And as much as I love the "fun" of Robert E. Howard's swash-buckling Puritan bad-ass SOLOMON KANE... we're not going to mention him.. ohh, duh!
But how could I have forgot the one and only Tom Bosley? I've thought Bosley's endearing and always 'fatherly' (cf: "Mr C" in Happy Days) character was the perfect match for Father Frank Dowling in ABC's THE FATHER DOWLING MYSTERIES. Great supporting cast as well.
HOW in the space-time continuum could I forget the second most famous literary detective (after Holmes, although I know my designation is open to challenge) of all time? And I'm a BIG Chesterton buff? Guess I had too much Turkey (tryptophan) Easter candy (sugar) and Dark Beer (beer) to be at my sharpest. Sorry.
The accomplished British actor Kenneth More gave a good turn at playing the English Priest in the 1982 production for PBS's Mystery. Oh how I loved all those wonderful adaptations of the great detective novels for the small screen.
Here we have the one and only Sir Alec Guinness as Father Brown in the 1954 movie "Father Brown" (aka 'The Detective'). Guinness also played the character of "The Bishop" in the 1955 movie by that same name. It was a tale of political intrigue based on a stage play. I have not seen it. I wonder if it was loosely based on the famous true life story of Hungarian Cardinal Jozef Mindszenty?
Sorry to chime in on this late, but the world of science fiction, fantasy and comics is overflowing with clergymen. The biggie, of course, was the preacher from "War Of The Worlds" who had a mental breakdown when his literal understanding of the bible was contradicted by the Martians. Decades later in the 1950's film version radically rewrote the character into a brave hero played by Les Tremayne (Mentor from 1970's TV "Shazam!").
ReplyDeleteThere's also "Secret Service", the last of the original run of Supermarionation shows ("Thunderbirds", "Captain Scarlet") with the voice of UK character actor Stanley Unwin playing secret agent vicar named... Stanley Unwin. (Imagine "The Father Foster Brooks Mysteries" with puppets.)
In DC Comics, writer John Ostrander brought Father Richard Craemer to both "Suicide Squad" (in the '80's) and "The Spectre" (in the '90's).
And those of us (of a certain age) will remember Patrick McGoohan as "Dr. Syn, Alias The Scarecrow", also broadcast as "The Scarecrow Of Romney Marsh". Finding the details behind the various edits and titles of that production is an adventure in itself, but everyone I've met in sf/fantasy circles has seen one of the numerous formats despite the fact that it's just a straight up period adventure.
No problem, nobody is ever late here at tROAD, we're all just "flaneurs" wandering about the cyber space cities and back electron alleys. Glad you posted pblfsda!!!
ReplyDeleteI too remember the village clergyman in WotW advancing on the Martian pod machine while reciting the famous "Soldiers Psalm." (which thousands of American G.I.s no doubt also had on their lips when they landed at Normandy and elsewhere). Although I'm not sure whether one has a "literal" (and there are degrees here of course) or a non-literal (same here) or an atheistic view for that matter, view of scripture was the point of that scene. Whether one is a Christian priest or a Hopi Snake charmer, or an American agnostic, if the Martians ZAP you with a death ray - -you is zapped :)
pblfsda thanks tons for mentioning one of my favorite actors of all time (Patrick McGoohan) and those uber neat Disney episodes of The Scarecrow!!!!
pblfsda, when I saw your profile, and that you like City of Lost Children (one of my faves; I need to list it in my profile soon) Terry Gilliam and David Lynch, I instantly felt a bond of web-solidarity :)
And you like Cale, Bowie and THE frikin' WHO... you are a man of exquisite taste
best,
r/e