The Tolkien Joke and Meme thread

Aldarion · Oct 12, 2021

Erestor Arcamen · Oct 12, 2021

Erestor Arcamen · Oct 13, 2021

Olorgando · Oct 13, 2021

Erestor Arcamen said:
View attachment 10477

Funny, I thought John Noble had also been a Shakespearean actor, which according to his Wikipedia article he was and is not.
What did come to mind (faintly) was a late performance by already Lord Laurence Olivier, of King Lear.
As per his Wikipedia article, I'm guessing it was "1983 he played his last Shakespearean role as Lear in King Lear, for Granada Television, earning his fifth Emmy." I probably read about it in Time Magazine, which my parents (mother) continued to subscribe to in Germany for over 20 more years.
Here's a quote from a critic in the Wiki article:
When the production was first shown on American television, the critic Steve Vineberg wrote:

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.

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?

Erestor Arcamen · Oct 13, 2021

Ealdwyn · Oct 14, 2021

Erestor Arcamen · Oct 14, 2021

Squint-eyed Southerner · Oct 14, 2021

Erestor Arcamen · Oct 14, 2021

(http://imgur.com/a%2FJuR4ZCT)

Aldarion · Oct 15, 2021

The Tolkien Joke and Meme thread

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