33 thoughts on “MCM: Timothy Dalton

  1. Love it- I’ve never really ‘got’ Dalton- I think it’s that weird cleft chin thingy. It looks as though you should keep dip in it, and have him to hand for tortilla dunking. Or something. Chin fondue? Hmmm.
    I quite liked ‘Scarlett’ but then, I wasn’t expecting much from it, which helps!

  2. Penny Dreadful and Jane Eyre are my favourites of those you mentioned. But he was the Prince in Flash Gordon with music by Queen.

  3. Where is my comment?

    To recap: Favourites Jane Eyre & Penny Dreadful.

    He was also Prince in Flash Gordon Music by Queen.

  4. I love that Dalton’s voice goes so perfectly with his look. It throws me off when actors have either “the face” or “the voice” but they don’t really go together, you know? And it’s not at all historical but my favorite part he plays is in “Hot Fuzz”! He’s great as the smarmy, slightly creepy (who turns out to be really terrible!) grocery store owner!

    1. Maybe Dalton needs a better agent. Being an actor is a lot like being a shark: you gotta swim or die. For some reason, I don’t think he got the Q rating he should have (it’s a name recognition scale of some sort). And, one takes what’s offered. Sometimes the money is better than the job.

    2. His Mr Skinnerrrrrr in Hot Fuzz is my favourite of his too! I think he’s got way better comedy chops than is generally believed!

    1. Didn’t Sean Bean’s character RAPE Scarlett and put out his cigarettes on whores?!

      Yes, he did. Not only did he torture whores, but also young village girls he had seduced.

  5. Personally, I’m not a fan of his James Bond, but he did an excellent job in Penny Dreadful. I’d love to see another production that had him and Eva Green.

    1. These impossibly/ludicrously handsome guys (Richard Gere and Tom Selleck come to mind) sometimes age rather well; they’ve usually acquired some acting skills by then and become less pretty, more interesting.

  6. “CENTENNIAL” was not some dorky TV miniseries from the late 1970s. I believe it’s one of the finest miniseries I have ever seen. And one of the best performances in the production came from Dalton.

    I’ve seen “SCARLETT” more than once. Dalton was not trying to impersonate Clark Gable. He was simply portraying Rhett Butler . . . his way. Unfortunately, I was not that impressed by his Southern accent – something that Gable did not use.

    I love Dalton’s James Bond and I thought his performance set the stage for how many spies on television and in the movies were portrayed from 1987 onwards.

    In my view, Dalton was the best Edward Rochester I have ever seen. However, I didn’t care for his Heathcliff. Then again, I never cared for the Heathcliff character anyway.

    I loved Dalton’s Neville Sinclair. Then again, I love “THE ROCKETEER”.

    Dalton, along with Michael York and Richard Thomas all gave first-rate performances in “THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE”. The TV movie was first-rate as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the story, so I blame Robert Louis Stevenson.

    I also enjoyed “AGATHA” very much, along with Dalton’s performance in the film.

    1. I find that whole genre of ’70s American historical miniseries incredibly dorky — my grandfather was a huge fan of the books they’re based on, so the shows were a staple in my house. BLEH.

      Any actor trying to portray an iconic character is going to be compared to the original. Totes fair.

      I couldn’t stay awake thru Agatha. Tried to watch it twice in the past 2 months. Zip, zero, nada, zilch, nothing grabbed me, the performances were flat, the costumes were dull, the story meandered. I’m a busy girl, I have hundreds of shows to review, buh-bye!

    2. I totally agree with you about Centennial. It’s a great story about the American West of the 19th and 20th centuries.

      Dalton acted the part of Rochester well, but he’s too handsome! Too tall as well, according to Bronte’s physical description of Rochester.

  7. I’ve seen an awful lot of these :::blushes::: I had a huge crush on TD when he was in Jane Eyre and tracked down any & all obscure movies I could find — and there were a lot of them. I’ve seen “The Doctor and the Devils.” It was produced by Mel Brooks and I recall that it was pretty bad. Didn’t keep me from watching it more than once. TD really looks great in Victorian costume.

      1. However he fits the book description of Rochester surprisingly well, right down to the cleft chin.

  8. I adore Dalton, but I still haven’t recovered from watching Jane say, “Why yes, Mr. Rochester, I find you really plain and just totally un-adorbs!” when she’s looking at Timothy Dalton! Sorry, but plain and ugly he ain’t. In fact, I think Jane’s lips were quivering with supressed laughter during that entire scene.

  9. Best Rochester ever. And I’ve seen a helluva lot of them. Honestly, can’t remember him in anything else.

  10. Dalton acted the part of Rochester well, but he’s too handsome! Too tall as well, according to Bronte’s physical description of Rochester.

    Just about nearly every actor I have seen portray Rochester was good-looking . . . even Orson Welles, back in the 1940s. George C. Scott seemed to be the exception.

  11. At my when I was in my very early twenties, I was working at late night (I still have a tendency to do that), and the TV was on, and they played Mistral’s Daughter (long forgotten mini-series with Stephanie Powers) I looked up from my work and caught a glimpse of Timothy Dalton, and I fell in love with him, in that moment… every since whatever he is in, that is my favorite version of said thing be it Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre or James Bond… Yeah, I even enjoyed The King’s whore… didn’t understand much of it,but I could stare at him for long period of times… LOL. Go figure. My secret is out. (And I just watched his Wuthering Heights again, last night… I admit, the movi might not be the best adaptation, but for what they were trying to do, he was perfect quietly brooding, and all that tension boiling beneath the surface…Go ahead. Mock me. Love is blind (not blind enough to wonder about those costumes though.)

  12. I just “Found” the 1970 version of Wuthering Heights. I think your comments here got it covered; Horrific acting, Costumes from Hell (the back closet of badly designed unhistorical clothing) Hair directly from the 70s, nothing historical. Again as in many of these adaptation too much hair floating in the face. Truly sorry to those Timothy Dalton fans, but he cant act, he looks creepy, however, he does look better with age. I am afraid to now view/read anything from Emily Bronte. Scarred for life.

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