A HAT SQUAD TVXOHOF TRIBUTE - REMEMBERING ROBERT HARDY AS WINSTON CHURCHILL

"In 2002, when Churchill rightly topped a BBC poll to find the greatest Briton, I was delighted. But shockingly many people don’t seem to know who he is these days. 

A survey seven years ago found that one in three schoolchildren thought the Second World War leader was the first man to walk on the moon, while another found that one in four teenagers thought he was a fictional character."
[Robert Hardy on the 50th anniversary of Churchill's death]

From the New York Times:

Robert Hardy, the veteran British character actor whose roles included Cornelius Fudge in four Harry Potter movies, an eccentric veterinary surgeon in “All Creatures Great and Small” and numerous incarnations of Winston Churchill, died on Thursday in London. He was 91.

His family confirmed his death in a statement.

Mr. Hardy first achieved fame when he played the outspoken and irascible Siegfried Farnon in the long-running British series “All Creatures Great and Small” (1978-90), based on James Herriot’s books.

But it was his portrayals of Churchill, Britain’s crusty and indomitable wartime prime minister, that defined him for many British audiences.

He first took on the role in “Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years,” a 1981 British mini-series, for which he won a Bafta, Britain’s most prestigious film and television award. (He said he had prepared for the role by listening to Churchill’s audio recordings for months.)

American viewers saw him reprise the role in the acclaimed mini-series “War and Remembrance” (1988-89), but he also played Churchill in two 1980s television movies, “The Woman He Loved” and “Bomber Harris”; a London stage production, “Winnie” (which The Guardian pronounced a “feeble musical”); and a French play, “Celui Qui a Dit Non” (1999). 

And his last screen appearance, other than a role in a film short, was as the star of “Churchill: 100 Days That Saved Britain,” a 2015 British television movie.

(Anita Gates)

Because of this, Robert Hardy is the official portrayal of Churchill for Toobworld, although he may not be the actual Churchill of the main Toobworld.  Churchill was an historic multi-dimensional and thanks to so many TV movies about the Old Lion we can easily spread them out throughout the TV Universe.

I always planned to have Churchill inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame one day; possibly for a future November, which is the month in which we traditionally induct the multi-dimensional televersions of politicians.  And all of his incarnations from across the TV universe, from Richard Burton to  Timothy West, would be included.  That will still happen - I'm thinking of doing this in November 2019, which would be the 145th anniversary of Churchill's birth.

But as was the case with John Adams who was inducted twice, once as a general multi-dimensional and as a special honor for the various portrayals by William Daniels, we're inducting the Robert Hardy portrayals of Winston Churchill now, to serve as a tribute to Mr. Hardy's memory.

Because he played Churchill in at least two TV productions that experienced major recastaways with some o their main fictional characters, I think Hardy's televersion of the former Prime Minister would be in a different TV dimension than Earth Prime-Time.  I have no problem with adding his other projects as Churchill to that same dimension.  

Here are the TV movies and mini-series and one mystery series in which Robert Hardy played Winston Churchill:

Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981)

- A Menace in the House (1981) 

- The Flying Peril (1981) 

- His Own Funeral (1981) 

- The Long Tide of Surrender (1981) 

- What Price Churchill? (1981) 

The Woman He Loved (1988) 

Bomber Harris (1988) 

War and Remembrance (1988)- Part 8 (1989)
- Part 9 (1989) 
- Part 10 (1989) (credit only)
- Part 11 (1989) 
- Part 12 (1989) 

Agatha Christie's Marple
- The Sittaford Mystery (2006) 

Churchill: 100 Days That Saved Britain (2015) 

As mentioned above in that NY Times obituary excerpt, Robert Hardy also played Churchill in at least two different stage productions.  This makes him not only a TV multi-dimensional, but also a multiversal for all other worlds based on Mankind's Imagination.

A hearty/hardy welcome to the Hall for both of our honorees.......

BCnU!