I recently watched Roman Holiday with Eddie Albert and was reminded that he was a pretty fair movie actor which skill he brought to his sitcom Green Acres. Then I remembered all the old genre actors who filled Hooterville in the American sitcoms Green Acres and Petticoat Junction. Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show was much the same with old character actors wandering the streets. They grounded those show in some level of reality for all the madness that went on around them.
This led me to think of the actors in Last of the Summer Wine. I really do 'buy' the trio. Peter Sallis to me had enough performance ability to appear as a legitimate stage and film actor. His was the central role on this sitcom and I thought he was totally believable in that role. To a lesser extent Brian Wilde was also a solid actor in a fairly wide variety of roles though at his best in a comedy while Michael Aldridge had a fairly extensive career in stage and film. Bill Owen was a fine comic actor who inhabited the role of Compo.
They are solid at their roles in ways that 'comics' doing a turn as actors rarely are. I say that after starting to watch Open All Hours which is fun but clearly has Ronnie Baker as watch me I'm Ronnie Baker in a broad performance. Also I'm enjoying Everybody Loves Raymond, but clearly the lead and the fellow playing his brother are comics who are acting. They aren't bad but there is a distinct difference when compared to the actors playing Ray's parents who are legitimately good actors.
While to some extent the later secondary actors on Last of the Summer could edge toward 'ham' performances, Sid and Ivy along with Nora to me gave the town the feeling of reality. Each seemed committed to their roles and brought a level of characterization to the parts that made the world the trio wandered through come to life.
This led me to think of the actors in Last of the Summer Wine. I really do 'buy' the trio. Peter Sallis to me had enough performance ability to appear as a legitimate stage and film actor. His was the central role on this sitcom and I thought he was totally believable in that role. To a lesser extent Brian Wilde was also a solid actor in a fairly wide variety of roles though at his best in a comedy while Michael Aldridge had a fairly extensive career in stage and film. Bill Owen was a fine comic actor who inhabited the role of Compo.
They are solid at their roles in ways that 'comics' doing a turn as actors rarely are. I say that after starting to watch Open All Hours which is fun but clearly has Ronnie Baker as watch me I'm Ronnie Baker in a broad performance. Also I'm enjoying Everybody Loves Raymond, but clearly the lead and the fellow playing his brother are comics who are acting. They aren't bad but there is a distinct difference when compared to the actors playing Ray's parents who are legitimately good actors.
While to some extent the later secondary actors on Last of the Summer could edge toward 'ham' performances, Sid and Ivy along with Nora to me gave the town the feeling of reality. Each seemed committed to their roles and brought a level of characterization to the parts that made the world the trio wandered through come to life.
when you look at a lot of the "older" actors there are quite a few who did extraordinary things in their own lives and quite a few who served their various countries during wars!
As for being a "stranger" to my shores..UMMMMM I assume you mean Britain because I am in OZ! LOL
