Wednesday, December 2, 2009

REMEMBERING WOODWARD

The BBC Online Gift Shop has a nice remembrance of Edward Woodward running in its pages:

For those of you who think the British Invasion of American TV started with Hugh Laurie and "House", we were reminded this week, sadly, that Laurie is just part of a long and glorious tradition. This Monday, Edward Woodward passed away. Woodward became an American TV icon in the 80s when he starred the CBS series "The Equalizer", which ran four seasons. But Woodward had already had a long and illustrious career in British TV. One of our great treats this past year has been watching his first television series, "Callan", which only became available on DVD this July. This series about a British Intelligence assassin living on the edge of society and sanity may be the most uncompromising television we've ever seen, and Woodward's work in the premiere season earned him a Best Actor BAFTA Award. And for his post-Equalizer career, check out "Hot Fuzz". Actor/writer Simon Pegg, who cast Woodward in the film, recently released a statement saying that "Hot Fuzz" rehearsals "were often gleefully tossed aside just to hear [Woodward] recount stories from his life and career. Edgar Wright and myself sought him out because we were fans of his work, by the time the cameras stopped rolling, we were devoted fans of the man."

I've since added 'Callan' to my Netflix queue, a show I've always been interested in seeing since it sounds like the kind of spy thriller I enjoy most - more 'Danger Man' than 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'.....

And 'The Equalizer' came around before I got a VCR, so I never saw as many as I would have liked but I enjoyed every one that I did see.

BCnU!

1 comment:

Brian Leonard said...

IIRC, The Equalizer was usually on opposite St. Elsewhere, so I hardly ever saw it--but, I agree, I did like what I saw.