Who Should Now Play Rumpole?
wooster
.
By Clive Anderson
Independent on Sunday (London)
July 28, 2002
These are sad times for barristers. The Government is trying, yet
again, to cut down the availability of trial by jury; legal-aid fees
are under pressure; and last week Leo McKern, the physical embodiment
of Rumpole of the Bailey, died.
I suppose Rumpole, like James Bond, could be played by a succession of
actors, but the fictional English barrister and the real-life
Australian actor have become so closely associated that another
portrayal of Rumpole seems scarcely imaginable.
Of course, Rumpole can live on in written form. But on that score too
there is cause for concern. In his last published story, Rumpole Rests
His Case, Rumpole collapses in court and is whisked off to A&E. With
the sort of happy accident that only occurs to a fictional barrister,
he finds himself in a bed next to a man unjustly accused of burglary
and shot almost to death by his accuser. But his speech in defence of
the accused has to be delivered not to an Old Bailey jury but to the
patients in the ward. Was that then the sickly end to an
intermittently glorious legal career? Well, apparently there is life
in the old brief yet.
I recently interviewed John Mortimer, Rumpole's creator, at a
fund-raising event for a small charity called Afghan Connection. The
champagne socialist was on fine form, and elegantly brushed off any
attempt at cross-examination. I noted that as a rule in Rumpole
stories he avoids naming real establishments: thus there is a Sheridan
Club, but no Garrick; a Pommeroy's Wine Bar, but no El Vino. But the
famous, and famously hard to get into, Ivy restaurant is mentioned
several times. Was that, I wondered, in order to curry favour? Oh, the
thought had never even crossed his mind. "And anyway," he added, "I
have never had any difficulty getting a table at the Ivy. Have you?"
More importantly he assured us he had just written another batch of
Rumpoles.
But how many real-life Rumpoles are left? There used to be dozens of
slightly cynical and world-weary counsel going from case to case,
court to court, along the way regaling each other with tales of their
triumphs and disasters. (Usually just the triumphs; it is rare for a
barrister to bother polishing an anecdote which ends in his own
humiliation.) Robing rooms were full of Rumpole lookalikes. And those
who could not see a bit of themselves in Mortimer's make-believe could
at any rate detect something of their colleagues in McKern's
appearance and performance. In my own chambers the late Conrad Ascher
was addicted to dreadful schoolboy jokes and great literary
quotations. Or what about James Crespi, also no longer with us? Unlike
Rumpole he became a QC, but for years before that everyone had told
him he was putting his life at risk by being enormously overweight.
And then in the 1970s a bomb exploded outside the Old Bailey, much of
the force of which was absorbed by Crespi's hitherto unnecessary bulk.
His extra pounds were thereafter credited with saving his life, and
possibly the entire structure of the Central Criminal Court from
collapse. Was that not an entirely Rumpole-like thing to have
achieved?
And of course there is much of Mortimer himself in Rumpole, the Old
Bailey hack he himself could have been had he not been distracted by a
sparkling literary career.
But today the Bar is less and less the place for the mildly eccentric
individualists who traditionally have populated the criminal courts.
The Bar's quaint old ways are now quality controlled and charter
marked. Chambers, once loose associations of the self-employed and the
self-regarding, now contract themselves as a job lot and market
themselves with brochures and internet sites. Clerks on a percentage
are being replaced by practice managers on computers. And if the
Government gets its way there will be precious little need for
Rumpoles anyway, as anything much short of mass murder will be dealt
with by the magistrates and fraud trials disposed of by a judge and a
couple of accountants. An affectionate caricature of living originals
will become as relevant to the modern legal system as Dr Finlay's
Casebook is to the National Health Service.
As I say, it is sad to note the passing of Leo McKern. But if someone
else is to play Rumpole on screen, I would be uniquely placed to take
on the role, having appeared both at the Old Bailey and on television.
Especially, as I am coming to accept, I am probably not going to be
the next James Bond.
Wm F Seabrook
wooster wrote:
> AFTER LEO MCKERN, WHO IS TO PLAY RUMPOLE? I HAVE A MODEST PROPOSAL . .
> .
>
> By Clive Anderson
> Independent on Sunday (London)
> July 28, 2002
>
> These are sad times for barristers. The Government is trying, yet
> again, to cut down the availability of trial by jury; legal-aid fees
> are under pressure; and last week Leo McKern, the physical embodiment
> of Rumpole of the Bailey, died.
>
> <clip>
>
> As I say, it is sad to note the passing of Leo McKern. But if someone
> else is to play Rumpole on screen, I would be uniquely placed to take
> on the role, having appeared both at the Old Bailey and on television.
> Especially, as I am coming to accept, I am probably not going to be
> the next James Bond.
Thank you Clive, don't call us . . .
Annie C
"wooster" <mrberti...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:5d56a972.02072...@posting.google.com...
Yikes.. is this column by the one and the same Clive Anderson who
hosted/moderated the comedy show (Brit version) Who's Line Is It Anyway??
If so, I just cannot see him as Rumpole, if he's at all serious :-)
Actually it's hard to imagine anyone other than our beloved Leo McKern..
r.i.p.
But if I had to choose a new actor for Rumpole.. my short list would
include:
the amazingly versatile and talented Jim Broadbent (with a bit of padding)
or
the gifted British character actor Timothy Spall who starred in Mike Leigh's
Secrets and Lies.
Annie C
Stephen FPilot Bierce
>But if I had to choose a new actor for Rumpole.. my short list would
>include:
>the amazingly versatile and talented Jim Broadbent (with a bit of padding)
>or
>the gifted British character actor Timothy Spall who starred in Mike Leigh's
>Secrets and Lies.
My frontrunner choice would be John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings, Shogun,
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Sliders, War and Remembrance, Star Trek Voyager).
Stephen "FPilot" Bierce
IPMS #35922/Rosa Maeroris
"It has been my experience that the trouble has never blown over."--Tepid 7:19
Jim Barker
Stephen FPilot Bierce wrote:
Who was it who played Rumpole in some radio adaptations? My memory says Maurice
Denham but a) it's probably faulty and b) he passed away last week as well.
Jim
wooster
Dick E.
mrberti...@yahoo.com (wooster) wrote:
> Albert Finney anyone?
Yes! Great idea. Remember him in The Dresser?
http://members.home.net/2dellis/ 800+ episodes of doug&Sylvia
Jim Barker
"Dick E." wrote:
I hear the next Rumpole stoey involves him putting his wife up for
auction on the internet.
It's called 'Rumpole and She Who Must Be ebayed".
Jim Barker
Larry Brash
I hear the next Rumpole storey involves him putting his wife up for
> auction on the internet.
>
> It's called 'Rumpole and She Who Must Be ebayed".
LOL! Brilliant!
--
Larry Brash
Wm F Seabrook
wooster wrote:
> Albert Finney anyone?
Nice one! . . . or how about Timothy West?
Hurricane7
to my book spending allowence??? huh huh???
Patricia
"Jim Barker" <j...@cartoonise.com> wrote in message
news:3D479985...@cartoonise.com...
Peter Morris
"Annie C" <chernow...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:ai448f$rrl$1...@slb6.atl.mindspring.net...
> > By Clive Anderson
> > Independent on Sunday (London)
> > July 28, 2002
> >
> > These are sad times for barristers. The Government is trying, yet
> > again, to cut down the availability of trial by jury; legal-aid fees
> > are under pressure; and last week Leo McKern, the physical embodiment
>
> Yikes.. is this column by the one and the same Clive Anderson who
> hosted/moderated the comedy show (Brit version) Who's Line Is It Anyway??
Yes.
Bill Kinkaid
flollopped:
>Albert Finney anyone?
As he almost single-handedly destroyed "Murder on the Orient Express"
with his portrayal of Hercule Poirot, in spite of an otherwise
first-rate cast, may I opine:
hell, no.
Bill in Vancouver
She said that she was working for the ABC News
It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use
- Elvis Costello
Jenny Alder
John Rhys Davies.
Brian Blessed.
Ian McKellen (lacks the bulk but definitely has the gravitas).
"Bill Kinkaid" <kin...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:3d4de480...@news.telus.net...
kk2...@gmail.com
This situation is similar to that of Garrison Keillor, of "A Prairie Home Companion" in the US. When Keillor is no longer available to create the Monologue and Lake Woebegon, which he has been performing for over 40 years, no one will be able to replace him.