Following Richard Briers, two more great British comic actors ...
Richard Griffiths (1947-2013), at 65, (left, with Daniel Radcliffe) the very individual Griffiths (his parents were both deaf and dumb) leaves behind 2 great comic roles: the predatory but melancholy camp Uncle Monty in WITHNAIL & I, Bruce Robinson's 1987 cult hit (according to the newspaper obits, it seems Robinson modelled the role on his experiences of working with Franco Zeffirelli in ROMEO & JULIET!), and Hector, the larger than life inspirational but tragic history teacher in Alan Bennett's THE HISTORY BOYS, also with amorous advances, a resounding success for Griffiths on stage and film, getting a Tony Award and Olivier - "A masterpiece of wit, delicacy, mischief and desolation, often all at once" according to Bennett. A whole new generation knew him as Uncle Vernon in the HARRY POTTER films, and he also starred opposite Daniel Radcliffe in the recent London and New York revivals of EQUUS. Heaven help you if your mobile phone went off while he was on stage ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vXyVlSQDAIY.
The first time I saw Richard Griffiths was in a training video called If Looks Could Kill.
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