Wilfred Lawson

Following on from Text Lexus' query on the "Hell Drivers" thread re Wilfred Lawson, I thought he deserved his own thread and not be a footnote............................

Trying to remember him as a drunk butler, it turned out to be in the hilarious "The Wrong Box", AND see how many of our top comedy actors are in this film!! Here's the B&W trailer with glimpses of WL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsLmhwZu6LQ

Blog :-

I've written before of Wilfred Lawson, character actor and celebrated inebriate. One of the few actors who could function quite well with a skinful, and who always seems quite drunk anyway when you see him in films. But there are limits, and you had to get him onstage or in front of the cameras before complete paralysis set in.
It seems he was to do a live radio show. A minder was given the task of keeping him from the demon drink. The minder escorted Lawson to a dressing room and locked him in. The room had been thoroughly searched, and did not contain a trace of liquor. Lawson was sober when he went in, and had no booze on his person. There were no windows, and the only door was securely locked from the outside. The minder had the only key.
Returning after an hour to collect Lawson for the broadcast, the minder finds him utterly rat-arsed, pissed beyond language.

And this hilarious blog sums him up : -

"....................and then there's Wilfred Lawson, sporting a form of speech previously unknown to the world, combining RADA, Bradford and malt whiskey. In an age over-blessed with drunken actors, Lawson actually sounds inebriated at all times, no matter what role he's playing. He's the man who added an unscripted line to Shakespeare: "If you think I'm pissed, wait till you see the Duke of Buckingham."

I never knew that.He was actually drunk a lot of the time and it wasn't just his acting style.

I opened this thread thinking it must be about a new trendy young stand up I haven't heard of. Put a picture up of this new young gun Herc.

Yes drink and acting have long had a close relationship, some can't act without it, some can't act with it. As a rule it isn't recommended for actors with big parts, that's lots of lines, Madam, because of the memory thing. Small part character actors have been transformed by it though, if you've got an emotional scene to do then some directors will encourage you to have a drink or two before to enhance it. Or they certainly used to.

Hundreds of great performances have been played while drunk, more on the stage than screen because you can get away with it easier and projecting is what theatre's for. Some used to use acting in Shakespeare while half cut as training for remembering lines, that's one reason apparently why British actors were so sought after by Hollywood for dialogue heavy films, i.e. the Oscar worthy ones.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 20th July 2019, 10:46 AM

Hundreds of great performances have been played while drunk

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Wilfred Lawson was carrying on a centuries-old tradition: one has only to think of names like Burton, Harris and O'Toole to see the connection between alcohol dependence and theatrical genius.

Lower down the genius scale we have characters like Bud Abbott who, it is said, was hardly ever sober and his partner in comedy Lou Costello who, under the influence of the demon drink on the set of Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein started an unscheduled pie fight with Dracula (Bela Lugosi).

Robert Newton was once so drunk that he turned up for work one day at the wrong movie set. The wily producer immediately took advantage of the megastar's mistake and promptly put him into four scenes before people from the right movie set turned up and dragged him away.

Still with Robert Newton, when producer Mike Todd was interviewing him for a part in Around the World in 80 Days, after explaining at length why they thought he'd be so good in the part, the producer paused and then added "The problem is . . . David Niven says you're a drunk". Mr Newton replied solemnly, "Understatement, dear boy".

There are modern-day superstar actors who are also legendary drunks but, to their very great credit, like their counterparts of old, as soon as the cameras begin to roll, the best of them can become word-perfect and a credit to their profession.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 19th July 2019, 10:03 AM

Following on from Text Lexus' query on the "Hell Drivers" thread re Wilfred Lawson, I thought he deserved his own thread and not be a footnote............................

Trying to remember him as a drunk butler, it turned out to be in the hilarious "The Wrong Box", AND see how many of our top comedy actors are in this film!! Here's the B&W trailer with glimpses of WL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsLmhwZu6LQ

"If you think I'm pissed, wait till you see the Duke of Buckingham."[/i]

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Very good! Wish I'd been there.

So now we know: Mr Lawson was er, using The Method...or perhaps using the meths, ho ho.

I was listening to an episode of the 'Sitcom Showdown' podcast (the Aussie One with Steve and Jeffers) recently in which they were analysing / evaluating an episode of Black Books. The duo were mightily impressed by Dylan Moran's drunk acting - not just the straightforward shitfaced shtick, but also his 'just north of tipsy' default plasteredness.

(I remember some actor or other explaining that one secret to appearing drunk on camera is to make sure the eyes react slower than the rest of the body - eg. you turn your head to speak to someone and your gaze takes just the right number of milliseconds to catch up. On stage no doubt more slurring of words and hesitant locomotion is the order of the day).

Richard E. Grant certainly did a far finer job of bringing Olympic-level piss artist Withnail to life than any actor who's only been drunk once in his life has any right to (I notice he was doing the aforementioned 'eye thing' very cleverly).

Quote: Rood Eye @ 20th July 2019, 1:44 PM

There are modern-day superstar actors who are also legendary drunks but, to their very great credit, like their counterparts of old, as soon as the cameras begin to roll, the best of them can become word-perfect and a credit to their profession.

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According to some ex-colleague or other (behind the camera, I think) Kelsey Grammer was indeed very often alarmingly pissed up on booze when shooting Fraiser. Thankfully he would without failure enter Acting Mode as though a switch had been flipped, deliver the perfect performances we know and love, and then once the job was done be straight back to falling over the furniture.

Who was that American comic whose whole act was being hammered at 'roasts' and suchlike? It's very funny the first two or three times.

Quote: Text Lexus @ 24th July 2019, 1:57 AM

Who was that American comic whose whole act was being hammered at 'roasts' and suchlike? It's very funny the first two or three times.

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Foster Brooks?

PS. In case you're wondering why I'm online at this unearthly hour, the thunder and lightning are too spectacular to sleep through.

Quote: Text Lexus @ 24th July 2019, 1:57 AM

Richard E. Grant certainly did a far finer job of bringing Olympic-level piss artist Withnail to life than any actor who's only been drunk once in his life has any right to (I notice he was doing the aforementioned 'eye thing' very cleverly).
Who was that American comic whose whole act was being hammered at 'roasts' and suchlike? It's very funny the first two or three times.

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Richard E Grant was superb as a drunk in Withnail, and the way I understood it when I saw him in an interview once was that he had been teetotal all his life.

Foster Brooks was indeed the man, and imo his act was shit.

Of course there was Freddie Frinton and he was teetotal (allegedly)

Quote: john tregorran @ 24th July 2019, 6:34 AM

Of course there was Freddie Frinton and he was teetotal (allegedly)

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Ah yes, with his world famous (but ironically hardly known in the UK) "Dinner For One", which is now traditionally shown in Germany every Christmas/New Year and taking all the other countries around the world is reckoned to be the most repeated piece of TV ever.

Like Lawson, he always did seem to be a bit tipsy, and this I think is both clever and funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVd_VLO9xcc

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 19th July 2019, 10:03 AM

He's the man who added an unscripted line to Shakespeare: "If you think I'm pissed, wait till you see the Duke of Buckingham."[/i]

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I've heard that quote before and vaguely thought it was from Sir Ralph Richardson, but am now assuming he was the Duke of Buckingham as he was famously a bit merry most of the time.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 24th July 2019, 12:54 PM

I've heard that quote before and vaguely thought it was from Sir Ralph Richardson, but am now assuming he was the Duke of Buckingham as he was famously a bit merry most of the time.

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It could well be they were on the stage together at some point and I can quite believe Sir Ralph was the Duke of Buckingham in this instance.

Two sots together is asking for trouble!

Quote: Rood Eye @ 24th July 2019, 4:12 AM

Foster Brooks?

PS. In case you're wondering why I'm online at this unearthly hour, the thunder and lightning are too spectacular to sleep through.

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Well remembered - that's the fella for sure.

You lucky bastard - our thunderstorm was pretty good but over in h-h-half an hour.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 24th July 2019, 6:19 AM

Richard E Grant was superb as a drunk in Withnail, and the way I understood it when I saw him in an interview once was that he had been teetotal all his life.

Foster Brooks was indeed the man, and imo his act was shit.

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I believe Granty is 'allergic to alcohol', if there is such a condition. Either way it doesn't agree with him, yet he bravely got wankered during Withnail's pre-production so he'd have a memory of the experience.

I thought Brooks' drunk act quite amusing, though there's not much of depth to it. Twenty minutes would be painful. I'd agree that if that's all he did then that's a pretty unambitious comedy career.

Quote: Text Lexus @ 24th July 2019, 10:39 PM

I thought Brooks' drunk act quite amusing, though there's not much of depth to it. Twenty minutes would be painful. I'd agree that if that's all he did then that's a pretty unambitious comedy career.

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He so called act had no humour in it at all as far as I'm concerned, and I was totally bemused when I saw once the likes of Dean Martin, Sammy Davis et al guffawing and almost falling off their chairs at the wanker's abysmal set.

To mention Freddie if I may.I remember him from Meet the Wife with Thora Hird.He always seemed to have a fag hanging out of his mouth while he talked.A skill I could never master.

Quote: john tregorran @ 25th July 2019, 2:05 AM

To mention Freddie if I may.I remember him from Meet the Wife with Thora Hird.He always seemed to have a fag hanging out of his mouth while he talked.A skill I could never master.

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And it was usually a prop - if you look closely you can see it is two halves held together with a piece of cord so to emphasise the dangle of the fag.