Man Candy Monday is usually about hunky, hot boys who we gleefully objectify for their good looks. Turnabout is fair play in Frock Flicks world! But today, I’m MCM-ing a gent who I admire for his wit and snark, which is something we also admire greatly here. Stephen Fry is out and proud, sometimes loud and not always nice, all of which are things I identify with, even if I don’t always agree with him. He’s made me laugh for about 30 years, often in historical costume TV shows and movies, so yaaas queen, it’s time for an MCM.
Lord Melchett in Black-Adder II (1986)
Oh we do love this series! The costuming and the comedy are top-notch, and Fry adds the requisite clever touch.
The Duke of Wellington in Black Adder the Third (1987)
He has a smaller role in this one, but still brill.
General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett in Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)
And rounding out the show, Fry is quite essential to the black comedy of the Fourth.
Jeeves in Jeeves and Wooster (1990-1993)
The ultimate gentlemen’s gentleman! I will be reviewing this ah-mah-zing series adapting P. G. Wodehouse’s stories in total at some point, just you wait.
Co-starring Fry’s best pal, Hugh Laurie, as upper-class twit, Bertie Wooster.
A right jolly time, indeed!
Mybug in Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
The TV version wasn’t as stellar as the film, but you can’t blame Stephen Fry.
Oscar Wilde in Wilde (1997)
The role Stephen Fry was born to play. I adore everything about this movie.
Inspector Thompson in Gosford Park (2001)
Murder mysteries need someone to figure things out.
André Breton in Surrealissimo: The Scandalous Success of Salvador Dali (2002)
I hadn’t heard of this, but I’m down for a good biopic about surrealist artists!
Mycroft Holmes in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
Sherlock’s older bro lends a hand.
Malvolio in Twelfth Night (2013)
This is a filmed version of a Globe production — super historically accurate and widely acclaimed.
Mr. Johnson in Love & Friendship (2016)
The costumes aren’t entirely up to snuff, but the story and acting get high marks!
Stephen Fry is one sassy character, in period costume or not. I’ll be looking to see where else he turns up in the future.
Happens to all of us!
What’s your favorite Stephen Fry historical costume TV show or movie?
Love Fry in everything he does, including—although not historical or drama—hosting QI. Wilde has a special place in my heart, although I do adore all the Melchetts.
MoHub said it. I adore Stephen Fry. His Wilde and Jeeves are wry, intelligent and are rivals to Dorothy Parker for snark. I am still trying to see his Andre Breton in the Dali film. And the Melchetts one roots for against Blackadder. And Tristan Shanty a Cock and… is a mammoth laugh in a good way.
His talent reminds me of the fey quality of some of Danny Kaye’s (the chalice from the palace) films, while striking the heartstrings in his ability to convey sorrow and loss in Peter’s Friends with whom he shared the stage with Emma and Ken.
Have you seen Molly Lewis’ serenaded question?
That was excellent.
I’m always struck by how much the young Fry looks like the iconic 1920s gentleman in “Wooster & Jeeves”.
Also, look up his BAFTA speech from about 10-15 years ago. After he disappeared off the face of the planet for no reason. It’s BRILLIANT.
Love love love him. We have a list of lovely folk-of-the-gay that we want to adopt [or keep in a dark place, one or t’other], and the divine Mr F tops the list. He’s ours, hands off.
STEPHEN FRY one of world’s truly great comedians of this era. Tragedy almost struck when he lost contact with his partner… LOVE SF movement… 2nd funny tragedy actor-BEN KINGSLEY IN BOXTROLL FOR LAIKA-SILLY AND LAUGHABLE-INTERESTING HOW HE CAME UP WITH THE VOICE… PETER SELLERS, KINGLEY AMIS A 3RD DRAW IN FILM… A BIT OF A CRUEL NATURE IN BOTH OF THESE ACTORS… KINGSLEY AMIS FOUNDATION-LIBRARY -BIG IN UNIVERSITY OF TX. AUSTIN. LOVE THIS WEB SITE…
I am a SERIOUS Fry fangirl- just about everything he does is touched with magic. I Also strongly approve of his forthrightness and activism re mental health. He’s finally on a carefully managed med program and is doing ok himself, but he’s still putting a lot of energy into helping others, which I think is amazing.
Beyond that, I’d love to just… rub his brain for a bit. Amazingly well-educated, and some of that auto-didactic. You could talk with him for hours and never run out of things to talk about. If you’ve seen his appearance on Craig Ferguson’s show,you’ll see what I mean. He’s the sort of person I’d love to be close friends with. :-)
I suppose I’ll opt for Jeeves and Wooster; two brilliant men mining gold. But I also enjoyed his unexpected turn as the shrink in Bones who deals with Booth’s coulrophobia.
I agree, I live Stephen Fry as well and lived the series Kingdom. I wish they had made more.
Apparently I can’t spell Love* lol either! Sorry!
I could listen to him talk ALL DAY! Such an awesome voice. And, while I don’t think Jeeves and Wooster really holds up well to film (the language in the books is SO brilliant) it was perfectly cast, and that’s a fact.
That is an amazingly tough call. I haven’t seen Wilder yet, so I’ll have to reserve judgment on that one.
My favorite of his works is Peter’s Friends, but that’s not really a frock flick. For sheer overall perfection, though, I think it is definitely the Jeeves and Wooster stories. Melchett is wonderful in both his Blackadder incarnations and really rocks the Elizabethans.
The high-auth version of Twelfth Night is clearly his best frock flick. Where else do you see a film that names the people who created the fingerlooped braids in the credits at the end? /mic drop
You are right- Stephen Fry was born to play Oscar Wilde. I cried more that once during that film. Being gay myself, the story of Wilde is part of my cultural history, and Fry brought it to life so well.
As someone who’s had a pretty fierce crush on Stephen Fry for the past decade (plus some), I am happy to objectify him as well as admire his more cerebral qualities. =^^= I love all the things on this list, although ‘Jeeves & Wooster’ and ‘Blackadder’ have to be right at the top of my personal favourites. In case anyone’s interested, he also had very small roles in two Evelyn Waugh adaptations. He had a cameo in ‘Bright Young Things’ the film version of ‘Vile Bodies’ that he wrote and directed. And he was in an early ’90s ‘A Handful of Dust’ – which also starred the lovely Rupert Graves, who I believe the writers of this blog have a soft spot for too!
Oh, and he will always be my personal vision of Mycroft Holmes. I loved that casting!
Mybug, hands down. “Cold Comfort Farm” is one of my favorite films, and it’s also one of the best novel-to-film adaptations of all time. Read the book by Stella Gibbons if you haven’t and you’ll see what I mean!