Ian Charleson

For years I thought he played the priest in Amadeus

He was really good in Chariots of Fire.

I liked him.

Beaky nose, sunken chest … but did he show peen in that awful Jarrnan movie called 'Jubilee'?

He was blond and always played Christians.

[quote] Charleson was a great actor.

OP, you should know by now that unprovable claims of 'greatness' will provoke the Dataloungers to try and prove you wrong.

R5 He was a great actor.

No, R6, he was the GREATEST actor!

[quote] He was in some very significant televised plays and movies: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (1980)… Antony & Cleopatra (1981)

No Dataloungers have seen those TV shows.

I rimmed Chrissy Metz after a few chili cheese dogs!

Forty and a half years old.

R8 Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a very famous televised play with Derek Jacobi and Patrick Stewart.

Loved him in Chariots of Fire

One of the public tragedies of the HIV plague. Always remember all those who did not have public lives who were cut down in the prime of their their youth.

Will we commemorate pretty Matt Ford when he passes from his disease?

Excellent actor

I was fortunate enough to be a student in London during the period when he was working with the National Theatre. I saw him as Sky Masterson in GUYS AND DOLLS (With Bob Hoskins as Nathan Detroit, and the divine Julia McKenzie as Adelaide). I think I also saw him in ROSENKRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN at the Young Vic but I can't put my hands on the program so I may be misremembering. One of the most touching stories is his being asked to step into HAMLET at the National when Daniel Day Lewis left the production in rehearsal. His conditioned had worsened and he was uncertain whether or not he had the stamina to do the role....and the run. Richard Eyre persuaded him to go ahead with it, and it is widely recognized as one of the most moving HAMLET's of a generation.

There was something ethereal about him on stage. He was wonderfully vulnerable and had mastered the art of being still. He really was a joy to watch and I am so grateful I got to see him.

Great story, r16

R16 Love it. Charleson has more talent in his pinky than most actor now do in their entire repertoire.

^ Stage actors are genuine actors.

R19 of course. But My Uncle Byron and Aunt Millie don't know who he is and he was a queer...

He was beautiful. Chariots of Fire always makes me cry now when I watch. The final scene on the beach, the joy of youth...the exuburance...

There was about one minute of beauty in this ugly, disjointed, nihilistic, anarchist, punk movie which coincided with the Queens's 25th Jubilee.

A JOY to watch on film ; would have loved to see him on stage .

Not him, R1, but that actor died of AIDS, too.

During that last Hamlet run, there was a short series of AIDS benefits on Sundays in which prominent stars (many currently in West End runs) came and performed their Sondheim party pieces (Fenella Fielding did Liaisons and I Never Do Anything Twice and Eartha Kitt I'm Still Here). Ian Charleson came in at the end and lead the company in With Too Little To Be Sure Of. He couldn't really sing but it was very moving and he was dead a few weeks later.

R25 Fuck. Just, fuck.

[quote] [R8] Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a very famous televised play with Derek Jacobi and Patrick Stewart.

Are you being sarcastic?

I saw him as Brick in the National’s production of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof opposite the magnificent Lindsay Duncan. A wonderful memory.

The Ian Charleson Awards were established after his death to recognise actors under 30 who had excelled in stage performances.

Winners have included Tom Hollander, Toby Stephens, Dominic West, Rupert Penry Jones, David Oyelowo, Rebecca Hall, Rory Kinnear, Andrea Riseborough, Ruth Negga, Cush Jumbo, Jack Lowden, James McArdle and Paapa Essiedu, all of whom have gone on to achieve great things.

Christ, the names on that list are amazing.

R27 no?

R1 wow that is sad.

The Famous People Who Died of AIDS

He was so talented

Very sexy

Ginger-blond.

So handsome

Skinny.

Beautiful

[quote] I saw him as Sky Masterson in GUYS AND DOLLS

Utterly unlike Marlon Brando in the role. Polar opposites.

The Britmovie website says

[quote] a pre-fame Ian Charleson was in Derek Jarman's 'Jubilee' [see R22, above] though after the poor bloke became famous, his 'management' wanted that particular role forgotten about.

Here's footage of that legendary 1982 National Theater/London "Guys and Dolls," and you'll see Ian Charleson right at the top.

R41 Thanks! What a hoot

[41] Indeed, thank you. It brought back such wonderful memories. It was the first time the National Theatre had ever attempted a musical, and there was much trepidation about how well they would pull it off. As the footage you linked shows, it was a riot. Hoskins and McKenzie ran away with it. Sarah Brown is not the tour de force part in the way that Nathan and Adelaide are, but poor Barbara Dickson might as well have been invisible. She was perfectly serviceable, but stand her upside Charleson at the height of his gorgeousness, or the romp that Hoskins and McKenzie were having and poor thing didn't stand a chance. I saw it twice at the National, and then it transferred, I think, but I can't remember which West End house. It kept extending and being brought back into the rep to the point that the NT bookshop had the opportunity to bring out a paperback about the production with lots of glossy double page spreads. It's probably in my top three or four theatrical memories.

I remember Ian from Master Of The Game, with Harry Hamlin and Dyan Cannon in some awful ageing make up.

R43 The original Sarah opposite Ian was Julie Covington, famous for "Rock Follies" and singing Eva Peron on the "Evita" concept album.

This "Guys and Dolls" played the Prince of Wales Theatre in the West End in 1985; Lulu was Miss Adelaide.

He was attractive

[43] Oh my god....Thanks for correcting me on that. I don't know where I came up with Barbara Dickson. I would have LOVED to have seen Lulu as Miss Adelaide. Checking, it says she also did SONG AND DANCE in the West End.

I saw Lulu in Manchester on the tour - she was actually great. I went with my dad, who'd hated Lulu for years ('Bloody Lulu!'), and he also loved her performance.

R8 Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1980) was a massive hit.

Derek Jacobi, Patrick Stewart, Claire Bloom, Ian Charleson, Lalla Ward, David Robb, Patrick Allen, Jonathan Hyde, and Eric Porter.

Has anyone seen Opera (1987)?

He was 'majorly known' OP?

Biography from the University of Edinburgh

Love his Sky Masterson on the Guys and Dolls CD. Sad he left us so young. What might have been........

I could have typed r21. I never fail to feel like crying when I watch the running on the beach video.