BBC "Who Do You Think You Are?" Derek Jacobi (WDYTYA Series 12 Episode 3)

[nospringchicken]

I should, being a frank and open soul, really thank Mr and Mrs Google's little boy for his invention ... hehe!!! Seriously there's some fascinating stuff on the internet about the common cause and similar precarious positions of Huguenots and Jews in Bordeaux and Guyenne at the time as religious persecution kicked in  - for example http://bit.ly/1PF7GQj

[Mowsehowse]

 

I looked at that.  Really interesting.

[DavidG02]

Thank you nospringchicken 

[Finley 1]

'fuzzled'  a new word for how I am feeling

xin

[Familysearch]

Found this episode to be the best so far.

Surprised some had never heard of him - and no-one has mentioned Last Tango in Halifax!!!

[Mowsehowse]

Found this episode to be the best so far.
Surprised some had never heard of him - and no-one has mentioned Last Tango in Halifax!!! 

It is surprising that, given the diversity of his roles, some had not heard of him, but with all due respect, I am not sure that "Last Tango" or indeed recent the comedy series, rank among his best??   

[Familysearch]

Last Tango was certainly different from anything he has done before (to my knowledge).  :Presumably his knighthood was for services to the theatre - but that is just a guess.

[Finley 1]

Last Tango --- the first series was good, but then overplayed with its popularity asking for more.


It was interesting to see him in that role, although I much prefer his classical roles...


Loved the WDYTA episode.. cos I have silk weavers toooo

xin

[nospringchicken]

Found this episode to be the best so far.

Surprised some had never heard of him - and no-one has mentioned Last Tango in Halifax!!!

He was famous before the Internet - as far as fame went in those days.

As far as I remember he and Alan Howard (another name which disappeared off the Brit celeb radar such as it was then and who recently died) were major stage stars in the 1970s and 1980s with classical roles with older guard Laurence Olivier, Alec Guinness (who made a major TV splash with Tinker, Tailor,) John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson doing classical and movie roles and Kenneth Branagh seen as taking on the mantle after them all. They all came out of the closed shop repertory system, although Branagh may have crossed over.

Derek Jacobi's breakthrough TV role was in I Claudius.  He was also the TV Alan Turing. There was far more of a division then for actors between stage, TV drama, sitcom, soaps and movies, I think. He has made something of a comeback in recent years with a few stage performances, Last Tango and sitcom Vicious with Ian McKellan. I guess you could have compared him in '70s and '80s to Benedict Cumberbatch (he played Hamlet at the Old Vic) but without the internet, global reach, Asian audiences and stock exchange/football feel to fame and celebrity. It's different now with branded serials on so many platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Sky and other channels as well as BBC, ITV and boxed sets!!! However both cut their teeth on stage before TV breakthroughs.