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Post by Arthur Pringle on Jan 27, 2019 23:12:08 GMT
RADA's website has a list of all its graduates from when it began in 1904. You may find it interesting to scroll through the years, spotting the familiar faces & the year they graduated, as well as noting that the majority of the actors are not familiar at all. Here are a selection of profile smudges of Sweeney faces. See if you can guess the less obvious ones...
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Post by D.C. Burtonshaw on Jan 28, 2019 17:25:44 GMT
Interesting stuff Arthur, I can confirm who all those Sweeney people are. Also I've tapped a few well known names in but they don't come up so obviously didn't go to RADA!
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Post by Charles Bronson on Jan 28, 2019 17:30:47 GMT
An interesting thread Arthur. I was surprised to see that George Sweeney had been a RADA student. I already knew John Thaw had been there. I wonder how many students they have in an average year
I tried navigating to the sixties and seventies section to look at the student photos, but couldn't seem to get to the photo section. I'll try again later.
Charles.
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Vienna
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Post by Vienna on Jan 28, 2019 18:15:50 GMT
Yes, interesting to see some familiar faces there, Arthur. Another thing that seems obvious to me when you look at their website is the fact that many of the graduates look like they are from privately educated middle class backgrounds, particularly the girls. I suppose it's typical of the acting profession Vi
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Jan 28, 2019 19:02:34 GMT
I'm sure working & lower middle class people were the exception rather than rule at RADA, funny to think of a gas fitter at RADA, still Cookie obviously did well as this smudge reads-
"English actors Sherrie Hewson and George Sweeney, 6th April 1971. They are the winners of the RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) awards for most promising actors of the year"
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Post by Cartman on Jan 28, 2019 19:04:54 GMT
George Sweeney was a brilliant psycho villain in a Taste of Fear and On the run. He was also a nutter in Citizen Smith. Good acting I thought.
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Post by Charles Bronson on Jan 28, 2019 19:31:24 GMT
My first impression when I saw the photos in Arthur's post was as you said Vi, the fact that the huge majority of the students were so obviously middle class. Yes John Thaw and George Sweeney were exceptions to this as were Tom Courtney and Albert Finney around the same time.
No wonder Michael Caine has spoken out about the class aspect of acting in the 50s. I remember reading that Michael himself got into acting as a teenager in a Bob Hope supported organisation in South London.
Cheers.
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Post by Charles Bronson on Jan 28, 2019 19:35:42 GMT
George Sweeney was a brilliant psycho villain in a Taste of Fear and On the run. He was also a nutter in Citizen Smith. Good acting I thought. George Sweeney has recently started a Twitter account and is very engaging with people. Charles.
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Post by Dirty Epic on Jan 29, 2019 13:12:08 GMT
Good post and smudges Arthur.
Can go through the rights/wrongs of the class system and RADA until the cows come home. It’s always existed to a significant degree and can’t see it stopping anytime soon.
However what is concerning is a specific demographic of usually well off to rich, middle/upper class, privately educated and privileged acting cliques are well established in RADA and occupy the vast majority of the film and TV roles we see at the moment along with the films and programmes being made too and there’s very few exceptions to this. Our acting talent should reflect our general society yet these days the main British acting players like Benedict Cumberbatch, Oliva Colman, Colin Firth, Eddie Redmayne, Tom Huddleston, Miranda Hart, Dominic West etc. don’t really seem to be from the same backgrounds as Michael Caine, John Thaw, Tom Courtney, Terrence Stamp, Cathy Tyson, Robert Carlyle, Gary Oldman, David Morrisey, Maxine Peake and Stephen Graham for example? Wouldn't mind but this 'new breed' of British acting talent are so one dimensional too.
Likewise I feel this is having an affect on the film and TV being made in the UK right now and which is most likely period pieces or the ‘English paradise’ that can be easily sold abroad rather than the more current, abrasive and cutting edge stuff that we used to see like Play for Today or the film and TV work from the likes of Trevor Preston, Alan Clarke, John McKenzie, Ken Loach, Alan Bleasdale etc.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Jan 29, 2019 15:09:06 GMT
Tv, radio & film definitely exposes the class system in a way that is far more obvious than other professions. As Oz in AWP once remarked to Moxey- 'you've only got to open your mouth & you're pigeonholed with the plebs'.
The problem being that regional accents still conjure up a string of stereotypes & I can't ever see that changing as the prejudice is passed down from generation to generation.
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