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- Nov 30, 2004
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Funny, I thought John Noble had also been a Shakespearean actor, which according to his Wikipedia article he was and is not.
As per the article, Olivier was battling illnesses for the last 22 years of his life - that would be from 1967 (!!) to 1989. As per fragments of memory of the Time Magazine article, Olivier certainly threw away subtlety in his depiction of King Lear (in case that role can be played subtlely at all, that is), playing it with raw emotion. Perhaps Noble was channeling this performance of Olivier's in that (cherry-) tomato scene - and what are American tomatoes doing in Third Age Middle-earth, anyway?Olivier seems to have thrown away technique this time—his is a breathtakingly pure Lear. In his final speech, over Cordelia's lifeless body, he brings us so close to Lear's sorrow that we can hardly bear to watch, because we have seen the last Shakespearean hero Laurence Olivier will ever play. But what a finale! In this most sublime of plays, our greatest actor has given an indelible performance. Perhaps it would be most appropriate to express simple gratitude.