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Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/Alastair Sim on stage and screen/archive1

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured list nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured list candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The list was promoted by Crisco 1492 11:25 20 July 2014 [1].

Alastair Sim on stage and screen edit

Alastair Sim on stage and screen (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

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Nominator(s): SchroCat (talk) 10:47, 8 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Alastair Sim was a character actor par excellence, portraying faded Anglo-Scottish gentility; he was described by the comedian Ronnie Corbett as a "sad-faced actor, with the voice of a fastidious ghoul". His appearances in a series of comedies in the 1940s, 50s and early 60s are what will keep his memory going, but he was also a fine theatre actor with a long stage career. This list has been separated from the main Sim article, as it was out of place there and not a full reflection of his work. Cheers – SchroCat (talk) 10:47, 8 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Support – a model of its kind. A few minor comments:

  • Lead: "although he had turned down": I think you mean "although he turned down", as this was in the 1970s after the earlier honours.
  • Caviare – the absence of a role is explained by the fact that this was a revue. Worth explaining in the table?
  • As You Desire Me, September 1933 – this was at the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, not the Dublin one. (See The Times, 18 September 1933 p. 10)
  • The Devil in the News – a Stage Society one-off I see from the press archives, but none of them say which theatre it was on at. Very odd. I wonder if you might put in the table "Stage Society" with a footnote that it was a one-off matinée at a theatre not named in the reviews. Hold everything! It was at the Grafton Theatre in Tottenham Court Road: see here And Volpone was at the Fortune (same source).
  • You of all people – same source on p. 776 doesn't mention Sim, but spells the character "Portwine". By the way, I think you mean 1939, not 1938 unless your chronology has gone awry.

That's my lot. A pleasure to review. Tim riley talk 19:55, 10 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

  • That's fantastic: many thanks indeed for casting your eye over this - and fot filling in some of the gaps! Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 20:40, 10 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by Dr. Blofeld edit

Great actor, last saw him in Stage Fright, although I must admit to thinking that the film was one of Hitchcock's weaker efforts!

  • You might change Britain to England (if it was only in England) or the United Kingdom. Britain always looks colonial and old-fashioned in such a context!
  • You might add in Albert Parker's The Riverside Murder..
  • It might be a good idea to state the directors of some of the films. Whenever I search for a filmography knowing their most notable films and the directors they worked with on the notable ones is what I generally look for. Other than that you could add a director column to the filmo table. Mentioning the directors of his notable films though I think would really help in the lead.
  • I've added to the lead, although that para now is a big blue smack in the face! I'm certainly not keen on adding directors to the list: we don't tend to add such details to filmogs (along with other film-related info, such as budget or box office), but simply focus on the actor side of things. - SchroCat (talk) 13:49, 15 July 2014 (UTC
Agreed, just the directors of the notable ones is fine.♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:04, 16 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • "although he turned down a knighthood that was offered to him by Edward Heath." -when was this?
  • Will add the date shortly - I need to get back to my sources. - SchroCat (talk) 13:49, 15 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • Sadly undated in the source that covers it, and not present in the main biography. I'll have a hunt round in other sources, but as these things are normally kept sub rosa, it may not be datable. - SchroCat (talk) 11:59, 16 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • The Elephant's Foot April 1965 Touring -touring where?
  • Unknown. The source just has "touring". - SchroCat (talk) 13:49, 15 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

♦ Dr. Blofeld 11:43, 14 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

  • Many thanks Doc: much appreciated, as always. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 11:59, 16 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Support Excellent work!♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:04, 16 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Support from me, just three things:

  • In the first paragraph we say he appears in many light mediums, including theatre film and television. We then go on to make no mention of his successful television credits (if any), but mention both theatre and film. Where there any notable television credits?
  • Not really! His TV work was slim and, although the programmes were notable, his parts in them were not really. I'm happy to try and work something in if you feel it would benefit? - SchroCat (talk) 12:34, 18 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • In the interests of chronology, we seem to give his death before he was honoured and talk about his rectory post.
  • Giving the directors after the films is all well and good, but it does make for some bumpy reading. Is this a new thing at FLC?
  • It was at the behest of another reviewer. I may slim down a film or two to lessen the blue, but I'm still mulling which one to cut! - SchroCat (talk) 12:34, 18 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • Shame there is no image in the lede. Bloody copyright laws!
  • Tim has been hard at work searching, and has found a few (See here), but they are in poor condition and the Graphics Lab people need to do marvellous things to them first. - SchroCat (talk) 12:34, 18 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
    • Nearly there. MagentaGreen, one of the miracle workers at the Graphics Alchemy Department, is on the case. Tim riley talk 19:14, 18 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

...and now to finish with a fact. Did you know Alec Guinness based his Professor Marcus in The Ladykillers on Sim? Sim turned the role down and Guinness decided to pay homage to his idol. Note the close similarities ;) -- Cassiantotalk 09:24, 17 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks Cass, much appreciated! Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 12:34, 18 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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