Friday 4 December 2009

An Officer And A Gentleman

richard todd Just heard of the death, aged 90, of the classic British actor, Richard Todd. He had a very diverse career on stage and screen, a distinguished service record in WW2 but a rather sad private life.

In his later years he did a lot of charity work for both Age Concern and the Royal British Legion, as well as the St Barnabas Hospice near his home in Lincolnshire.

I am not sure which of his films I enjoyed most

'The Dambusters' was well made [great music too!]

dambusters

All those historical ones were fun [Robin Hood and his Merrie Men, Rob Rob the Highland Rogue etc] and then there were all the other war movies [Operation Crossbow, The Longest Day, D-Day 6th June etc] which I confess seem all the same to me in many ways!

And then there was this one...

Its a biopic about the Scottish minister who ended up as Chaplain to the US Senate, and died at the age of 47. It's based on the book written by his wife Catherine. I read the book when I was about 11, and it made a great impression on me. The film was a bit romanticised though! Not sure how it would go down with today's cynical audiences, but when the film came out, it got some good reviews and an Oscar nomination.

 

They don't make films like that any more...

3 comments:

  1. Ang, I loved the books by Catherine Marshall, what a great man her husband was.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I too have found Catherine Marshall's books a great help and inspiration in my life but sadly her son Rev Peter Marsahll Jnr's website is very disappointing. His understanding of American history is deeply flawed intellectually and his extreme right wing/anti Obama /anti universal health care politics etc is distinctlty "unchristian". See petermarshallministries.com .Catherine's step daughter Linda Lesourd Lader seems a much more balanced charactor and is studying for the Presbyterian ministry.

    Annie x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Annie
    thank you for your comment
    I did not know about PM junior's website - and like you found some of his comments a little unhelpful and disappointing.
    I am a mere Brit - but conscious that in the US, it seems that there is such a division between Republicans and Democrats and sadly it seems that one side cannot ever believe that they might have Christian Kindred in the other camp!
    At least I count friends among all three main British political parties as Christian brothers and sisters, even if I do not share their political views.
    We need to show the world there are more important things uniting than dividing us!!

    ReplyDelete

Always glad to hear from you - thanks for stopping by!
I am blocking anonymous comments now, due to excessive spam!