Ian Charleson [left] told the theater company he was
recovering from sinus surgery when he was actually dying of AIDS and had just
agreed to play Hamlet at the National Theatre. The part became available after
Daniel Day-Lewis walked off the stage mid-run, collapsing during the scene
where Hamlet meets his father's ghost; Day-Lewis later claimed he had seen his
own ghost. So, Ian Charleson took over,
and outside a few close friends only the director, Richard Eyre, knew what it
was costing him to stand up there.
He opened on 13 November 1989 and actor Ian McKellen was in
the audience that night and so overwhelmed by Charleson’s Hamlet that gifted Charleson
his own Best Actor award. But after that first night Charleson never appeared
on a stage again. He died eight weeks later, on January 6, 1990 at age 40.
But this isn’t about his brilliant performance it was about
what he did after he died, something nobody in Britain was doing in 1990:
he left instructions that his cause of death, AIDS, be made public and his was
the first show business death in the country openly attributed to AIDS.
A hero and an icon even in death.
American audiences know Charleson from Chariots of Fire,
where he played Eric Liddell, the Scottish runner who wouldn't race on Sundays.
And now Andrew Scott [right], an out gay actor and quite a handsome fella, is
playing him now in Elsinore, the story of Charleson’s life and death, which
opens in London in October and reaches US theaters in November. |
Ugh
ReplyDeletePeople who do not follow the rules of the road annoy me to no end. Especially with emergency vehicles!
And people in South Dakota did elect Noem, so nothing surprises me. Jess Piper is right, so South Dakota may elect Noem again…
And do your neighbors let you bring plus ones? Because I’m gonna need you to invite me to those parties!
XOXO
I suspect that your fire officers, like ours, are finding fires that have been deliberately set, fires that could end up with some of the brave fire fighters dying. I just find it beyond belief that anyone could do anything so stupid and evil.
ReplyDeleteI pulled over to let an EMS truck get through yesterday, and then cars rushed past me, not allowing me to pull back into traffic. Some days people are rushing to be the next one to the traffic light, or the morgue.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading of Ian Charleson's death was totally stunned. I wonder how much the government paid for those Noem statues. And Hegseth has always been a white supremacist and loser. He and Trump have so much in common, one might think they might be related.
ReplyDelete