We have been remiss in not yet dedicating a Man Candy Monday to Ciarán Hinds. So when a reader sent in a kind donation and made this specific request, I jumped to fix the oversight. As she commented, “He’s still as sexy as he was in the ’90s.” In addition to roles in Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, plus voicework in Justice League and Frozen, Hinds has an impressive historical costume movie and TV resume. Enjoy!
Lot in Excalibur (1981)
Oh I hate this movie, but everyone’s in it, including Ciarán Hinds.
Ashwattaman in The Mahabharata (1990)
Yes, it’s weird for an Irishman to be in this Indian epic (the cast was mostly European), but it’s where he met the French actress he’s been with ever since. They have a daughter together.
Frank Echlin in December Bride (1991)
A 1900s Irish love triangle.
Edward Leyland in The Affair (1995)
A TV movie set during World War II.
Captain Frederick Wentworth in Persuasion (1995)
If he’s not your one true Capt. Wentworth, we can’t be friends!
Sir Danvers Carew in Mary Reilly (1996)
Tiny role in this Jekyll / Hyde story.
Brian de Bois-Guilbert in Ivanhoe (1997)
Medieval times.
Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre (1997)
Rawr!
Reverend Dennis Hasset in Oscar and Lucinda (1997)
Yeah, this Irishman plays a lot of priests.
Michael Henchard in The Mayor of Casterbridge (2003)
I loves me some Thomas Hardy!
Albert Camus in Broken Morning (2003)
Getting all 1960s existential up in here!
Firmin in The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
He sings!
Gaius Julius Caesar in Rome (2005)
Like a boss.
Lord Tarleton in Amazing Grace (2006)
Wiggy.
Joe Blomfield in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
Charming and debonair!
Sam Daily in The Woman in Black (2012)
A Victorian horror story with Daniel Radcliffe.
Father Valignano in Silence (2016)
A 17th-c. missionary in Japan.
Captain Sir John Franklin in The Terror (2018)
Commander of an expedition in the Arctic that goes awry!
What’s your favorite of Ciarán Hinds’ historical costume movie and TV roles?
Persuasion — first, always, and forever!
The only Capt Wentworth! All the squees for this! I’ve got The Terror in my queue and can’t (but must) wait to start it!
Thank you, thank you! You’ve definitely made my week. He’ll be in a new one soon – “Woman Walks Ahead” – I don’t think it’s a huge role but the movie looks interesting.
Yeah, I couldn’t find any pix of him in it!
There are a couple of pix on the ciarahinds.eu website under works/movies. One shows the whole cast and costumes (and he) look good.
Be still my beating heart…
I actually just finished Ivanhoe and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Next to Persuasion, my favorite of his roles is in Miss Pettigrew.
Miss Pettigrew is fantastic, not the least of which bec. Hinds is SO good in it!
LOVE Him as Mr. Blomfield! Yes yes yes!
Persuasion. Capt. Frederick Wentworth. Past. Present and Future. Any other actor pales in comparison to him as Wentworth.
I fugging loved The Terror. Such wonderful writing. And for a horror/ thriller/ sci-fi/ period drama it had a lot of very handsome men in it, including lovely Tobias Menzies.
I’ve been debating whether to give it a go. The book was very well executed but absolutely miserable to read because the poor characters are perpetually cold, hungry, sick and scared.
And it felt like Simmons realized halfway through that he’d made the only queer characters stereotypical villains, and so he inserted two Good Chaste Gays to even it out.
I haven’t read the book, but judging by what people who did have been saying the showrunners rather improved on the source material. Hickey is a complex character who grows and changes for one thing. It’s incrediblehow they managed to create so much tension out of what is essentially a foregone conclusion – we blitzed through the series in two days because we were on the edge of our seats.
Yeah in the books it switches between a bunch of POV characters like A Song of Ice and Fire, and Hickey’s internal thoughts near the end were weird and about how he was going to make his crony his consort and stuff. Like, you’re starving and cold and marching all day, is anyone really thinking about their evil straight or gay plan to be super straight or gay and rule everyone? I mean maybe he was also crazy at that point but it seemed like a weird choice.
But the book was meticulously researched and very exciting (same deal where you’re on the edge of your seat about how a character will get out of danger, but then you remember no one came back)
Ah, Captain! Yes, the one and only.
He has such a brilliant, quiet intensity—Wentworth is masterful, Joe Blumfeld is so kind. I love.
I believe Ciaran Hinds once said that the reason he was chosen for so many period films was because he was able to grow whiskers quickly. Ah, modesty.
He’s my favorite version of Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert and also my favorite Captain Wentworth. swoon
My two favorite period roles he has ever done were Frederick Wentworth and Edward Rochester. And he made a great Julius Caesar.
OMG, I had forgotten he was in “Excalibur.” Such a silly movie in some ways but he and Helen Mirren and Nicol Williamson made it work..Hinds and Rickman might be my very favorite middle-aged period drama guys. Absolutely the only Captain Wentworth, and the only Rochester I can imagine Jane falling for.
Hinds is the only onscreen Julius Caesar who isn’t a camp cartoon and who comes closest to emboding the real Caesar’s carnality, ruthlessness, and intellect. That said I stopped watching Rome when the insisted on traducing Cleopatra, for shame.
May I ask why you hate Excalibur (1981)? I get it’s not for everyone and although I thoroughly enjoy the movie, I understand criticisms of it. Why the hate on your end?
I’ve been meaning to do a proper Snark Week review of it, but essentially it’s a terrible mishmash of medieval cliches that just happens to feature a ton of fabulous actors.
I think he was also in The Nativity Story as King Herod. Set in ye olde biblical times.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?
Yes. Period, if a recent period.
The big mystery of the film was the identity of the mole. One reviewer said it was obvious–he was the Jane Austen hero. Fool! The cast included Mr Darcy, Mr Knightley and Capt Wentworth…
Lol!
Wonderful Captain Wentworth that he was, seeing the pic of “Lord Tarleton” in the terribly inaccurate ‘Amazing Grace’ just bought up all my grumbles with that film. “Lord”? In the House of Commons? There’s another place for people with those titles! And worse of all, it was supposed to be 1783 in which mid-twenties red-haired VERY gorgeous Banastre Tarleton was in the Carolinas at the head of the British Legion (and later painted by Reynolds, look at that cannon! See here, it’s a wonderful portrait https://goo.gl/images/PBVkWk ). Alright gripe over. Just need to yell at the screenwriters….
Haha well I can’t deny you that. I look forward to your snarking when you get around to it (even though I enjoy the film)!
Been mad busy for a couple of days, finally got onto Frock Flicks, and found this. Bliss.
Persuasion and Miss Pettigrew are my two go-to films when I need cheering up – both for the same reason!
I loved him in the 2005 movie Munich. Some great 1970s costume design there.
Wentworth 4 Ever!
The Man Who Cried , a Catherine Cookson drama. He was very good. Wanted to put in a recommendation. It’s on YouTube, last time I checked.
ROME (Between Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy, and Kevin McKidd…I don’t know how didn’t spontaneously combust while watching that series!)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is one of my all-time favorite movies! Ciaran was absolutely WONDERFUL as Joe. (That’s another one crammed with hotties–Mark Strong and Lee Pace. In my opinion, the movie is better than the book!)
As someone else mentioned, he played King Herod in The Nativity Story. I will add that he was the sexiest King Herod ever!
Sadly, I haven’t seen his version of Persuasion and Jane Eyre, but from his other works I just know he is perfect for Wentworth and Rochester.
It’s not exactly a period piece; but Hinds was also in “Game of Thrones”, playing Mance Rayder, a small but important role. He was excellent, especially in the last two episodes in which he occurred.