Happy Birthday to Hugh Dancy and Samuel West!

 
    Today is the birthday of two of my favourite actors: Hugh Dancy and Samuel West!

   Samuel Alexander Joseph West was born on June 19th, 1966 in Hammersmith, London England to actors Timothy West (whom you may know from Bleak House and Ever After) and Prunella Scales. View his IMDB page here.

Period Dramas

        
                             Howard's End as Leonard Bast
 

    I don't know if I'd recommend this movie: it's one of those movies that isn't very good- in fact, it's rather torturous to watch- but it has such an excellent cast that the actors almost make it good. Leonard Bast is not a very strong character and spends most of the movie being miserable. He is unhappily married and unhappily employed, but he really isn't a bad man, he's just extremely unfortunate and falls into bad ways in his desperation. In spite of his faults I grew to be somewhat fond of Mr. Bast, and was very shocked and disappointed at his untimely death. The acting in this movie was excellent and Samuel West's performance was quite good, but it's not one of my favourites.

            Horatio Hornblower: The Wrong War as Major Edrington
   This is definitely my favourite Samuel West role. The Horatio Hornblower series are my very favourite period dramas and I really liked the character of Major Edrington (or it might be better if I addressed him as "my lord"- he is, in fact, the Earl of Edrington ), the practical and always professional army major. At first he seems a little uppity and somewhat arrogant- most of the soldiers seem to be in Hornblower. He comes from a wealthy family and is hesitant to trust the French "allies", often implying that they are not equal to his own British army, but underneath his imposing ego he really is a very able leader and a wise man, with a very good head on his shoulders. He also has quite a few clever lines that I like to quote. : )

Facts about Samuel West

   -He is a highly respected Shakespearean actor who has played Richard II and Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

   -He is a frequent co-star of his father, Timothy West, and in many of the productions in which they appear together they play father and son.

  -He is a huge fan of Doctor Who.

Hugh Dancy was born on June 19th, 1975 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. His mother Sarah is a publisher and his father Jonathon is a writer and philosophy professor at Reading University. He has a younger brother, Jack, and a younger sister, Kate. View his IMDB page here.

Period Dramas

Recognize anyone else in this picture? : )

                                   King Arthur as Galahad

     This is one of my favourite of Hugh Dancy's roles. This movie isn't really one of my favourites and I kind of have mixed feelings about it, but I really can't help liking it and Hugh Dancy's character Galahad is definitely one of the best characters. Galahad is known as the most noble of all of Arthur's knights, which is quite apparent in the movie. Even though they are all very rough warriors, Galahad somehow seems more refined than the rest. He is honest and even chivalrous, while most of the other knights are less than respectful and can be somewhat uncivil at times. Galahad was from the very first my favourite, a valiant and brave warrior and a gentleman in a time when true gentlemen were scarce.

                          Daniel Deronda as Daniel Deronda

    This is one of my favourite BBC miniseries, and the compassionate and kind Daniel Deronda has become one of my favourite heroes from classic literature. The miniseries has an excellent cast, beautiful music and gorgeous Victorian costumes, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves period dramas! Daniel Deronda is rather unlike any other character I've seen Hugh Dancy play and so it was kind of a pleasant change to see him well-groomed and dressed up, as opposed to dirty and shaggy like Galahad. :P Not that dirty and shaggy is always bad, but it was quite nice to see him as a Victorian gentleman. (I also loved the scenes where he sang!)

Other Movies

 
                                       Ella Enchanted as Prince Charmont

   This was actually the first movie I saw Hugh Dancy in. I'm not really a fan of this adaptation of Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, mostly because it strays so far from the book, but I cannot help liking Hugh Dancy as Prince Char! I read the book before I watched the movie and really enjoyed it, and so that was the main reason why I was disappointed with the movie. It is actually a rather cute movie, if you disassociate it with the book, but since it's not in any way a faithful adaptation of the book it's hard to even see it as the same story, since they kind of changed the entire story and made it more..hip, I believe, is the right word for it. However, Prince Char was quite charming and I thought he was probably the best character, at least the one that stayed the most true to the book.

Facts about Hugh Dancy

  -He is married to actress Claire Danes.

  -He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English Literature and Language.

  -He is good friends with Ewan McGregor.

  -He speaks fluent French.

  -He and his wife have a son named Cyrus Michael Christopher Dancy.

  Very Truly Yours,