Following the character's name is the the abbreviation for the book(s) in which that character appears. A * symbol by an abbreviation denotes that they were a main character.
CC-0: The Camelot Caper
BN-1: Borrower of the Night
FM-2: Street of the Five Moons
SS-3: Silhouette in Scarlet
TG-4: Trojan Gold
NT-5: Night Train to Memphis
- Bliss, Victoria (Vicky)
[BN-1*; FM-2*; SS-3*; TG-4*; NT-5*]
If you are tall and blond and blue-eyed and shaped like a female, some people assume you don't have a brain cell working. (Vicky, Night Train to Memphis)
Bavarians put whipped cream on everything except sauerkraut. That's one of the reasons why I love Bavaria. (Vicky, Night Train to Memphis)
To give myself credit, which I am always inclined to do, I felt sure I knew the answers to most of the questions I might have asked. (Vicky, Night Train to Memphis)
- Schmidt, Anton
[BN-1; FM-2; SS-3; TG-4*; NT-5*]
"[W]hen he's in his right mind, he is one of the foremost medieval historians in the world.... He's a frustrated romantic. What he really wants to be is a musketeer, wearing boots and a sword as long as he is; or a pirate; or, as in this case, a spy." (Vicky, in Street of the Five Moons)
"Bless his heart, he's as innocent as he looks. He really thinks I am brilliant. If he were six feet four and thirty years younger, I'd marry him." (Vicky, in Street of the Five Moons)
Schmidt has a mouth almost as big as his rotund tummy. He is as cute as one of the Seven Dwarfs and not much taller, and if he wasn't so brilliant, he'd have been locked up long ago as a menace to society. (Vicky, Night Train to Memphis)
- Smythe, Sir John (aka John Tregarth)
[CC-0*; FM-2*; SS-3*; TG-4*; NT-5*]
There are times when you have to laugh to keep from screaming, and if I’m in a tight spot I’d rather be with someone who makes bad jokes instead of big dramatic scenes. (Vicky, Night Train to Memphis)
- Tregarth, Guinevere, mother of John Tregarth aka John Smythe
[CC-0*, NT-5]
"She's a good old girl, even if she does look like Judith Anderson playing a demented housekeeper." (John, in Street of the Five Moons)
- Gerda, (Schmidt's secretary)
[FM-2?; SS-3; TG-4; NT-5]
- Max
[SS-3*; NT-5]
- Tony
[BN-1*; TG-4*]
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Casting
If I were to cast actors to play the characters in this series, these would be my choices:
Rachel York
screenshot from Diagnosis: Murder, "A Mime is a Terrible Thing to Waste"
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- Vicky Bliss: Rachel York, Jeri Ryan, Kim Basinger
- John Smythe: Cary Elwes, Ralph Feinnes
- Schmidt: S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall
(Otto Oberkugen, from In the Good Old Summertime; Carl the Headwaiter from Casablanca, Uncle Max from Tea for Twoas well as many other films from the 1920's to the 1950's)
- Guinevere Tregarth: Janet Henfrey
(Mrs. Bale, As Time Goes By)
- And as long as we're considering the entire series, I think either Jeff Goldblum or Ioan Gryffudd would make a great David Randall from The Camelot Caper.
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I'm not the only one with opinions on this subject! Here are some other people's suggestions.
- Vicky:
Katherine Heigl, Cameron Diaz, Christina Nicoll, uncastable
- John:
a younger David Hyde-Pierce, Julian Sands, Cary Elwes, Geordie Johnson, Jonny Lee Miller, Val Kilmer, Geraint Wyn Davies
- Schmidt:
Douglas Chamberlain, S.Z. Sakall, or any of the "dwarfs" from Ball of Fire with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck
- Other:
john smythe: geordie johnson. versatile actor (everything between Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams) with the requisite bones. he was
mercutio in the 1997 production of romeo & juliet ("Then he grinned, and his fine-boned face as transformed--from Saint Sebastian to
Mercutio."--Street of Five Moons).. and also Edmund in -King Lear- the year before. He had a bit part in -The English Patient- and has been cast as Mr. Darcy for next summer's production of "Pride and Prejudice" (I can hardly wait!).
vicki bliss: kristina nicoll. she played jo in their 1997 production of little women (an adaptation so good i saw grown men openly wiping
away tears when the house lights came up). tall and strong (and w/long blond hair in her publicity still) and able to convey wit and
impetuosity and anguish and. . .
schmidt: bernard hopkins. short, round, comical. can look naive, smug, insulted, paternal...
guinevere tregarth: martha henry. a very firm mouth & strong personality. (incidentally, she's already played geordie johnson's
mother once, in "death of a salesman.") "She's a good old girl, even if she does look like Judith Anderson playing a demented
housekeeper."--Street of Five Moons
max: stephen ouimette. he specializes in multidimensional over-the-top characters--i would love to see what he could do as a
silhouette-cutter. his mozart in their production of -amadeus- was revelatory--the character came across as a flawed but adult human being
rather than an inexplicable genius-monster.
mary tregarth: marion day. played juliet in 1997 and cast as "the young wife" in several comedies. megan follows (best known through
"ann of green gables") or sarah polley ("sweet hereafter") would also have the range to portray mary's personality.
rudi: "a dapper little man with the coldest eyes i had ever seen." -SS
colm feore (the lead in "32 short films about glenn gould"). i haven't
seen him as a villain but another friend tells me that he was an
chillingly evil Iachimo (in -Cymbeline-).
non-stratford suggestions:
feisal: naveen andrews from "the english patient" ??
suz: emma thompson (i'm reminded of her performance in "impromptu.")
alternate vicky: natasha richardson.
i've also thought of a pair of actors for tony & leif, but can't remember their names at the moment (they perform at the shaw festival, and the key thing is that they are both really tall). i'll send that in the next installment (didn't have TG with me this weekend)...
***
I have a suggestion regarding casting the Vicky Bliss series.
Although I draw a complete blank regarding Vicky, in my opinion the perfect
"Sir" John would be Val Kilmer. As he proved in "The Saint" he is perfectly
capable of playing the dashing, debonaire criminal mastermind that is John.
Why, John even compares himself to the Saint in Street of Five Moons. Val has
the looks, blond hair, and "aura" of John (although perhaps a little more built
than John...)
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