Peter Cushing on Wogan, Part 2 (feat. Nicholas Rowe)

[spinout3]

peter cushing..what a legend! and a gentleman..and its great to see how chat shows used to be when the hosts let the guests speak more..great upload.

[jegspillerpiano]

Imagine if you had to call at a remote house in the country, and you see HIM when the door opens! I'd just turn and run a fucking mile!

[pierstheoneandonly]

No wonder he was still in work: wit and timing much in evidence.

[ludocrat]

It would be hard to think how this 'interview', with one very fine actor and another who could have been if he'd been luckier, could be more lightweight and terrible - and meaningless.

Wogan! The reason why I despise chatshows to this day personified.

[EmpireLS56KW]

Recoded on Hi-Fi VCR there is phase issue as the sound is only playing on the left front not in the centre channel or with equal phase of left/right. I think this would be a few years before NICAM 725 digital sound.

[TheRobin1976]

"you were totally unknown..." "well my mum and dad knew me a bit" - bless, what a sweet boy he was...

Been hoping the success of the BBC's "Sherlock" might inspire someone at ITV to revamp the scripts from the Jeremy Brett era into a new historical series with Rowe and Alan Cox back as Holmes and Watson...they did it on stage over the summer so maybe...

[experimentfive]

I think Sir Ian Richardson played Sherlock Holmes very well but i think Basil Rathbone looked like how you'd expect Holmes to look.

[Factnotfictionpeople]

Notice how 'Wogan' lets the men talk? Can you imagine Jonathan 'what an ego' Ross doing the same?

[annodomin]

The BBC Sherlock Holmes with Peter & Nigel Stock are the most faithful versions. People think of the Jeremy Brett versions as definitive, but actually the original stories are far lighter in tone. Cushing struck just the right balance in his portrayal...a criminally under rated actor, who, to quote Roy Ward Baker, literally "knew what was in the pockets" of each character he was asked to inhabit.

[Thespilian]

I love him a lot as Holmes, I really do. Douglas Wilmer said that Cushing and Brett were at par, with Brett winning by a nose, because of the far better production conditions. Of what is left of the BBC episodes, HOUN and BLUE are both better than Brett's, while Brett's SIGN is far better than Cushing's. Looking back at Brett's output, it suffered from some of his later performances a lot, but at his best he's as perfect for the 80s and 90s as Cushing was for the 50s and 60s, I think.

[Thespilian]

Another thing: while I like Nigel Stock's Watson, he's a far cry from both André Morell and Edward Hardwicke, who were perfect to the point.

That Peter Cushing was criminally underrated is a sad fact.

[EmpireLS56KW]

5:33 You may applaud when ready.

[romanholiday1988]

Seemed like they were laughing at Rowe with the pipe and being the professional he was, Cushing applauded Nicholas. Good man.

[Thespilian]

Ah, it's not only about professionalism. Peter Cushing would have never been contemptous, especially not to a young actor at the beginning of his career, and he never had the slightest bit of arrogance on him - which, thinking about it, made him - as a private man - quite different from Sherlock Holmes. ;)

[deeprose3]

I can only say one thing...WOW!! He still looks fantastic today, (Nicholas Rowe that is) YUMMMMY

[Thespilian]

As Peter Cushing was cremated, I would have been very surprised otherwise. ^^;

I think I have seen Rowe only once afterwards, as a villain in some US series, and there he looked surprisingly ... eh ... well-fed.

[Romanticide77]

He was a bean pole in the young Sherlock Holmes, he did rather good acting to, i like him (:

[garethac81]

How lovely that Cushing was genuinely grateful to be asked on the show :)

[banneradders]

Wouldn it be great if Nicholas reprised the role of Holmes when hes a bit older.

[NoeIzumi121]

LOVELY. Thanks a lot for that, I love Nicholas ^__^

[Thespilian]

Well, you're not the only one, it seems ;)

[NoeIzumi121]

I'm glad for that! :) Thanks again!

[fayzabeam]

Thanks so much for posting this - I hadn't seen it before, and it's lovely to see some "new" footage of Nicholas Rowe. Bless - he comes across as rather shy (but then sitting next to Peter Cushing, who could blame him!)

[Thespilian]

I wonder if Nigel Stock told Nicholas Rowe about his time as Cushing's Watson - and if, I'd love to know what he told him. But then, that could have made Rowe shy, who knows. ;)

What ever happened to Nicholas Rowe, btw? I've seen him guesting in a US series a few years ago and heard he was in the BBCs Longitude, but I've never seen that one unfortunately.

[fayzabeam]

LOL! I wonder if they did talk about it? I'm sure it would have cropped up in conversation at some point.

Nicholas Rowe's been in a fair few British TV things, but he certainly doesn't get the recognition he deserves. He was also on Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels a few years ago. I'd love to have seen him as Snape if Alan Rickman had turned it down, or at least featuring somewhere in the HP films.

[Thespilian]

Strangely enough, Rickman became Snape because Tim Roth turned down the part to play in Planet of the Apes instead. When I read the books, Rickman was the first actor coming to my mind for Snape, so I was relieved when he was offered the role - and took it.

Now idea how Rowe looks now. There was little of gauntness left when he was in Relic Hunter, but then Rickman gained quite some weight since he slipped into the potion master's robes.

[ladyvignette]

When I read Harry Potter, I immediately pictured him as Remus Lupin, so I was kind of upset that he wasn't considered for the part. Thewlis is all right, but Rowe is MUCH more what I pictured in my head.

[Thespilian]

Honestly, I think David Thewlis is terrible miscast as Lupin. A waste, really, 'cause Lupin was my second favorite character in the books. Considering the fact that Lupin should look gaunt and wasted and older than Snape (and older than Rickman in this case, which would be a problem with Rowe, I guess), probably Jeremy Irons would have been good.

[fayzabeam]

Now there' a thought - yes, he would have made a great Lupin, even taking into account the age discrepancy between him and Rickman (although, wonderful and mesmeric as AR is as Snape, he's still about 20 years older than book Snape, which is sometimes difficult to think about!)

[Thespilian]

I'm well aware about the age discrepancy of Rickman to the book Snape, but then they didn't offer me the part, so it's still the best choice. ;)

I'm kidding. *g*

[fayzabeam]

Oh yes, Rickman was definitely the one for Snape IMHO, too, in spite of the age thing - I'm having trouble picturing Tim Roth in the role. Rickman certainly has the voice for it :)

[ladyvignette]

Nicholas is doing mostly London stage work, which explains why he hasn't popped up in more British miniseries. Yes, he was in Longitude -- for about ten minutes, as King George. (He was fabulous.) He also had a bit part in the Hollywood production of "Nicholas Nickleby," and it's cute, because if you watch the commentary, the director talks about how much he likes Rowe and how he first ran across him in "Young Sherlock Holmes"! =)

[fayzabeam]

Ah, looks like I'll have to have a look and see if he's in anything in London at the moment then :) I'd love to see him on stage :). The last thing I saw him in was an episode of "Midsomer Murders", which was first broadcast in 2004 - and I felt the old crush on him I had in my teens surfacing again ;).

[ladyvignette]

This is neat. Nicholas Rowe and Peter Cushing in the same interview?? Suhweet!

[Thespilian]

Yes. Well, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event, wasn't it? Interesting enough that Peter Cushing picked up the right point when talking about Holmes and women - he did not know the movie then.

[ladyvignette]

It is so strange to see them in the same shot together. I enjoyed the Hammer Holmes films (even though Peter is a little too short to be Holmes) but I grew up on Nicholas Rowe, so it's surreal thinking they were in the same interview. Not sure I like the long locks on Nicholas, though. =D

[Thespilian]

I was growing up on Geoffrey Whitehead, but read the Doyle stories before and was taken in by Cushing immediately after I saw him in Hammer's Hound on the telly. Yes, he's too short - but everybody would be if in the same shot with Chris Lee or Francis deWolff. ;)