British Actors, American Actors

The difference between British actors and American actors is that British actors want to be known for being great actors, and American actors want to be known.

I just got home from the hospital, washed some clothes, and took a nap, woke up groggy on a rainy afternoon, and watched David Tennant's last turn as The Doctor on Doctor Who.  I grew up on Tom Baker's Doctor, but this new series is sharp, funny, and brilliant.  Richard Dawkins and Sir Patrick Moore do cameos, and the writing is outstanding.

But what I wanted to talk about is Claire Bloom doing a turn as the Doctor's mother.

She has a few nice lines with Bernard Cribbins, but mostly she stands there with her hands over her eyes.  Brilliantly.  If you're going to stand there with your hands over your eyes, persuade your audience.  Don't feel effaced: feel like a show.  That's Claire Bloom.

And that's Timothy Dalton getting all B-movie campy and juicily villainous as a Time Lord gone bad, spit flying, scenery ragged and morselly at the corners of his scenery-chewing mouth.  

Great stuff.

British actors don't mind slumming: Pauline Collins (whom my family remembers for her great work in Wodehouse Playhouse back in the 1970's) does Queen Victoria in Doctor Who.  Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris (whose Dumbledore far outshone Michael Gambone's), Jim Broadbent, and Robbie Coltrane are just a few of the actors who don't so much go slumming as vacationing in Harry Potter movies.  

They like pleasing. 

They like acting.

It's good to see David Tennant in their company.

Oh, and my daughter's crush on David Tennant is likely to be pretty enduring.