Responses to yesterday’s post were very kind and basically said, carry on doing what you’re doing. So I shall.
I’d like to begin by considering George Floyd’s murderer. We can call him that now because he has been convicted of murder, as indeed he should. But what struck me all along apart from the sheer wanton brutality, was the man’s name, Derek Chauvin. Chauvin is French for prejudiced, as in male chauvinist, and I can never help wondering in these cases if there’s a connection between the name and the character.
Does a name make any difference to who you are? Would I be the same person if I were called Rosemary or Petra or Delilah? I can’t imagine being called anything but Liz (if this puzzles you check out the page Why Sarada?) But while Sarada was a name I chose, I only partly chose Liz, cutting it down from my birth name Elizabeth as soon as I hit puberty. Nobody calls me Elizabeth nowadays, on pain of – well, a pretty stern ticking off.
Last night I was watching a film about my namesake Liz Taylor. Burton and Taylor is an interesting biopic, focusing on the time after their second marriage and divorce when they collaborated on Noel Coward’s Private Lives. The film points up the difference between Richard Burton, who was a consummate actor, and Taylor, who was a star. Men seem to have found her endlessly fascinating but I think I’d have had no patience with her at all, always turning up late with armfuls of shopping and a gaggle of pointless yapping dogs. On the whole I think I prefer actors to stars.
So my question to you today is, who are the greatest actors around at the moment, whether on film, stage or TV? Pick one male and one female. I’m going to go with Benedict Cumberbatch and Keeley Hawes .
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 
Hmm: that’s a tricky one! I’ll have to think about it. Cheers, Jon.
I don’t know. I hardly ever watch films or dramas. But I remember seeing a van when Richard Burton was chasing Elizabeth Taylor for the umpteenth time. It said Burton Tailoring.
I knew a boy at school named Leslie. His name made him miserable, as so many people presumed he was a girl. I think Idris Elba is a very talented actor, and so much better than some of the action/adventure roles he gets cast in. But my first choice for British Actor would be Tom Hardy. Keeley Hawes is a great choice from you, and might have been mine too. So I will choose a different one. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, for her heartbreaking and nuanced peformance in ‘Fleabag’.
Best wishes, Pete.
I don’t know Tom Hardy. What’s he done?
Peaky Blinders on TV, and numerous film roles. Played both Kray Brothers, and was superb in the film ‘Locke’, where he is the only actor on screen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hardy
One big fat vote for Jodie Comer in Killing Eve, I thought she was fabulous, making one character take on a multitude of personas and be convincing as all of them.
Good one. I quite agree