Simon Callow

Simon Callow's DID

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He's just another theater sugar daddy like Franco

Oh, Mr. Beebe!

Another whiner. Is this all the British do?

That X-Factor and Got Talent guy? Ugh, his plastic surgery is hideous.

quite lovely equipment in A Room with a View, very daddy and bouncy

R6 no, that is Simon Cowell. Simon Callow is an old school thespian.

I've heard that Mr. Callow is a puffed-up, tedious egotist, at least at times. And those aren't times when he's merely inebriated.

His wretched book , "Love is Where It Falls," confirms what R9 has heard.

Tell us more, r9 and r10.

R9 Stage actors have to be egotists.

His puffed-up fruity voice has limited his patchy cinematic career to comedic roles.

I posted this on a thread about celebrity autobiographies (linked) and others seemed to agree:

I didn't really have a strong opinion about the actor Simon Callow one way or another until I read his book, "Love is Where it Falls: An Account of a Passionate Friendship," which is about him and his friend Peggy Ramsay, the literary agent, whose life I was interested in `(she is played by Vanessa Redgrave in "Prick Up Your Ears", the movie about her client Joe Orton). Anyhow, Callow comes across as a self-obsessed, skeevy, grifter who seems to consider Ramsay's generosity (she bought him a flat in London) his just reward for putting up with her attentions and erratic behavior (she was likely in the early stages of the Alzheimer's disease that she eventually died of). I found a quote from an online review that sums it all up: "Callow is so far up his own backside that his Shakespearean declamations must have sounded quite muffled."

Sorry, I am R10 not R9

I read Simon Callow's 330 page biography of Charles Laughton and I was glad I did.

Laughton's interesting life and patchy career deserves scrutiny and I think Callow's probing had more validity than one done by some Hollywood hack.

[quote] National Theatre production of Amadeus

It's sad and pathetic how he had the starring role on stage but only a tiny bit part in the movie (I don't even remember him in it).

He has also written biographies of Oscar Wilde, Orson Welles, and Richard Wagner.

So many Double-U's.

[quote] [R9] Stage actors have to be egotists.

No.

Simon says. “One of the things I loved about Seb was that he adored his work, which is totally different from mine [Sebastian now works in tech]. Seb has masses of skills and analytical powers that I lack completely, and I have other attributes, which he lacks.” Sebastian says it works, partly because “we don’t want to be soulmates to each other”. Each has their own interests. “The defining aspect is that we’re living our lives on solid and shared foundations. That’s not to say we don’t have joint interests, because we do stuff together all the time, but we’re not necessarily living in each other’s pockets.” They are, says Simon, “radically different from each other, in many ways, despite this crucial thing, which is we have got this terrific sense of the meaning of commitment to each other”.

They say the age gap was never an issue for them. “I think you have this stigma still, in society, both around gay relationships as well as relationships between two people of different ages, where it’s common for people to attribute motivations or stereotypes,” says Sebastian. “For me, what was great was to see that the cliches broke down in the face of the actual experience of getting to meet each other’s friends.”

Sadly, Seb may some day join join this tragic club.

When they met, Sebastian was 29 and Simon was 63; Simon had been in the arts all his life, and Sebastian was a management consultant. Over four or five months, they got to know each other well. “When we finally went away together for a weekend for the first time, it was to Hay-on-Wye, where I was reading TS Eliot,” says Simon. “So culture has hovered over this relationship from the beginning.” Sebastian admits it could sometimes be intimidating meeting Simon’s friends, some of them very famous. “I’m suddenly being introduced to people I would only have known from the screen,” he says.

Simon also wrote a book on the works of Charles Dickens. He might be a pompous ass, but he is a scholar of classic literature.

His 'pompous', fruity voice is Callow's trademark.

Fun fact: he mentored Gwendoline Christie while she was at the Drama Centre in London. She only has good things to say about him, but he does sound like a stereotypical grumpy English actor who didn’t quite make it.

R25 He did make it though. That is the weird thing, he has a lot of good work to be proud of- theater, films, television, he has written books, and narrated a lot of work on Audible. I don't understand why people say he didn't have a career?

^ He has about 150 credits on IMDB.

We can only name about ten quality films, maximum.

Did he ever get top billing? I don't know.

R27 How many actors are leads in shitty movies? lol

12 Movies you could call quality: Amadeus, A Room with a View, Maurice, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, Howards End, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Ace Venture (not good but was a huge movie), James and the Giant Peach, Shakespeare in Love, No Man's Land, The Phantom of the Opera, and Victoria & Abdul.

Oh, thanks r23. I'm going to read that one.

I was tempted to read his Orson Welles bio but I find Welles (while certainly a genius) just too repellant

Callow has written 3 volumes on Welles and is said to be working on a fourth. They are written as chronological history.

R30 Good.

Callow would have had direct access to backstage crew who were witnesses when Olivier hired Welles in the 1950s and 60s.

There are 79 posts in the Shirley Knight thread.

How many posts will Simon Callow attract?

No one can count that high.

R29 I’ve read a TON on Orson Welles and I came out liking him much more than I did going on only knowing him by his work. He comes off as extremely human, funny, and charming. The way he’s portrayed in every biopic as some megalomaniac bullying ogre is extremely far from the truth. I’d definitely suggest Callow’s work on him.

A true renaissance man. I've always enjoyed his film and television work, now I will take a read or three of his writing.

Thanks, OP.

[quote] TON … Orson Welles

R34 Those words belong together. He was excessive.

Simon Callow's being raised by generational mothers and aunts reminds me of the character George Crabtree from "Murdoch Mysteries," a foundling raised by his beloved brothel-dwelling "aunts" each of whom bore a flower's name. Now working ladies of advanced age, their exploits present benign conflict with George's law enforcement career.

Fascinating

I never finished the Welles biography because it was so ridiculous, entire passages about how Welles' grandmother (I believe) was obviously evil because of how she looked. He was very literally saying that her appearance was her entire personality and character. It was shocking, and I couldn't get past the fact that the book had been so highly praised, when that was the kind of "observation" it was full of.

My guess is that the second volume was 500 pages of Simon Callow telling us that Orson Welles was fat, you know.

[quote]“When we finally went away together for a weekend for the first time, it was to Hay-on-Wye, where I was reading TS Eliot,” says Simon. “So culture has hovered over this relationship from the beginning.”

Oh my god

"culture"

LOL

He's a whore

I would like to know more about the daughter of Welles and Rita Hayworth, Rebecca, who died in 2004.

This article covers Rebecca's life in detail. There is a good documentary about the son, Marc. she gave up for adoption: "Prodigal Sons" (2008).

Was Rebecca Welles as curvaceous as Rita or as fat as Welles?

Loved his book “Being an Actor”.

r6=Emily Litella

[quote] How many actors are leads in shitty movies?

Is that a rhetorical question, R28?

His best work was playing Julian Fellowes on 'Uptown Downstairs Abbey'. LOL

Met them recently while on a canal boat trip. Typical English weather so all bundled up in coats so I didn't realise who they were until afyerwards. Me being me I chatted to them about the weather etc and they chatted back and were just really, really charming. They exuded happiness.

R50 Sure Jan

Poor Rebecca Welles came out more like her father than her mother.

A pretentious fop

I confuse him with Allan Corduner.