Sunday 13 March 2016

The actor Ian McShane sounds like an eminently sensible chap, despite living in California for 35 years

It is him, isn't it, on the Sky Sports promos? If it isn't, someone has been doing a superb impression for years. Anyway, whether he is the chap on "Sky Spooortz" or not, he's enjoyed a damned good career, despite ditching the mullet, forsaking booze and pills and giving up marrying the likes of soft-porn star Sylvia Kristel. In fact, at 73, the career's still in full swing: he's currently playing Dr Roger Scratcherd in ITV's new Sunday night drama series, Doctor Thorne (written by some prolific but obscure Victorian novelist hardly anybody bothers reading any longer), and he's due to appear in an upcoming episode of Game of Thrones. 

But as I don't fancy the Trollope adaptation, have never watched Game of Thrones or Deadwood, and wasn't a big fan of Lovejoy, there's little point in my writing about his career (though I thought he was really good in Villain and Sexy Beast).  The Daily Telegraph did an enjoyable profile of him yesterday, where McShane fans can catch up with the smouldering, pocket-sized Lancastrian's current doings.

What I enjoyed about the article were his extremely un-Californian comments on a range of issues - I can only assume he's too old, well-off and in-demand to care whose nose he gets up, which, of course, makes him very entertaining. Here's what he had to say about the rumpus over the lack of black nominees for this year's Oscars:
“You’ve got Will Smith’s wife, whoever she is, saying she will boycott the Oscars and we’re thinking, 'Yeah I’m sure we’ll miss you, darling.’ Why? Because her husband wasn’t nominated, even though he’s put on a Nigerian accent for his latest film? We’re expected to go 'wow’ about that, are we?"
It's the kind of thing you might expect to hear from some failed thespian drowning his sorrows in a bar after a year out of work, rather than from one who's never been out of work. Here's another of his observations: "It’s like Leonardo DiCaprio. Not the finest performance, just him grunting and being raped by a bear. The Oscars are ridiculous.”

McShane inadvertently revealed some information about the forthcoming series of Game of Thrones recently, and was subjected to a barrage of criticism on social media:
“You say the slightest thing and the internet goes ape. I was accused of giving the plot away, but I just think get a f---ing life. It’s only tits and dragons."
Well, yes, it is - but I don't think the actors are actually meant to say it out loud, old boy.

It could be an act (which rather comes with the territory), but McShane does sound like a genuinely bloody-minded Northerner who simply doesn't give a toss - and doesn't need to worry, because he's rich. He made a mint out of Lovejoy, having suggested it as a TV series to his friend, scriptwriter Ian La Frenais ("When the BBC bought it, Michael Grade wanted to take over the production, but I told him to f--- off.”)

I know this kind of bluntness can get a bit wearing back here in Blighty, but in the context of Venice Beach and Hollywood, it's refreshing - especially after the emetic, virtue-signalling gushfest that this year's Oscars ceremony turned into (look, you've been given your awards for your contributions to some film or other, not for being the most tearfully compassionate black/gay/female eco-loon social-justice warriors on the face of the planet - you self-regarding twits). Come to think of it, it would be nice if Ian McShane were to win an Oscar, just so we could hear his acceptance speech.

I'll end with an utterly irrelevant piece of information:  one of my colleagues at BBC News was the absolute spitting image of Ian McShane - I'm not exaggerating. We're talking doppelgänger, only not quite as smouldery. There, I knew that would fascinate you.

9 comments:

  1. What will also fascinate you is that McShane Senior [a native of Lanarkshire] played professional football and won the League Title in 1951-52 with Manchester United and his son very nearly became a professional footballer. You did not mention his excellent performance in the American crime series "Ray Donovan".

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    1. According to the interview, McShane Senior, when suffering from dementia towards the end of his life, used to imagine that his son was the football player, rather than himself. When informed that Junior was actually an actor, would ask "Would I have seen you in anything?"

      I never really cottoned to Ray Donovan, but heard a lot of praise for it.

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    2. Professional footballer he might have been but not James Bond. He was considered for the role but rejected for being too short. Rather unfair when you think of the efforts made by Hollywood to lift the diminutive Alan Ladd to leading man height. I think McShane would have been rather good as 007, certainly a huge improvement on the wooden efforts of George Lazenby. Actually, I find Daniel Craig a very dull, humourless hero, none of the laconic wit of Connery or Moore. Even Pierce Bronson made an effort to be slightly funny but sadly with little conviction.

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    3. Mind you, they even gave Michael Gambon a screen test for Bond in the '60s! The mind really does boggle.

      Well, I rather like Daniel Craig, even though Bond should be at least 6'2". Yes, he has the look of a Ukrainian gangster who's been shrunk in the wash, but he brings an air of casual violence to the role which was lost after Connery retired from it. I shudder to think who comes next.

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  2. Sorry. Did not read the Telegraph interview because I refuse to pay their fee to read it on-line because it has turned into such a second rate newspaper over recent years. The Mail Online, that's the ticket. Lots of big pictures.

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    1. You're not missing anything in the Telegraph. I have access to the online edition, but only look at it once every two or three weeks at most. The Mail is handy - they still routinely steal decent writers from the Telegraph - but there's just too much girlie stuff for it to hit the spot.

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  3. actually, the snap at the top of this post suggests that McShane would make a fine Lucky Lucan, unless he is too short....

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    1. I can't really picture him as a toff - even a homicidal one. Besides, there are enough Old Etonian actors around to portray Lucan!

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    2. It was just the moustache really...

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