Did he ever READ the scripts handed to him…
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Donald Pleasence
bpilling16 — 11 years ago(September 26, 2014 09:59 PM)
.. or did he just say "Sure! I'll be in it!". Donald Pleasence was a great actor and has appeared in many iconic films from The Great Escape to Dr. NO to Jesus of Nazareth, but he has also shown up in some real B movie stinkers.
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fritzfassbender — 11 years ago(September 27, 2014 01:31 PM)
Film historian Kim Newman made an observation once which I found quite insightful, which is that the idea of being "too good" to do certain projects is typically exclusive to American actors. European actors generally just like to work. That of course doesn't mean they have no standards, but that they see a job as a job. This is often why most screen villains are Europeans, as American film stars usually only want themselves to be seen in certain lights.
Interestingly, though, there was a role in a very low budget slasher film that fellow Englishmen Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing both turned down as they thought the project beneath them, which was then accepted by Pleasence. Christopher Lee later referred to that decision as the worst of his career as that film was, of course, the original
Halloween
. So you can't always hold your cards too close.
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deideiblueeyez — 9 years ago(November 02, 2016 03:45 PM)
Would you say then that European actors are fine with being typecasted, or doing the same roles over and over again? Are they not particularly concerned of their image for being in bad films, or are European audiences more apologetic and can recognize that it's the film, not the actor, that's the one at fault?
Plenty of times when I watch Nostalgic Critic, for example, really famous and beloved actors in crappy movies are made fun of in his reviews, as if their taking the role in that particularly bad film was a conscious choice on their part like "Yeah this movie's gonna be great!" instead of "well, it pays, so I'll do it. Maybe it'll be fun. I like this character, at least"
You shut your mouth when you're talking to me! -
fritzfassbender — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 07:27 PM)
Would you say then that European actors are fine with being typecasted, or doing the same roles over and over again?
Not necessarily, though Boris Karloff said on many occasions that he was grateful for his typecasting as it assured that he would always work.
Are they not particularly concerned of their image for being in bad films, o5b4r are European audiences more apologetic and can recognize that it's the film, not the actor, that's the one at fault?
It's not that they're not concerned, but it does seem European actors are less susceptible to the stink of bad films than Americans, which you could call the Michael Caine Syndrome. Maybe it's the accents.
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lorenzb-2 — 11 years ago(October 07, 2014 04:14 AM)
Donald played so many great characters it's hard to count them all. A very adapt practitioner of his craft. That's sorely lacking in today's current crop of actors. I met Danielle Harris once who starred with him in Halloween 4 & 5. She said he was a typical cultured English gentleman who treated her with the utmost kindness and consideration. We took a hit when we lost him.
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proteus122 — 11 years ago(October 13, 2014 08:04 PM)
From his qoutes:
"There was a sort of horror picture that I did called The Mutations (1974). I think I did that solely for the money."
I find his honesty refreshing. At least he had the balls to admit it. Donald never got half the acclaim he should have. RIP. -
darlene-soze — 11 years ago(January 11, 2015 08:08 AM)
I remember in 1997 reading that Sir Anthony Hopkins only did movies at that point for the money. At first I was surprised, but then it made sense. At the point in his life/career, he could retire and 10 years later come out of retirement and still have a pile of movie offers