For what it’s worth — I got to see Jeremy Brett play Dr. John Watson to Charlton Heston’s Sherlock Holmes three times as I am a Sherlock fan. One matinee & two normal performances.
But this also triggered a memory of Granada TV publishing a newsletter about the show that looked like a newspaper.
Honestly, I’m gobsmacked that there hasn’t been a full-on faithful adaptation of Dorian Gray in recent decades. It’d seem a perfect mirror to hold up to the vapid looksmaxing body trends of more recent generations.
Heck, expand the story and watch DG survive 130 years if only for the fun silliness parade of going through 60s, 70s, and 80s fashions and the successive and less fashion-notable decades after them.
Unsure why but Tom Ellis (Lucifer) leaps to mind as a solid potential Dorian Gray for this purpose…
I love Ellis, but he’s too old. In the original story, Dorian is a young blond man who is twenty but looks about 17. This is explicitly stated in the text. For whatever reason, he’s often cast as a brunette and he’s almost never cast as someone who is genuinely boyish. Tom Ellis is a handsome middle aged man who looks like a handsome middle aged man.
Fair point. It’s been so long I’d forgotten how young Dorian was supposed to be. I’ll leave it to someone far younger than me to choose an actor of their generation to be Mr Gray’s avatar/actor.
Out of curiosity, I looked on archive.org. They have versions from 1915, 1945, and 1973 (hosted by Elvira). I think I mentioned this before but the painting by Ivan Albright (used in the 1945 movie) is a sight to behold if you ever get chance to see it. It used to hang in Buffalo's Albright Knox museum, not sure where it is now.
This is my favorite adaptation of the novel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4xvQlfkGUY
I swear, if a portrait of me would gain weight and let me eat whatever I want, I'd do it.
This one is hilarious.
They always killed...
For what it’s worth — I got to see Jeremy Brett play Dr. John Watson to Charlton Heston’s Sherlock Holmes three times as I am a Sherlock fan. One matinee & two normal performances.
But this also triggered a memory of Granada TV publishing a newsletter about the show that looked like a newspaper.
That’s amazing. What a treat!
Honestly, I’m gobsmacked that there hasn’t been a full-on faithful adaptation of Dorian Gray in recent decades. It’d seem a perfect mirror to hold up to the vapid looksmaxing body trends of more recent generations.
Heck, expand the story and watch DG survive 130 years if only for the fun silliness parade of going through 60s, 70s, and 80s fashions and the successive and less fashion-notable decades after them.
Unsure why but Tom Ellis (Lucifer) leaps to mind as a solid potential Dorian Gray for this purpose…
I love Ellis, but he’s too old. In the original story, Dorian is a young blond man who is twenty but looks about 17. This is explicitly stated in the text. For whatever reason, he’s often cast as a brunette and he’s almost never cast as someone who is genuinely boyish. Tom Ellis is a handsome middle aged man who looks like a handsome middle aged man.
Fair point. It’s been so long I’d forgotten how young Dorian was supposed to be. I’ll leave it to someone far younger than me to choose an actor of their generation to be Mr Gray’s avatar/actor.
Out of curiosity, I looked on archive.org. They have versions from 1915, 1945, and 1973 (hosted by Elvira). I think I mentioned this before but the painting by Ivan Albright (used in the 1945 movie) is a sight to behold if you ever get chance to see it. It used to hang in Buffalo's Albright Knox museum, not sure where it is now.
Any thoughts on the Penny Dreadful take on Dorian?
I thought it was fine, knowing it’s not the “real” Dorian.