King Lear (1983) (TV)

Director:

Michael Elliott

Writer:

William Shakespeare (play)

Release Date:

26 January 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An aging King invites disaster when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters and rejects his one loving, but honest one.

Plot Keywords:

Daughter Murdered | Shakespeare's King Lear | Resentment Toward Sister | Resentment Toward Father | William Shakespeare

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Laurence Olivier	...	King Lear
Colin Blakely	...	Kent
Anna Calder-Marshall	...	Cordelia
Jeremy Kemp	...	Cornwall
Robert Lang	...	Albany
Robert Lindsay	...	Edmund
Leo McKern	...	Gloucester
David Threlfall	...	Edgar
Dorothy Tutin	...	Goneril
John Hurt	...	The Fool
Diana Rigg	...	Regan
Brian Cox	...	Burgundy
Edward Petherbridge	...	France
Geoffrey Bateman	...	Oswald
John Cording	...	Lear's Knight
Benny Young	...	Cornwall's Servant
Esmond Knight	...	Old Man
Ian Ruskin	...	Edmund's Officer
Paul Curran	...	Doctor
Ronald Forfar	...	First Officer
Harry Walker	...	Second Officer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harry Fielder	...	Man servant (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Elliott

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
William Shakespeare		play

Produced by
David Plowright	....	executive producer
David Plowright	....	producer

Original Music by
Gordon Crosse

Casting by
Malcolm Drury

Production Design by
Colin Lowrey
Roy Stonehouse

Costume Design by
Tanya Moiseiwitsch

Makeup Department
Lois Richardson	....	makeup supervisor

Art Department
Ray Freeman	....	graphic designer

Sound Department
Alistair Houston	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Roger England	....	camera operator: studio camera
Mike Turnbull	....	camera operator
Christopher White	....	studio lighting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charlotte Holdich	....	associate costume designer

Editorial Department
Linda Anthony	....	vision mixer
D.L. Heyes	....	editor: video tape
Ron Swain	....	editor: video tape

Music Department
Gordon Crosse	....	conductor
Alex Dobos	....	music recordist

Other crew
Lesley Beames	....	researcher
Jo Day	....	assistant stage manager
Louise Doffman	....	production assistant
Ron Greenhalgh	....	studio supervisor
William Hobbs	....	fight arranger
Ken Jones	....	studio vision
Graham Wild	....	floor manager

Production Companies

• Granada Television

Distributors

• Mobil Showcase Theatre (1984) (USA) (TV)
• Channel 4 Television Corporation (1983) (UK) (TV)
• ClassicLine (Brazil) (DVD)
• Globo Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Kultur (2000) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• The Hallé Orchestra  music played by (as The Halle Orchestra)

Runtime:

158 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G

Company:

Granada Television

Trivia:

The last specifically made-for-television production of a Shakespeare play (to date) to have its American TV premiere on commercial network television, an occurrence that was much more common in the 1950's, '60's, and '70s.

Quotes:

Kent: Fellow, I know thee.
Oswald: What dost thou know me for?
Kent: A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking, whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service...

Movie Connections:

Version of King of Texas (2002) (TV)

Olivier is far and away the best Lear I've seen

I've never been that impressed with Olivier's acting. His Hamlet seemed quite boring. That changed after I saw this and his "Merchant of Venice." As Olivier got older, he got better. No more grandstanding, no more showy heroes. Having seen other Lears waste the role with constant shouting or with boringly stone-faced acting, I was impressed with the range of emotion Olivier revealed here. This Lear was the only one I could pity. He seems more hurt than angry by Cordelia's "Nothing." He shifts instantly between self-pity, blind rage, and knowledge, just as Lear does in the text.

The music was awful. Terribly melodramatic. Almost ruined the film.

Diana Rigg is absolutely chilling as Reagan and the Fool is touchingly dependent on Lear. Far less caustic than I imagined him.

This isn't the "definitive" Lear. There isn't one. But this comes close.