Goodbye Edward Woodward

[altariel]

Sad about Edward Woodward.

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Yes. Sergeant Howie, RIP.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-(

[carl-allery.livejournal.com]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!! *sob*

Ah well, another icon of my youth bites the dust. :(

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I know :-(

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Yes, when I saw that just now my first thought was 'altariel will be gutted'

[altariel.livejournal.com]

He'd been ill for ages, but that sort of made you think he'd keep going indefinitely. Time to watch some Callan, I think.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I must admit that I've yet to see that series. I've heard and read praises from assorted friends and acquaintances for years, mind you, which has kept it on the "stuff I want to see before it's too late" burner for some time.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Quite a lot of it is missing, but the later colour seasons are intact. There was a film, too. It's one of my favourite TV shows.

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

Oh. I didn't know until just now. I'm surprisingly upset about that. Nearly as bad as when Willie Rushton died for the sense of pieces of my past detaching themselves.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm feeling quite sad about it, even though he's been ill for ages.

I'm also feeling pretty grotty, so I'm about to have a Lemsip and a sleep. Unless you ring first.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I hear you.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-(

[archbishopm.livejournal.com]

Ima just assume it was Christopher Lee what done him in. TOO SOON.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

FAR TOO SOON CURSE YOU SARUMAN.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I don't think that I ever watched any of his TV series, but he was excellent in The Wicker Man.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, he's fantastic in that. Callan is my favourite of his performances.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved him so much in The Equalizer! (Sting's song "Englishman in New York" always reminded me of Woodward in that show.) And I remember so clearly reading about how his being onscreen for nearly every scene of every episode almost killed him. It was the first time I realized what very hard work television acting can be.

Peace to him.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I never saw The Equalizer, although I gather his character was much like David Callan in Callan, which is one of my favourite programmes, and in which he gave an outstanding performance. I must see The Equalizer.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Doesn't he have a son who's also an actor? IIRC, they even played together in one of the "Crusade" episodes. Unless I'm mistaing him for someone else.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

That's the one - they were Galen and Alwyn.

[ex-naomi-ja.livejournal.com]

I'm very sad, but at the same time I can't help thinking up Wicker Man-style funeral jokes. Am I a bad person?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

No, I was chuckling at them too.

[ex-naomi-ja.livejournal.com]

Phew. I feel less guilty now.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

So sad.
Callan was pure dead brilliant and well ahead of its time. I wonder if they'll repeat any of it. I'd love to see it again.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The later, colour seasons have been released on DVD, and the film too (A Magnum for Schneider). I've never seen the black and white episodes, and they trashed a lot of them.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I must have been in my late teens when the first ones started and - wow, what an impact. Tough, gritty, an anti-hero assassin (for our side, of course) who was good at his job, but not invincible or mega-clever and who was scared out of his wits for part of the time, but did what he had to do regardless. It was dirty and sordid but Callan's conscience, integrity and heart gave it a real grounding. IIRC Callan's 'departmental' colleagues were Anthony Valentine and Patrick Mower as the psychopathic rookie. The thing that sticks with me most of all is the swinging lightbulb and Lonely's volice calling out 'Mr Callan.'

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, Anthony Valentine as his oily and patrician nemesis Toby Meres, and Patrick Mower as the sociopathic Cross. It's an amazing performance by Woodward: Callan is like a precision instrument. He hates what he does, but he can't give it up.