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Today:
Poets in Movies
With the release of "The Great Debaters," I get to add an entry to my nerdish collection of actors who portray real-life poets on the movie screen. I count only film portrayals of actual poets, not fictional ones (so "Dead Poets Society" doesn't fill the bill).
In TGD, Denzel Washington plays Melvin B. Tolson.
Past movie roles include David Cross as Allen Ginsberg in "I'm Not There," Gwyneth Paltrow as Sylvia Plath in "Sylvia," Debra Winger as Joy Gresham in "Shadowlands," Glenda Jackson as Stevie Smith on "Stevie," and Willem Dafoe as T.S. Eliot in "Tom & Viv."
Do any others come to mind?
You can listen to a recording of Tolson reading his "Dark Symphony" at
http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/mediaplayer.asp?ean=081227801229&z=y
Here's one scarifying film portrayal of a poet that challenges any of us who may be tempted to believe that making poetry tends to improve the character: Johnny Depp as the Earl of Rochester in "The Libertine" (2004).
Philippe Noiret as Pablo Neruda in Il Postino. This is a great film that I highly recommend to anyone not afraid of subtitles.
Il Postino! Yes. I had forgotten about that movie. Thank you, Ben. Jay, I'm not familiar with the Earl of Rochester, but I'll look further.
Here are others: "Before Night Falls" features Javier Bardem (!) as Reynaldo Arenas, "Impromptu" features Mandy Patinkin as Alfred de Musset, "Sylvia" has Daniel Craig portraying Ted Hughes; "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle" has Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dorothy Parker.
"The Barrets of Wimpole Street" portrating Elizabeth Barret Browning and Robert Browning was made several times . The actors who portrayed the couple include Norma Shearer and Fredric March (1934), Jennifer Jones and Bill Tavers (1957), Gwen Watford and John Neville (1961 TV movie), and Jane Lapotaire and Jeremy Brett (1982).
Ray Sharkey as Allen Ginsberg in "HeartBeat".