The Column....

today: Acting Heroes....

Acting Heroes…

Since I am a Damian Lewis fan I should have excellent taste when it comes to actors… :)) But really, one of my all-time acting hero’s was and is Ralph Fiennes. The British born actor is for sure on of the best English actors ever!!   

I owe him my first theatre experience in London.

I was a young girl when I came to the city and being utterly alone in such a place can be quite scary but even if I am normally full of doubts and anxiety thinking back, I felt like a hero myself to travel alone and unexperienced….

So I discovered the city on my own and made friends with a wonderful woman, from the States, she was an actress herself and came all the way to celebrate her birthday in London and to see Fiennes on stage.

We spent the week together and when I say we spent then I mean it.

Every minute we were together from sightseeing to shopping and talking. I had never seen her before and never after but the week was incredible.

And we enjoyed Ralph Fiennes on stage. He played the title role in an Ibsen play called Brand, a priest with strict views and a suppressed wife and unhappy with himself. A role made for Fiennes. He entered the stage with an intensity that captured audience and critics. It was a three hour play and Fiennes filled every minute with life and the sadness and broken illusions Brand had to deal with. I will never forget my first play in London.

 

After the play we went to the stage door because I was so flashed by the play that I wanted an autograph …a thing I almost never do because it seems a bit silly to me.

And everyone I talked around the theatre told me how shy and reserved Fiennes is and that he dislikes such things.  But I stayed… brave and with weak knees.

Ralph Fiennes came out and was friendly, shy and a bit reserved to everyone but nice all over. I remember that I stood a bit beside the rest of the crowd not sure what to do…. When Fiennes passed me I said politely Hello and asked for an autograph. He smiled at me and during he signed the program I mumbled that it was my first play in London ever! He stopped his signing looked at me and said: „your first play in London ever?! and you came to see me ?” I said yes and before I could say how much I loved the play he said: “well then I hope it was alright" and smiled again his shy but really beautiful smile.

I laughed and told him that I enjoyed every minute and he thanked me and said:  "well then I hope you will come again” I assured him I will (and I did) and thanked him for his time. I almost  float back to my hotel, the first week in London were entirely fantastic and unforgettable and I will also never forget how this nice man with the difficult reputation made my day by being so nice to me.

Ralph Fiennes gave the world a lot of brilliant moments on stage and screen. He made himself a household name with Spielberg’s Schindler's List and his amazing performance. As chilling Amon Göth which made him an international star and earned him his first Oscar nomination. He made me crying in Red Dragon as the serial killer Francis Dollarhyde. He made him extremely likable and vulnerable…one of my all-time favourites.

And a more recent work: Grand Budapest Hotel is beyond words.   Just an excellent film!!

If you have a lazy Sunday coming and no idea what to do….go and watch a Fiennes movie. 

You will never regret it.