadistic soldier is very nearly a caricature of needless evil but he keeps#it just the right side of believability‚ resulting in one of the most disturbing + unsettling perfs of its type. rip to a very fine actor
