MovieChat Forums > The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1971) Discussion > actors resemble their real life counterp...

actors resemble their real life counterparts

posted 17 years ago by nocturn0wl
17 replies | jump to latest

Surprised no one has mentioned this already--

What REALLY struck me about this series is what great pains the actors took to LOOK their parts!

Henry VIII obviously goes without mention. (His metamorphosis from young man to corpulent tyrant was INCREDIBLE!) Then there's Katherine of Aragon, who is FINALLY portrayed as having reddish hair, just like the real Katherine. Anne of Cleves looked JUST like her infamous portrait. All of the other wives were spot on as well. Simply amazing!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] phylly3 17 years ago

Absolutely right. Very impressive indeed.
Not like the new series "The Tudors" which doesn't even ATTEMPT to have the actors look like their real counterparts.
I would very much like to see this series again. I guess I will have to purchase it, if it is still available.

phylly

[–] vitogarvin 16 years ago

true, and that's one of the things that makes it so hard to watch "The Tudors".
Especially Rhys-Myers.
Compared to Kieth Michell, he's a poser.

i was always struck by how much the chap who played Norfolk looked like the portrait in my English history books.
little did i know who was also 'doctor who', patrick troughton.

[–] inamourada_flux 16 years ago

I agree - Troughton's resemblance to the Duke of Norfolk was just amazing. The best portrayal of the Duke I have seen on screen so far.

--
"If only life could be a little more tender and art a little more robust." - Alan Rickman

[–] little_miss_sunnydale 16 years ago

My favourite part in this was Bernard Hepton's portrayal of Thomas Cranmer. I think he looks quite like a mature Cranmer based on the Flicke's portrait of Cranmer:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Thomas-Cranme r-ez.jpg/485px-Thomas-Cranmer-ez.jpg

I couldn’t find a clear picture of Hepton as Cranmer but he is in this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km3dHtvdgIg

Good resemblance IMO.

‘Noli me tangere; for Caesar's I am’

[–] eac1027 16 years ago

I thought he looked like Cranmer, and I also liked the guy who played Norfolk. It was also nice to finally see Catherine not look like a sterotypical Spanish person, and more like she did in real life, with reddish hair and pale skin. She was my favorite performance of the "wives".

[–] mcade 15 years ago

Bernard Hepton as Cramer was dead on!

I also thought the guy who played Cromwell was good too. I believe it was Wolfe Morris who played him.

[–] greenegg 14 years ago

You're so right! I was just a kid when the show originally aired on Masterpiece Theatre. I immediately made my mother buy me every adult-level biography I could get my hands on. Talk about the thirst for knowledge! Ditto for Elizabeth R, which had a similar attention to detail in its casting. I could not believe how much resemblance there was between the actors and their characters. What an incredible achievement this series was in every sense. The DVD is still available. I would imagine you could find some bargains on Amazon or half.com. I watch my copy at least once a year and never tire of it. I pity anyone who has viewed only that ridiculous Ray Winstone remake or that pathetic bodice and cod-piece-ripper, The Tudors. The Tudors had as much to with the Henry, Elizabeth, et. al. as the Real Housewives of Wherever. Those idiots couldn't act their way out of paper bags, aside from their absurd miscasting.

Put puppy mills out of business: never buy dogs from pet shops!

[–] maxgram 14 years ago

This was great! I streamed the series on my tv from www.netflix.com

[–] trickymutha 14 years ago

Just watched entire series netflix too!

[–] jmim-1 12 years ago

It's not yet available on netflix.ca, though. Typical. What ever happened to the Free Trade Agreements? The *beep* that happens when people draw a line on a map. Anyway, there are many good copies available for sale on the internet, so I'll do that. I saw it when it first came out, but can't remember much - my interest was kindled by watching Anne of the Thousand Days. Actually, I'm becoming a sucker for any movie about the Royals. In spite of all the bad press lately, they sure make for compelling cinema, don't they? The King's Speech, the Queen, Elizabeth, Elizabeth: the Golden Age, Elizabeth R, Lady Jane (with Helena Bonham Carter) - the list is many times longer than that.

[–] Moonlighty 14 years ago

The actors are less attractive than the Tudors, but that's much more realistic. I like that not everyone is Hollywood pretty and looks like they are supposed to.

Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be over here, looking through your stuff

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] themill 11 years ago

I've only had time to watch one episode at a time, but I keep needing to start the next episode just to see what Henry will look like. Agree with you guys especially about Norfolk. Looks like he stepped straight out of the famous portrait.

[–] Adler-99 9 years ago

I simply could not watch "The Tudors." Rhys-Myers looked like such a skinny pretty boy the entire time, and every single woman had perfect hair, makeup, skin, and teeth. It was like watching a runway show of models and I just could not take it seriously.

I saw this 1970 mini-series when it was first broadcast and never forgot it; that's how much of an impression it made.

[–] tfennelly 8 years ago

I loved Keith Michel as Henry. If you wish Elvis Presley had won the role, instead, you will prefer "The Tudors."
All the men are handsome hunks, even Cromwell. All the women are round-faced starlets. The men look so much alike and the women look so much alike that one can't tell who is doing what to whom.
Rhys-Meyer's "Henry" couldn't grow fat, obese, over the decades because the actor isn't tall enough to wear all that padding.