Kenneth Branagh

It’s about TIME I got this page written...

The first movie I ever saw with Kenneth Branagh was The Road to El Dorado. The second was Wild Wild West. It wasn’t until I saw Henry V in tenth grade (because Bale was in it, natch) that I appreciated the depth that his performances in those two movies showed.

See, Ken is primarily a high-brow Shakespearean actor. And by “high-brow,” I mean to say that he not only understands the words that come out of his mouth when he delivers his lines, but he conveys to the audience the meaning of the words, as well. I’ve seen this in Much Ado About Nothing, I’ve seen it in Hamlet, and I’ve seen it in Henry V. I also saw it in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, thought that was slightly less of a challenge. So, knowing that he is so fabulously talented in this genre makes it all the more impressive that he does so well in TRtED, WWW, and later in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

And hey, if his stunning good looks, beautiful voice, and awe-inspiring acting talent aren’t enough, the man’s a director for heaven’s sake. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All that stuff about directing the movies you star in. But I’m bloody impressed. There are some actors who were not meant to direct. Branagh is not one of them.

Among Ken’s astoundingly varied credits are characters such as Miguel, Dr. Arliss Loveless, King Henry V*, Benedick*, Hamlet*, Dr. Victor Frankenstein*, Professor Gilderoy Lockheart, the title character of the A&E miniseries Shakleton, Berowne of Love’s Labour’s Lost*, Peter McGowan in a movie called How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog that I would rather like to see, Iago (of Othello, not Aladdin)*, Herr Knopp of Swing Kids, Roman Strauss and Mike Church of Dead Again*, and several others. His latest acting projects are Alien Love Triangle (‘02), Five Children and It (’04), and Mission: Impossible 3 (’05). On the directing front, his 2003 was a short called Listening, starring Paul McGann which sounds very interesting.

And perhaps one of these days I’ll figure out how his last name is supposed to be pronounced.

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Created June 19, 2004.

* Branagh also directed this film.