Does anyone remember Rossiter in a film called 'The Waterloo Bridge Handicap' ?
Rigsby or Reggie? Page 2
Quote: Chappers @ November 16 2011, 3:58 PM GMTLooks like I'm in the minority. I always loved Perrin but couldn't get into Rigsby. It just seemed a typical ITV comedy.
That's the point - Rising Damp was another sitcom off the Yorkshire TV Eric Chappell production line, but Rossiter, and to an extent the rest of the cast, lifted it. Chappell was blessed with some wonderful leading men, James Bolam, Keith Barron, Ken Jones, but none of them nailed it quite like Rossiter; when he did not have that sort of talent at his disposal the results could be disastrous, witness Fiddlers Three, the dire remake of Squirrels. So much rests on the performances. (This is not to entirely diminish Chappell, who was a distinctly competent writer - you have to give the actors something to work with, and there is a skill in this beyond mere gag writing.)
Perrin is much more of a writer's sitcom; other actors could have played the part, perhaps differently and not as well, but it would still have worked in the same way. Whatever you might think of the remake, Clunes, a very good comic actor in his own right, is excellent.
Quote: jobby @ November 18 2011, 10:37 AM GMTDoes anyone remember Rossiter in a film called 'The Waterloo Bridge Handicap' ?
I do indeed; great fun. I also recall another short in which he palyed La Petomaine.
His skill as a comic actor was also displayed in the Cinzano ads. Not easy make that impact in a TV ad.
One of my favourite performances from him is as the escaped convict in the Steptoe episode "The Desperate Hours"; Harry H. Corbett seems to raise his game bouncing off him.
Quote: Timbo @ November 18 2011, 12:32 PM GMTI do indeed; great fun.
That's good cos I don't remember it at all other than a trailer from the time (what year was that?). So would you say it was up there with classic LR?
Rigsby.
I just bought the Rising Damp book of scripts and Eric Chappell says it was Leonard Rossiter that made the character and made his job of writing easier.