Thursday, March 18, 2010

AS SEEN ON TV: NOEL COWARD

"Why", asked Coward, "am I always expected to wear a dressing-gown, smoke cigarettes in a long holder and say 'Darling, how wonderful'?"

NOEL COWARD

AS SEEN IN:
"Agatha Christie Marple: 4.50 From Paddington"
(also in "Ian Fleming: Bondmaker")

AS PLAYED BY:
Pip Torrens

From Wikipedia:
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 1899 – 26 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Coward won an Academy Honorary Award in 1943 for his naval film drama, In Which We Serve, and was knighted in 1969. In the 1950s he achieved fresh success as a cabaret performer, performing his own songs, such as "Mad Dogs and Englishmen", "London Pride" and "I Went to a Marvellous Party".

His plays and songs achieved new popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and his work and style continue to influence popular culture. Coward did not publicly acknowledge his homosexuality, but it was discussed candidly after his death by biographers including Graham Payn, his long-time partner, and in Coward's diaries and letters, published posthumously. The former Albery Theatre (originally the New Theatre) in London was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre in his honour in 2006.

This televersion of Noel Coward would have to be from an alternate TV dimension as Miss Jane Marple was played by Geraldine McEwan and not by the official Miss Marple of Toobworld, Joan Hickson. This works out perfectly as there was another TV production about the life of Ian Fleming, "Goldeneye", with its own televersions not only of Coward but also of Fleming.

But I think the Noel Coward of Earth Prime-Time may be portrayed by David Benson in six episodes of the time-traveling rom-com 'Goodnight, Sweetheart'.

Here are the televersions of Noel Coward:

Daphne (2007) Played by Malcolm Sinclair

Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005)

Agatha Christie Marple: 4.50 from Paddington (2004) Played by Pip Torrens

"Goodnight Sweetheart" (1998-99) Played by David Benson

Dieppe (1993) Played by John Mezon

"Red Dwarf" (1991) Played by Roger Blake

"You Rang, M'Lord?" (1990) Played by Guy Siner

Goldeneye (1989) Played by Julian Fellowes

"Ike" (1979) Played by Francis Matthews

"BBC2 Play of the Week"
- Exiles (1977) Played by Ned Sherrin

BCnU!

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