Ian Richardson on his work with Alec Guinness - Excerpt from Interview on ABC's Midday - 2002
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- čas přidán 6. 06. 2016
- Excerpt from a radio interview on ABC's Midday.
Presenter - Margaret Throsby
First Broadcast in 2002.
This recording is for educational purposes only and is covered under Fair Use doctrine of the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107.
No financial or other monetary gains are to be received from the display of this recording.
The best BBC play I have ever seen. Even after 40 years. The cast and especially Guinness and Richardson are just amazing.
"I'm horribly out of work"
Beautiful :)
Ian Richardson was perfect at playing cold, duplicitous characters, completely at odds with his warm, charming personality
The conjunction of Le Carré, Guinness and Simon Langton's direction produced the best piece of UK TV ever. Still a compelling watch in 2023.
John Irvin in Tinker Tailor, Simon on Smiley's People.
@@chrisst8922 Correct. And Langton was not a patch on Irving. Not a patch.
I have watched the original tv series at least 10 times over the years. Never grows tired. Perfect viewing. Great actors, great plot. Nothing could come close to that nowadays.
Hear hear.. Better than that awful monstrosity of a film they made.
@@Yamah12a The major failing of the remake is the slavish copy of the original story and time, if they had updated the story to a modern setting and modern plot, then it would have worked.
A copycat production of a masterpiece is asking for damnation. they got it.
TTSS is good, but Smileys People is a masterpiece, everything about it is stunning, it has one serious bad plot point or continuity error, no way in hell would Smiley bring the proof to Madam Ostrakovas apartment. she has bad neighbours loitering outside. Smiley should know or guess this. (he has the briefcase, he gives the leather trenchcoat to the landlady's husband, so its not a continuity error, its a plot thing)
@@joefish6091 Without TTSS no Alec as Smiley.
Yes, Smiley's People is a highlight of television as is State of Play (2003)
LEGACY, 2013. It's a 90 minute TV movie, set in early 70's England.
If you loved the BBC version of Tinker and Smiley's People, you'll probably love LEGACY.
I've watched it every few years since it was released and I always notice someone new in it. Every single time.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People...no one does TV like that any more...intelligent, quiet, loaded with nuance - unafraid of silence and thinking time...two of the most stunningly cast and filmed series ever to make it to television. Not a single duff note, and it read like a who's who of the best of British acting talent at the time. Alec Guinness, Ian Richardson, Sian Philips, Michael Jayston, Bernard Hepton, Terence Rigby, Ian Bannen, Michael Lonsdale, Barry Foster, Jos Ackland, Hywel Bennett, Bill Forsyth, Beryl Reid, Michael Aldridge...even the minor parts, you had Patrick Stewart, John Standing, George Sewell and Alexander Knox...if that wasn't enough, Curd Jurgens! You couldn't get a cast like that now.
I'm a particularly big fan of Smiley's People.
Vladek Sheybal, Curd Jürgens, Michael Lonsdale...Smiley's People sourced some people from Bond villains. :-D
Even Alan Rickman as a concierge in Smiley’s People!
Smileys People the TV has one serious bad plot point , no way in hell would Smiley bring the proof to Madam Ostrakovas apartment.
The scene where he spends five minutes just writing a letter is brilliant. I watch Smiley's People regularly.
RIP Ian Richardson, a true Scot, a gentleman................ and missed very much.
Ian Richardson was so superb in Tinker Tailor that I have watched it over and over - the moment when he looks at a picture in Smiley's home and comments that this gift from his wife must have been to make up for quite a sin.... Beryl Reid as Connie, crippled by arthritis and brilliant, Bernard Hepton, all of them, every single one, pure gold. Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People were the best series I've ever seen on television and it is so sad that we have lost so many of those actors.
Two legends. Two icons. RIP both
I adore his House of Cards. He captures the multi-faceted aspects of The Richard III archetype better than virtually anyone, particularly the mirth and humour.
Private Schulz too, Major Neuheim .
To me that was the height of television. So many great programs on, so many great performances. A masterpiece a week! I got spoiled on it, and when the well ran dry, it hurt that much more.
And is brilliant at playing an upper-class shits. The perfect Bill Haydon.
The production of Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy alluded to here is extraordinary, mesmerizing, brilliant!
TTSS is both one of my favorite TV Mini-series and also one of my favorite movies; both feature terrific performances from great actors of their respective decades.
The film was not a patch on the TV series. Firth totally wrong.
Ian Richardson had a rich mellifluous voice, and attractive too.
What a lovely story. Absolutely perfect casting for both Smiley and Hayden.
I adored Ian Richardson in everything he did. Even small parts, such as in Brazil are wonderfully rich.
Richardson’s Haydon was the performance of lifetime: his appearance and conduct at the Circus when Operation Testify is
blown, as he planned all along we learn later, is breathtaking... I never knew that Smiley/Guinness was his “Circus talent spotter”!
I suspect Sir Alec would have made a great spy.
@@benwilson6145 Doubt it: as Alec didn’t seem like the type to waltz through professional life perpetually drunk!…
I’m a big fan of the Lefty documentary maker, Adam Curtis, and have recently been looking up his catalogue which stretches back into the eighties, when he was making films for other docu series whilst scarcely even getting a credit.
One of these is “The Cost of Treachery;” a rough VHS version of which you can find on CZcams. The documentary describes both the scores of agents, in the Balkans, who went to their deaths directly due to Kim Philby’s betrayal - upon which things like Operation Testify, Haydon’s treachery, and the blowing of Jim’s Czech networks are based; Philby having been responsible for blowing Le Carré’s cover too, forcing his own move from MI6 to MI5.
You also get an insight into how permanently sozzled all of them were, during that period, in both British and US intelligence. I’d recommend it.
@@michaeljames4904 In Tinker Tailor there is an epic cast, so much talent that I suspect it could never be remade as there would be too many egos and Divas.
One often missed is Alan Rickman as the Hotel Receptionist.
I will look for the Cost of Treachery.
I think our present Goverment is the equivalent of the Secret Service in the series.
@@benwilson6145 _> One often missed is Alan Rickman as the Hotel Receptionist…_
Indeed, but that scene’s in _Smiley’s People,_ I believe; when Sir Alec uses the hotel’s safe to secure the material he’s about to develop, which he’s found on Hampstead Heath, left by the KGB assassinated, superlative Curt Jürgens; in case Smiley gets waylaid before he’s had a chance to study it more closely.
Such a shame the BBC never had the budget to make the middle Karla novel; and “The Honourable Schoolboy” won’t ever even become a contemporary movie, now, despite that being the original intention - because its plot is so critical of the CCP and its shenanigans, of course.
@@michaeljames4904 Its his gentlemens club, not a hotel.
He sounds like he was a wonderful and charming man. It's a shame he is no longer with us. Thanks for sharing this lovely interview.
A wonderful actor. His portrayal of Hayden is exceptional and this is a great series of anecdotes about Alec Guinness.
Let's not forget the great Bernard hepton. Basically bbc drama at its peak. Long gone I'm afraid.
Great actor. Died last year. He was in some important 70s and 80s movies, including Gandhi and one of my favorite crime movies, Get Carter with Michael Caine. RIP
As you say long gone we don’t get that quality now no depth to the characters just fee acceptors now in it for the money the new T T S S is just crude acted CRAP
So true at least we can remind ourselves by watching the work they left with us. Today as I said earlier we simply have fee takers with no soul.
I do so agree you put it very well I have the tinker tailor trilogy compact discs and other items I literally do not watch modern television I dumped it out on to the pavement and happily somebody stole so I fem9ved the Ariel that was 1986 and the license people still chase me with NO set. Very best wishes
@@hugopetrus34 I though in the new version the actor playing George S was simply trying to play Alec Guinness. Why did they bother, the BBC version of the 1980S blew their socks off.
George Smiley, one of my favourite spy controllers, just loved "Smileys People" series. Ian Richardson in "House of Cards" simply brilliant. "Game, Set & Match" another British spy classic series with Ian Holm as Bernard Samson, I have watched it over and over and never tire of it. You cannot beat the British when it comes to a good spy movie...
Probably my favorite tv adaptation ever, that and Smiley's People. The acting, screenplay, sets were all perfection. Guinness, Richardson, Bannon were superb.
Smiley's people was not nearly as good as TTSS.
Ian Richardson, one of my favorite British actors...along with Alec Guinness
What a performance he gave in Tinker Tailor ... he gave some mirth to the character .. also played the smugness of someone who has a secret that no one else knows to a tee... so brilliant .. up there with Michael Jayston in terms of performance.
Michael Jayston is phenomenal, and his performance “lives on” in his dramatic narration of several Le Carre Audio Book novels involving George Smiley including Tinker Tailor, Smileys People, and my personal favorite, the Honorable School Boy. Happy listening!
From that moment when he swaggered into view with his tea, to the moment when he laughed and said "Why? WHY?! Because it was necessary!" - I was hooked.
I mean, I saw the movie version first and Colin Firth did a good job, but he's IMHO just too dry for that role.
@@tigertelecom1 such a pity he wasn't in 'Smiley's People'
I wish they had filmed it with a proper movie camera on real movie film.
Jayston didn't return for SMILEY'S PEOPLE. He was replaced by Michael Byrne, 8 years his junior.
Despite this Michael Jayston is associated with le Carre more than anyone.
Up to the last two* Jayston narrated all of the audiobooks.
*Tom Hollander 2017 & Toby Jones 2021. Both great but Jayston was perfect for those books.
What a nice bloke. And so enthusiastic about the programme after all those years. With a genuine sense of humour.
Ian played that part perfectly in Tinker Tailor. Well actually, this was the perfect cast.......every part. Just amazing!
When compared to the most recent film adaptation, the movie cast comes up short with the exception of the lead.
Guinness & Richardson, an amazing combination. I was lucky enough to see IR many times on stage at the RSC in the 70s. Always wonderful.
Ian Richardson was a brilliant actor
Ian Richardson was in a class of his own.
Both Guinness and Richardson were top drawer!
Dammit, why did this have to pop up in my recommendations? Now I have to get out my DVDs of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and watch it all over again!
I've no doubt it was Sir Alec who got Ian the "Bill Hayden" role in Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy. He wouldn't want to mention it, a great man. Ian is too.
And thank goodness he did. Ian is wonderful and perfect in it, as he was in all his roles. A great actor and sad he's no longer with us.
Haydon
What a pair of diamond actors. True thespians with voices of molten gold.
what a treat, this interview! Thanks for sharing
What a gem! Absolutely amazing!
Giants who walked among us for a time.
So many great scenes. When he starts crying at the end. When he enters the boardroom holding the teacup with the saucer on the top, then slams the door. Such a great role.
Actually, he leaves the door open...
Lumen Edl And who closes it back up after a fashion? Good ol’ Toby Esterhazy.
@@fruzsimih7214 That was a clue pointing to the villain.
@@soniavadnjal7553 And who's going to turn good and help clean up the mess. Poorman.
He didn't slam the door. In fact, he left it open and Toby had to close it. Someone elsewhere said that this was a giveaway that he was the mole.
Thank you for posting this. Wonderful listening.
So I watched approximately 1 minute of the new House of Cards; Kevin Spacey turns and directly talks to the camera about the nature of power.
I'm like, "NOPE, you are NOT Ian Richardson."
No one 4th-wall talks megalomania to the audience like Ian Richardson does. When I think House of Cards I think of him.
Exactly. Did you ever catch the Grey Poupon commercials he did which played on the House of Cards character or was it Jaguar? I forget. But he spoke to the camera from the back seat. Wonderful.
I"ve often wondered what famous theater actors thought about playing the same role every night. I thought it might be boring, and Sir Ian confirmed it.
Speaking as an actor myself, I did not find it so.
Vincent Price was another actor who could go anonymous believe it or not. I once was awaiting him in the wings after his one man show & he brushed right past me before I recognized the icon of stage & screen.
I nearly knocked down Vincent Price on Fifth Avenue in NYC during the 1980s. It was winter and I slipped on the ice and grabbed the nearest person to keep from falling. That person was Vincent Price.
I was watching Harry Potter the other day, the first one, Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone and was shocked to see Beryl Reid in a tiny scene. Never noticed her there before. She's on the Hogwarts train selling candies to Ron and Harry. It's right before Hermione makes her first appearance.
Much much better than the cinema movie from some years ago.
I loathe the cinema movie. The television series was complete perfection, and please don't forget Ian Bannen playing a man whose heart is broken.
BBC four tv are re-showing this classic series start 29/05/21
One of the truly great British TV productions/ At least once a year I pull the DVD's out and play the series. The only annoying thing is that the official release has a number of scenes either cut short or edited out. I actually recorded the original series off TV when it was broadcast and kept the tapes, so I know the scenes off by heart and the missing sections in the DVD release easily stand out as a consequence. Edited or nor though it's simply brilliant - the only thing to rival it in my view is Edge of Darkness and the follow-up Smiley series, Smiley's People, which to me falls just a tad short of TTSS.
There are copies that contain all the scenes, but I'm not sure about region coding. It's a bit of a mess. For a long time, only the tapes were the full length. And it was hard to find NTSC that was complete.
TTSS, Edge of Darkness & Smiley's People are on regular rotation in my viewing schedule. Masterpieces of the art.
It falls A LOT shorter than TTSS.
I Really enjoyed story, thanks.
Alec loved the classical stage: I've no doubt he'd look out for a promising Shakespearean and give him a leg up on TV.
I can see why Smiley would recognize that voice from anywhere
"horribly out of work" can hardly describe someone coming off a year in the lead of a hit Broadway play
Those British
It's called modesty, deliberately under playing his success so to not look presumptuous.
@@ingvarhallstrom2306 Not at all. Coming off a successful run like that means everyone who might call on you for a job automatically thinks, 'he has just come off that Broadway run, his phone will be hoppin with offers, he won't need my call, I'll try someone else'.Unless you put yourself out there again, the phone won't ring! It is a common worry in those 'gigging' in the entertainment industry. It is not false modesty at all, it is a real fear that the phone will never ring again!
The original Man of Cards.
Loved Ian's version bettah!
House of cards
@@kamuelalee Ian's version WAS the original version.
Ian does sinister menance like no other❤
Harkins back to the days when actors were actors, they portrayed characters that we’re not like themselves but in such a way as to make you believe that they were real not fake they were “acting”. No social media no Instagram no followers no likes. There was a time when you had a whole generation of actors today there is maybe half a dozen actors with any death to them at all, more the pity.
Bill Haydon was loosely based on Kim Philby.
And Philby was also the reason why le Carré had to quit MI6, because his cover was blown.
What a great performance by Ian. I tried not to hate poor Bill Hayden.
I hate him still!
I never hated him. He was supposed to be a charmer in the mold of Kim Philby.
I just finished watching Tinker Tailor etc., and Smiley's People for I think the second time. They still get great accolades from viewers in 2022.
BTW, the anecdote about him transforming into a "bank clerk" reminds me of a Marilyn Monroe female friend who said Monroe could walk in New York unnoticed with her and when asked if she was concerned about possibly being noticed for the star she was, turn it on with her walk using all her curves, get some men gawking in recognition and then turn it off and continue with her friend unbothered.
I’m certain George knew exactly who was responsible for Bill at the end. Just didn’t want to give him up.
I agree. And it just shows what a wise man George was.
Richardson and Guinness both are irreplaceable losses. All the old guard were inimitable
Bill Haydon (the mole)'s coat is the same as the one Nigel Farage wears. Is this significant?
The still above of Ian is not from TTSS.
c2757 Here in the USA it is a perennial classic called a Chesterfield coat. The collar is velvet. Sold in the finest stores. Somewhat rarified.
@2757: PLEASE edit or delete this SPOILER ALERT!!
Highly significant. We just need a Prideaux.
One legend talking about another legend.
And now we've lost Roger Lloyd Pack and John Hurt from the amazing 2011 film version.
If there's a film with a better cast of UK actors than Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011) I can't think what it may be.
Losing John le Carre is a huge blow but filmmakers could make careers out of his writing for the next century.
I just watched the 2011 version again this week and still find it lacking against the Beeb miniseries, mostly because it's a story that needs time to stretch its legs and breathe, so you get to know all the players. The cast, as you say, is stellar; Tom Hardy's Ricky Tarr is superior in every way to the OG, and Toby Jones is much closer to the book's "poison dwarf" Alleline. I love Oldman in all things, he's a legend and wore Smiley's purple well, but Guinness will always, always be the one and only Smiley for me.
The one scene in the 2011 version that crushes the Beeb version is the phenomenal last shot, with that wonderful anachronistic song playing above it in gaudy French, as Smiley takes his place at the head of the service. I totally get that the OG series had to end on the note it did, le Carré never went in for triumphant happy endings and we had to have Chekov's Ann Smiley make an appearance at last, but the Beeb's ending has always left me feeling flat and deflated and sad for George, in his moment of triumph. Oldman's quiet command in Control's chair thrills me every time, makes George the hero he really is; I just love that last shot.
@@CDMVIDZ Great direction/cinematography in the 2011 version.. the set design was also great. It appeared to be set stylistically in the 70's as well which separates it from the Bbc version. Oldman did a great job but was very restrained in his performance.. almost too much. He had a rather difficult act to follow, though. The original version is probably too subtle and ambiguous now for a new modern audience but it is still classic. I agree with the music choice at the end of the movie.. if I remember correctly it is Julio Iglesias's live version of La Mer from the mid 70's. The only problem I have with all versions of Tinker Tailor is that Bland features so little as to exclude him from the mystery and for the viewer or reader after a while it seems that Alleline or Hayden are the only likely candidates to be the mole but that if it were Alleline it would have been a disappointingly obvious conclusion making Hayden the natural choice all along.
@@nicknewman7848 100% agreed with everything you've said: GORGEOUS set design all around (except, oddly, for the opening street scene with Prideaux, which feels like it was shot inside a cupboard; very soundstagey feel, didn't work for me at all); loved the interior design of the Circus, with its odd sound-baffled SCIF like a big golden egg in the center of the room, and the clanking file elevators. Time constraints forced so much detail out, you're right, and with Roy Bland especially, but Toby's character suffers, too. No one could hope to follow Bernard Hepton's wounded aristocratic performance, and the Beeb version gave him SO much time to play against Smiley (to even greater effect in the SMILEY'S PEOPLE adaptation). Bland is a complete afterthought in the 2011 film, you get no sense of his background or the many grievances that might have propelled him to being the mole. Thank goodness we'll always have the Beeb version!
@@CDMVIDZ The scene at the end of the Guinness version where they are all sat down at the table like contrite public school boys being told that they are being reassigned or should even reconsider their relevance to the service is very well played. Smiley assumes 'temporary' control with his typical restraint and it is clear who is the ringmaster. That is the equivalent to the Smiley 'victory' scene you mention in the movie version. Revisit it if you get the chance (it is on iplayer currently i think) very different but worth another look.. it wouldn't have worked in a two hour film though. In the Bbc version they end with the Anne scene where they just remind us of George's inadequacies and how he really doesn't understand people at all which I agree was a rather muted ending after such a masterclass in mole hunting.
@@nicknewman7848 I've always found that ending with Anne to be relentlessly grim and cruel to the character of Smiley, and finally introducing Anne as a real person in the last 5 minutes of such a long production took all the air out of her mythos. Almost every character Smiley meets along the way deflects his attentions with a sly or sardonic or simple, "How is Anne?" She is Norm's wife Vera, to borrow an American sitcom reference: always spoken of, much-maligned, epic in her influence, but never seen. Right up until the last minutes, when George should be ascendant in his glory, but is instead cuckolded and pitied by a woman who couldn't hope to love up to her legend. Pitch-perfectly apt for George as a character, and pure le Carré from top to bottom, but it just isn't satisfying for we the viewers. We just want our poor, quiet, wounded, betrayed George to be victorious, just for once.
The asides to the camera are classical devilry and just so delicious. IAn was ideally cast as F.U. and did a tremendous job.
he was a great bill hayden
The cast of Tinker Tailor was replete with great old English actors. And what a tale, how I miss the cold war. In its place we have fanatics running around the Middle East in curious dress screaming about medieval religious matters.
They had something in common !
Bill Haydon as I live and breathe.
What an accent! Dear oh dear!
Sadly missed
what an accent, lol.
You could tell he was primarily a stage actor. In Tinker Tailor, he overly projected his voice in every scene. His volume was much higher than necessary. Bloody cabaret!
No, he didn't. He could work with his voice and face very subtly.
@@fruzsimih7214 Does that mean they like it Percy?
Ian bannen wasn't half bad either,i got you home didnt i,yes that was good of you,peter
Sir Alec Guinness the best and most natural and gifted actor of our century. Max Von Sydow next. Shirley knight next. Miranda Otto next. Naomi watts comes second close. trash the rest.
Ian Richardson, Ian McKellan and Ian McShane too
@@barryturnbull60 And Iain Glen, though the spelling is different.
@@kamuelalee Ian Holm too. :-D
@@vaclav_fejt Yes!
trash olivier burto n otoole etc are you kidding,who the hell is shirly knight, naomi watts
Doesn't sound like...Ian.
best Bil Haydon
ONLY Bill Haydon.
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