"Two left feet"

Here's an article written by Baz Bamigboye about the dancing in Pride and Prejudice.

FACE THE MUSIC, COLIN

MEANWHILE, I have learned of the two left feet of that other celebrated Darcy, Colin Firth.

When Colin was shooting the 1995 BBC version of Jane Austen's famous tale with Jennifer Ehle, Anna Chancellor, Alison Steadman, Lucy Briers and Emilia Fox, there were occasions when Colin had to dance.

Trouble was, Colin -- a brilliant actor -- had absolutely no sense of rhythm. 'He was hopeless! We had to take him off set and get a choreographer to work with him solidly for an hour,' someone who worked on the film with him told me. 'What we discovered was that once in character as Darcy, he did know how to move, but as Colin Firth he couldn't dance if his life depended on it. It was all psychological.' Sue Birtwistle, who produced the award-winning series, refused to comment, but did tell me that the DVD of Pride And Prejudice continues to sell hundreds of thousands of copies annually. Having seen the series again, I think it holds up beautifully. Many of the cast and crew met recently to celebrate the drama's tenth anniversary over cake and champagne at the Century Club in London's Shaftesbury Avenue.

Comments policy

With the recent small dramas on the comments, we thought we’d better make clear our policy for acceptable comments on the blog.

Comments on blog posts must be relevant to the post at hand. If you have general criticisms or comments, please make them at the forum. It is registration-free and a more suitable place for lengthy discussions. The rules there are more lax.

Consistent with our policy of warning readers when reviews are negative, we request that you put a warning in your blog comment if it is critical towards Ms Ehle. "*warning: critical*" would suffice. This is not required on the forum.

General criteria for comments on the blog
Unacceptable: posts that will be automatically deleted

Discriminatory comments (against people of a certain gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, etc)

Defamatory comments

Obvious trolling (eg. name-calling, personal attacks, malicious derailing, foul language)

Advertising/spam

Acceptable

Civil criticism. This means comments that are respectful of others and not merely generalised putting down. A good guide is whether you would make that comment to our/Ms Ehle’s/whoever’s face.

Write to us at jenniferehle@gmail.com if you believe your comment has been deleted unfairly or if you have any other suggestions, questions or whatever.

The Real Thing review snippets

Theatremania

Jennifer Ehle makes Annie an open, fresh-faced woman who, nevertheless, can become steely when she thinks she's being conned--or when she's conning.

WPKN

The British cast offers some fine performances, especially in the two female roles with Sarah Woodward as the calm sophisticated first wife and Jennifer Ehle as the lithe, beautiful Annie.

NY Metro mag

Jennifer Ehle has the right stuff for Annie, but also an odd way of standing around, for which I blame the director, David Leveaux.

Random bits

Longbourn, Sims-style. This speaks for itself.

Autograph on eBay. "British actress" again.

This blogger would vote Ms Ehle for an Oscar. Cool.

And this French one reckons Keira Knightley was "super as Elizabeth even though nothing could make [her] forget the delicate lips of Jennifer Ehle" (translate it for yourself).

Blog trawl

Haven't had one of those for a while. There a a couple of foreign-language posts, so get Babelfish ready. Most are Pride and Prejudice-related.

Raffy reckons that Keira Knightley borrows from Ms Ehle:

La Knightley sa reggere davvero la scena e da una versione di Lizzy che rispetta la Lizzy del libro, forse in alcuni punti un pò troppo simile a quella di Jennifer Ehle (la Lizzy dello sceneggiato della NBC): tutti quei sorrisi a occhi stretti.....sono molto da Ehle.

Knightley indeed knows how to resist the scene and gives a version of Lizzy that respects the Lizzy of the book, perhaps in some points a little too similar to that of Jennifer Ehle (the Lizzy of the NBC dramatization): all those smiles with tight eyes.....are very Ehle.

And from, er, 马雅可夫斯基的臭虫. Use "Chinese-simp" to translate it. This is all about Ms Ehle as Lizzy, but I can't really make out whether it's positive or negative or what. There is this bit which actually is something like English:

The Ehle flavor, lies in the five senses. Another schoolmate said "Jennifer Ehle eye really attractive", I thought her eyebrow is more attractive.

Some nastier ones. From awakencordy's Livejournal:

Ehle was an okie dokie kind of a Lizzy, I prefer Keira's performance. Yes, Ehle is a pretty woman, but she was "all smiles" during some parts, and it was not all for the time of the novel, it was her body.. You can feel the rebelness in Keira's vibe, Ehle was so smooth.

Rebelness? *twitch* There's a malicious one at Any Eventuality. Read at your own risk. I'm serious.

At Cacciaguide:

So the Wright movie is an excellent addition to the Austen filmography, though A&E will remain the gold standard. Jennifer Ehle's Elizabeth in the A&E version was charming, brilliant, and just what the author ordered. However, I will be getting the movie tie-in paperback, the one with Keira's face on it.

And finally, for something different, a Bedrooms and Hallways review chez Writing of Harlots:

...we watched Bedrooms and Hallways, and I fell in love with kinda-queer-mostly-confused-James Purefoy just like everyone else in the history of EVER. As I told damned_colonial, his character was kind of a clueless bastard, but I want one anyway. Also, Hugo Weaving was in this one, as a real estate agent who used his access to strangers's houses to shag his boytoy senseless in increasingly decadent surroundings. And, there was Jennifer Ehle, who I didn't recognize for about ten minutes because she was BLONDE! AUGH! But thumbs up for light and fluffiness and SO MUCH BOYKISSING, thumb gravity for blatant stereotyping, and thumb WTF? for fashion used as a weapon. Ask your Netflix, it comes Sid recommended.

More belated Valentines stuff

Pride and Prejudice is 5th in the Hamilton Spectator's "Most romantic movie (or best kiss)" rankings (14/2/06, not online).

5) Pride and Prejudice, Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle (1995): Best version of this romantic tale.

Amen!

It's behind Out of Africa, Witness, Dirty Dancing and The Notebook, and beats Love Actually, An Affair to Remember, Indiscreet, Truly, Madly, Deeply, and Paper Wedding.

Unrelatedly, on eBay there's a Paradise Road press kit with nine photos, two of which feature Ms Ehle.

Possession snippets

Wee tidbits from Possession reviews today. These are just the bits about Ms Ehle because copy-pasting is so strenuous.

This one's catty. It's from the Fin Review. These sentences may or may not be connected.

Possessed by a lesser spirit
Peter Craven
Australian Financial Review

In counterpoint to him there is Ehle and if you are not allergic to her, you will probably think she gives one of her better performances as the poet who sacrifices so much in order to come to terms with her soulmate. The self-conscious pouts and implicit glances in the mirror are still there but Ehle has a kind of monumental quality in her Pre-Raphaelite incarnation, even though it might have been more attractive if a bit bewildering to have Paltrow in both the contemporary and the Victorian roles.

And here, she's called British again.

Americans take possession, but Brits win
By Margaret Agnew
(c) 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News

What a to-do! Miss Elizabeth Bennet is cheating on Mr Darcy!

Well, not really, but it's hard to see Jennifer Ehle in period costume, smiling winsomely up at some sideburned man, and not think of her BBCTV Pride and Prejudice role.

In the film Possession, Ehle plays bisexual Victorian poetess Christabel LaMotte, who falls in love with prominent married poet laureate Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam doing his dashingly-handsome-decent-guy thing), despite the restrictive mores of the era.
...
They strike few romantic sparks and create little chemistry. In the battle of American actors versus English actors, Ehle (despite her Bennet-ness) and Northam beat Paltrow and Eckhart hands down.

Nice note to end on.

"Possession' tells tales of love in Victorian, modern times"
Soren Andersen
The News Tribune

Northam is suitably soulful as Ash, but it's Ehle who steals the picture with her quiet warmth and an intriguing brand of enigmatic composure.

River King viewer reviews

There are a bundle on Amazon. The average rating is 4.5, not bad. Here's one that makes specific mention of Ms Ehle:

Based on the novel by Alice Hoffman, THE RIVER KING is a little known film that is quite haunting and involving. Edward Burns is wonderful as Abel Grey, a small town policeman investigating the apparent suicide of a young student at the local prep school. John Kapelos effectively plays his not so honest partner. As Burns investigates, evidence suggests that the victim did not kill himself, that he was perhaps murdered.

The movie is methodically paced and features beautiful Nova Scotia scenery; Burns becomes romantically involved with one of the teachers (a delightful Jennifer Ehle), who is engaged to another stuffy teacher. Rachelle Lefevre as Carla, the victim's best friend, is also very good. THE RIVER KING takes some subtle plot twists, one involving the suicide of his older brother when Abel was a child and this event plays a key part in Burns' investigation. Alternately moody and grim, the movie is nonetheless a very good one, and benefits largely from Burns' strong presence, and a lovely score by Simon Boswell.

And look at this IMDB thread where her performance in the film is discussed. Warning, the first poster isn't very nice, but the rest are.

Pride pic

Click the picture to buy it from eBay. Also from eBay:

FHM "100 sexiest women 1996" magazine

Design for Living stagebill

Vanity Fair 1996
There are heaps of River King DVDs for sale too, so get your copy and send us your thoughts! Here's a short review from a blog, Paradox Vertigo 2k5:

The River King - decent suspense thriller about a mysterious drowning death in a small town.Nothing really spectacular- but well told.With Edward Burns and Jennifer Ehle C

Top 10 romantic films

According to Sharon Kaplan of the LA Daily News, Pride and Prejudice ranks right up there with Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry met Sally as one of the best movies for dates and Valentine's Day.

"Pride and Prejudice": Jane Austen's classic romantic and humorous tale set in Georgian England proves that love can conquer all - including social class, family scandals and corsets. For my British pound, the BBC miniseries adaptation starring Darcy-incarnate Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet - and clocking in at a whopping 300 minutes - ranks the highest on the romance meter. If your own Mr. Darcy makes it through this, he'll have learned chivalry from the master. And lord knows, a little of that goes a long way.

Rosemary Harris on cable

My life so far, starring Rosemary Harris and Colin Firth, is showing this Saturday at 7.25am and 4.10am on Showtime. This is from the Star-Telegram which is in Texas I believe.

Hallelujah!

NEW NEWS from Playbill!

It will be a starry evening at the Imperial Theatre March 6 when the 11th Annual Nothin' Like a Dame concert is presented to benefit The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative of The Actors’ Fund of America.

Those scheduled to take part in the 8 PM concert include Bebe Neuwirth, Victoria Clark, Tyne Daly, Lea DeLaria, Bobbie Eakes, Jennifer Ehle, Maria Friedman, Rosemary Harris...

Tickets here, ranging from a mere $50 to $5 000. Full list of participants on the BroadwayCares site.

It'd be wicked cool if we could have a "reporter" at the event. If you're going and would like to share your experience with us poor old international fans, please let us know at jenniferehle@gmail.com. Don't worry if you're not a writer, excited squeeing is exactly what we want!

PS. Thanks to Paula for notifying us about this article.

Revelations

At long last it's safe to reveal what was in the package we sent to Ms Ehle on behalf of the blog and its readers to thank her for the interview and wish her a happy birthday. It's so late because she'd left the country before it arrived.

We've been keeping this under our hats to keep it a surprise...oh alright, we just love being mysterious. Anyhow, since this was on everyone's behalf, we thought we'd better let you know what we sent:

Card. Cover says "to our favourite actress in the world, you are [ace]!". The ace is a playing card. There's also a photo of a BAFTA with fake lashes glued on. Inside left: our mugs with a note from each of us. Inside right: "Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thanks for everything! From Tina and Chelsea on behalf of our fellow loyal fans from the Blog" and a bunch of roses.

Inventory list. Cover says "CARE package inventory". CARE = "(hopefully) Cool (mostly) Aussie Random objEcts". Inside says "Unfortunately we couldn't procure these for you..." with a picture of Pemberley, a backyard with the Old Vic in it, a baby sling, a cellar full of wine, and a giant Starbucks cup. The other side says "...so we got you these instead" with a list of what's in the package and silly comments on them. There's an Aussie theme since we're both from down under.

"Gorgeous" moisturiser and "Eau Roma" from Lush. Les pièces de resistance.

Tim Tams, chocolate biscuits. Aimed at luring Ms Ehle down under for refills.

"Jane Austen - Antipodean Views". A collection of famous Australians and New Zealanders' opinions on Jane. There's a note to Ms Ehle from Susannah Fullerton, an editor of the book and the current president of JASA (I think?).

"Dogs of the world" playing cards.

Bookmarks with Aussie authors.

We also ended up getting stuff for the rest of the family since it was around Christmas. It started with something for George, a stuffed kangaroo and socks. Then we thought we'd better thank Rosemary Harris since we sent the parcel through her, so she and Mr Ehle received a box of tea and a card. It seemed too mean to exclude Mr Ryan, so he got "Prince" shaving cream from Lush and a card.

By the way, "we" here means Chelsea and I. Full interstate collaboration - from planning to making the cards to getting the presents, everything! We had a blast - seriously, we gleefully plotted for yonks. We hope that Ms Ehle and her family enjoy it at least as much as we did creating it.

How many ways can you say "more photos"?

Apologies to all, particularly Chelsea, for dropping the ball a bit lately. Computers be cursed. Anyhow, here's compensation: more photos of Jennifer Ehle and Rosemary Harris sent by Josie. The leafy-background ones are the same as some posted earlier but in a bigger format.

Waiting in the Wings

With no news, and solitary-blogging, I (Chelsea) thought I'd dig into some of Tina's posts. So, sorry Tina ! Besides, it's a great article.
At age 80, Rosemary Harris is still center stage

CONSTANCE GORFINKLE
For The Patriot Ledger
1,389 words
6 November 1999
The Patriot Ledger Quincy, MA
Run of Paper
39
English
Copyright (c) 1999 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.

There's a good reason why "Waiting in the Wings" is not one of Noel Coward's better-known plays, says Rosemary Harris.

"It requires quite a few expert older actresses, and they're not always available," says Harris, one of the most expert actresses in the American theater. She is co-starring with Lauren Bacall in a new production of the show, opening on Nov. 13 at the Colonial Theater in Boston.

"Waiting in the Wings," whose cast also includes Fionnula Flanagan, Barnard Hughes, Simon Jones, Dana Ivey and Elizabeth Wilson, is one of many presentations of Coward's work being planned on both sides of the Atlantic in this centennial year of the playwright's birth. The Broadway opening of "Waiting in the Wings" is scheduled for Dec. 16, Coward's birthday.

Coward, whose writing could be arch and witty, as in the play "Private Lives," or dramatic and heartfelt, as in the film "Brief Encounter," combined those elements in "Waiting in the Wings." About a group of aging actresses living out their final years in an actors home, the play is funny and tender and most of all affectionate.

Bacall, who has the most box-office clout in the cast, was hired first and had her choice of the two leading roles, said Harris over the phone from New York. The central situation of the play is an ancient feud between two of the home's residents, May Davenport, played by Harris, and Lotta Bainbridge, played by Bacall.

"It's very clear, really, which one of us is suited to what part. I don't think there was a question. When I was asked to play May Davenport, I immediately said, of course, that's the one I would like to do."

A somewhat bitter woman who is the most acerbic of the lot, May is also the one who goes through the greatest change in the play.

Though the 15-member cast does include a couple of parts for 30- somethings, the play is dominated by characters in their 70s. Harris, who's 80, said one of the joys of this production is working with people who have become friends over the years as their careers have progressed together.

"It's a wonderful company, because almost everybody has worked with everybody else. We've all touched each other at least two or three times, which is grand."

Though she has never worked with Bacall before, "We've always been friends and always talked about working together. But we never thought it would happen."

Harris has been performing for more than 60 years, in plays ranging from Coward's lighthearted "Hay Fever" to Chekhov's deeply moving "Uncle Vanya." She has had a rich film career as well, appearing in movies as diverse as Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" and the thriller "The Boys from Brazil." She currently can be seen in the film "My Life So Far." Harris also has performed in numerous television shows, including "Death of a Salesman" and "The Holocaust."

Harris' career began in her native England. Orphaned at a young age and raised by her grandmother, she originally wanted to be a nurse. But when, at the age of 17, she discovered she was a year too young to begin working in that profession, she decided "to fill in by joining a local stock company that was in my grandmother's little town," Harris said in an accent with only a trace of her British beginnings.

"I thought I'd see if they needed an extra person. I didn't have any training or anything, but I just applied and asked if I could have an audition. They said, oh, well, we might be able to find you something.

"Gradually I worked my way into the company, and started playing leading parts. After about a year, when it became time for me to go off and do my nursing, I thought, `I'm having too much fun.' "

Eventually, Harris came to the United States. She remembers clearly the day in 1952 that she arrived here.

"It was on the same day that Gertrude Lawrence died. All the theaters were dark that night, and I was very moved. She had been playing in `The King and I' right up to the week before."

Lawrence comes to mind because her career had been so intertwined with that of Noel Coward, and because there's a character in "Waiting in the Wings," Miss Carrington, who is never seen but whose description by another character leaves no doubt as to the real actress who inspired this creation.

The tip-off is when someone remarks about Miss Carrington, "She hadn't much of a voice," and another character responds, "She hadn't much of anything really, except magic, but she had a great deal of that."

When Coward wrote "Waiting in the Wings" in the early 1960s, there weren't many roles for actresses past their prime, explained Harris.

"Television in England hadn't really got a grip the way it does now. Nowadays, actresses of this inderminate age, even if they can't make it on the stage anymore, because of their memories failing and various things, they're always able to keep their careers going by doing television.

"But, in the early '60s, that wasn't possible. You either played on the stage or you were out. And Noel Coward in the '60s had some friends who hadn't been working. So, he said, we'll have to rectify that: I'll write a play for you all."

Since the characters in "Waiting in the Wings" are theater people, the play naturally is wonderfully theatrical, with all the women, at one time or other, taking center stage in grand style.

Besides making allusions to a couple of real-life performers, Coward based the centerpiece of the plot -- the feud between May and Lotta -- on an actual scandal having to do with two actresses who were in love with the same man, said Harris.

Retiring to old-age homes supported by private charities is indeed a fact of life for English performers, she said. There, in contrast to the United States, "There is no (union) insurance, no pension. Equity never got organized enough to take money out of actors' salaries."

In researching their parts, said Harris, some of the cast members visited the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, N.J., and came to realize that the residents were faithfully "represented in this play."

Appropriately enough, the New York opening of "Waiting in the Wings" will be a benefit for the Actors Fund.

For this revival, which is being directed by Michael Langham (who directed "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"), the play has undergone some changes by writer and translator Jeremy Sams. A death has been eliminated, an Irish jig has been added, along with a medley of songs in a New Year's Eve scene.

"And I think they've made the plot between Lotta and May much stronger and deeper," said Harris.

If "Waiting in the Wings" is an accurate portrayal of the twilight years of some actors, it certainly isn't for the ones in this show. Harris herself remains busy, with much of her time these days spent making movies, a medium she said she thoroughly enjoys. Now living in Winston-Salem, N.C, and married to novelist John Ehle, she also is the mother of an actress, Jennifer Ehle. Not long ago, mother and daughter worked together, with Ralph Fiennes, on a film shot in Budapest called "The Winter People." In the picture, which was shown at last fall's Toronto Film Festival and is waiting for an American distributor, the two women play the same character at different times of her life.

With her own happy experience as an actor, it never occurred to Harris to discourage her daughter from pursuing a career in show business.

"But, you know what Noel Coward said, laughed Harris, quoting a song lyric by the playwright, " `Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs. Worthington. Don't put your daughter on the stage!' "

ROSEMARY HARRIS, ABOVE, STARS WITH THE LEGENDARY LAUREN BACALL IN "WAITING IN THE WINGS.";

Ba-ack!

Well, sorta. Blogging from the airpot now. Thanks to Chelsea and Mary for looking after the blog and forum during my absence!

`Tom & Viv' star's happy amid tears
Philip Wuntch
Film Critic of The Dallas Morning News
3 March 1995
The Dallas Morning News
(Copyright 1995)

Rosemary Harris, Oscar-nominated for her poignant performance in Tom & Viv, hopes she can quit crying long enough to attend the March 27 ceremonies.

Not that she thinks she has "even a prayer of winning the Oscar."

Speaking by phone from London, she says she just finished rehearsing The Trojan Women, which will open in London next week. Hence, the crying.

"You know the play, it's all awash with tears," she says, her words falling atop one another in unmistakably patrician tones. "We rehearsed the scene today where Hecuba (her character) learns that one of her sons has been murdered and then watches as her daughter is dragged off into slavery.

"And now it's 9:30 at night, and I just finished looking at this BBC documentary on Walt Disney that's very unflattering. It's like discovering that every Christmas Eve, Santa Claus sniffed glue before his sleigh ride."

Despite the trials of the day, Ms. Harris sounds like a very happy person and seems overjoyed at her best-supporting-actress nomination.

"Oh, but I know I won't win. No, no, no. I don't even have a prayer of winning the Oscar. From the day Bullets Over Broadway was released, everyone knew Dianne Wiest would win. That's a given. I'm thrilled to be nominated, and I'm thrilled Miranda Richardson was nominated (for best actress), and I wish Willem Dafoe had been, too."

Ms. Richardson plays Vivienne Haigh-Wood, the mercurial rebel who becomes the first wife and staunch supporter of poet T.S. Eliot (Mr. Dafoe). Ms. Haigh-Wood's mood swings, caused by extreme hormonal problems, are cruelly diagnosed as a form of "moral insanity."

Ms. Harris, a much-lauded stage actress who has made infrequent film appearances, plays her compassionate mother, Rose.

"There wasn't a great deal of material to be found about Rose. You know, there wasn't a lot written about poor Vivienne until the last decade. That whole part of T.S. Eliot's life was swept under the carpet by his second wife."

Without much written material to be found, she based her performance on a family photograph taken when Vivienne was 12.

"Viv had her elbow on Rose's knee, and her expression was one of total trust. Rose looked at her daughter so lovingly. From that photo, I felt there was a very strong mother-daughter bond. Of course, Rose's love was restricted by the times. Women just didn't talk about such things as hormonal imbalance, and the medical establishment was so incredibly conservative and narrow-minded."

During the 1950s, Ms. Harris met T.S. Eliot when she performed in his play The Confidential Clerk. "He had a very austere face and a stern manner, but he would surprise you with his nice smile. He had married his secretary, and that was exactly what he needed - a wife who would also be an indispensable secretary.

"He never should have married Vivienne, and he knew it. He was naive and inexperienced and should have just had an affair with her. I thought Willem Dafoe was wonderful. There were times when I really thought he was T.S. Eliot. I'm sorry he's been overlooked. I think that's partly because the screenplay was not sympathetic to him. One day maybe someone will write a version told from his point of view. Being married to Vivienne could not have been easy."

Ms. Harris has starred opposite virtually every famous British actor and speaks highly of them all. "But I cherish Lord Laurence (Olivier). All these biographies that make him out to be cold and unfeeling - don't believe them. He was in a position to help me, and he did so very generously. He was incredibly generous with many actors."

She originated the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine in the Broadway production of A Lion in Winter. Former New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael, among others, felt her performance was superior to Katharine Hepburn's in the movie version.

"Oh, the role was always Katharine Hepburn's," Ms. Harris. "I got it quite by accident, and I was 30 years too young for the part anyway. They wrote the stage role completely with Katharine Hepburn in mind. They begged her to do the play, but Spencer Tracy was not well and her thoughts were only on him. I think he died the following year, and she threw herself into her work and did the movie. But, no, Eleanor will always be Katharine Hepburn's role."

Although Ms. Harris' name is synonymous with British theater, her home is Winston-Salem, N.C.

"It's our base camp, anyway. My husband (author John Ehle, whose The Journey of August King is being filmed with Jason Patrick) was born and raised in Asheville, and he likes to write in North Carolina. But, really, we're all over the place. We come home to wash our clothes, you might say. And we have a huge library of books that we keep in Winston-Salem. We read constantly and take whatever books we think we will need.

"Then, when the time comes, we just put on our backpacks and head to London or New York or wherever the work is. It's a good life."