An intriguing, perhaps even inspired case of casting had British actor Tim Roth playing Frankenstein’s Monster in a February 1987 episode of the long-running arts program, The South Bank Show.
The part came relatively early in Roth’s career, between notices for The Hit (1984) and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989). He would go on to play an intense Vincent van Gogh in Vincent & Theo (1989) and star turn parts in Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Four Rooms (1995), all for Quentin Tarantino. Awards and nominations accrued for his interpretation of Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy (1995). As a genre villain, Roth was the best thing in Tim Burton’s wrongheaded reboot of Planet of the Apes (2001), and he morphed into the CGI monster called The Abomination opposite Edward Norton in The Incredible Hulk (2008).
The South Bank Show, hosted by Melvyn Bragg, was an arts program equally at ease with high art and pop culture. It ran an astounding 32 years, launching in 1978 and becoming an LWT/ITV staple until January 2010. The Frankenstein episode, broadcast on 8 February 1987, was called Birth of Frankenstein and Dracula. Another, wholly different episode on the Frankenstein theme aired in November 1994.
The Officially Unofficial Tim Roth webpage.
The South Bank Show episode guide.
3 comments:
I adore Tim Roth, but had no idea that he once played the creature! How fun :) Thank you for sharing!
This is new to me also. Thanks. As much as I can tell from that photo, I like the look.
I seem to recall seeing that - and though I don't think I knew it was Roth, thinking the scenes from the novel were well done.
-Craig
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