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Many faces of Brown's brooding, tormented role model
Gordon Brown has likened himself to Emily Brontë's anti-hero, but who, asks Sarah Freeman, has really made the best Heathclliff?
IN recent days, Gordon Brown seems to have forgotten the old saying that sometimes silence is golden.
Just before sitting down to a slap-up 24-course meal at the G8, he decided to tell the rest of us to stop buying so much food, and when the ridiculing had just about stopped, he provided yet more fodder for
the sketch writers.
In an interview with the New Statesman magazine, he admitted those who compare him to Wuthering Heights' Heathcliff were "absolutely correct".
Exactly why he would want to be likened to a broken and tormented madman so haunted by the ghost of his former lover that he exhumed her body not once but twice was initially unclear, but perhaps he's casting round for another career.
While currently clinging on to his job with his fingertips, even if he manages to struggle on to the next General Election it seems likely his stay in Number 10 will be a short one – and with a Hollywood version of Emily Bront's classic apparently in the pipeline and given the BBC's obsession with period dramas, perhaps it was an early nod to casting directors that he'll soon be available for work.
He would, of course, have to lose the accent and possibly
a few pounds, but given the long list of actors who have attempted to bring the character alive in the past, Wuthering Heights starring a 50-something has-been is not beyond the realms of the imagination.
Laurence Olivier
Dark-eyed and brooding, most critics regard Olivier's performance in the 1939 film as the finest-ever portrayal of Heathcliff. Produced by Samuel Goldwyn and bearing the tagline "Torn by desire...tortured by hate!" it was stirring stuff. The windswept Yorkshire moors were recreated on a 450-acre plot in the middle of sun-soaked California and Olivier's portrayal of a man imprisoned by his past was gripping.
Timothy Dalton
Long before he trod the red carpet as James Bond, Dalton was impressing in the 1970 British film version of the Bront book. It was a sanitised version of the story, concentrating on the love affair between Heathcliff and Cathy rather than the novel's darker, more menacing elements, and with the leading man just 20 years old, Dalton cut more of a Mr Darcy figure on screen. Still the ratings were good, and the role made Dalton that year's heart-throb.
Ralph Fiennes
Admittedly he wasn't helped by the fact his co-star, the French actress Juliette Binoche, hadn't quite mastered an English accent by the time cameras started rolling, but this was a pretty dismal effort. The vital chemistry failed to ignite and, at times, Fiennes, making his film debut, looked like he'd much rather be sitting at home than torturing
his soul and getting wet in
the countryside.
Ken Hutchinson
Gordon Brown will be happy to hear that when it comes to Scots as Heathcliffs a precedent has already been set. Ken Hutchison's lived-in looks made him a natural character actor, and, in 1978 he was cast in a BBC adaptation. Successfully capturing the violent mood swings of the unhinged Heathcliff, many believed he was destined for big things. However, after appearing in the 1980s' children's series Murphy's Mob, Hutchinson seemed to disappear from view.
Cliff Richard
While not exactly a faithful adaptation of Wuthering Heights, Cliff Richard's musical version deserves a mention. When the singer announced in 1997 he was going to fulfil a lifelong ambition to perk the story up with a few songs, some doubted his sanity. Casting himself in the lead role, despite being some two decades older than Bront's anti-hero, the end result bore little resemblance to the novel. With lyrics by Tim Rice, Heathcliff was a Gothic-lite version of love and loss on the moors, but Bachelor Boy Cliff did prove he could be meaner than anyone had thought possible.
Johnny Depp
Given his previous roles have included Edward Scissorhands and Willy Wonka, not everyone thought Johnny Depp was the right choice for the Hollywood version of Wuthering Heights. When it emerged Angelina Jolie was being tipped to play Cathy, traditionalists began to prepare for inevitable disappointment. That was in 2006, and everything has since been quiet, suggesting we may have to wait some time before the verdict on Depp's performance is in.
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