Nicol Williamson Movies
Trained at the RSC, Scottish actor Nicol Williamson made his professional bow with the Dundee rep in 1960. The following year, he performed with the Arts Theatre at Cambridge, and also made his London debut. His first major success came in 1964 with John Obsorne's Inadmissible Evidence. He won a Tony award for his performance in the Osborne play when it transferred to Broadway in 1965, and three years later repeated his characterization for the film version. Williamson's 1968 staging of Hamlet, which like Evidence played in both London and New York, was immensely popular and enormously controversial; old-timers still speak of the night when, halfway through a soliloquy, Williamson brusquely apologized for his "bad" performance and stormed offstage. In films from 1964, Williamson has played a cocaine-benumbed Sherlock Holmes in The 7 Percent Solution (1977), an introspective Little John in Robin and Marian (1978) and an eccentric Merlin in Excalibur (1981). His TV credits on both sides of the Atlantic include such roles as Lennie in Of Mice and Men, Lord Mountbatten in The Last Viceroy, King Ferdinand in the 1995 TV movie Christopher Columbus, and Richard Nixon in a 1974 dramatization of the White House Tapes. Williamson has also appeared in a number of one-man shows, including the off-Broadway Nicol Williamson's Late Show and a 1994 play based on the life of John Barrymore. Nicol Williamson was at one time married to actress Jill Townsend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1969
- R
Nicol Williamson stars as a Liverpool/Irish layabout who inherits a business from his father. Even in his executive togs, Williamson remains out of step with society. Already a surly sort, Williamson becomes even less likeable as the film progresses, especially when seeking to avenge a long-ago slight against his father. The film is a belated but still compelling entry in Britain's "Angry Young Man" cinematic cycle, with the "protagonist" remaining on top at the expense of his soul. Reckoning was based on The Harp That Once, a novel by Patrick Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicol Williamson, Ann Bell, (more)
- 1969
Set in London and the Riviera, Laughter in the Dark stars Nicol Williamson as Edward, a wealthy, knighted art dealer who falls hard for tartish usherette Margot (Anna Karina). She is kept by a glorified pimp (Jean-Claude Drouot), who conspires with the girl to take Edward for everything he's got. The art dealer is blinded in an auto accident, after which he switches emotional gears and plans to kill the girl and her keeper. Somehow this all worked better back when Hollywood people like Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea were involved. Based on a 1938 novel by Vladimir Nabokov, the film version of Laughter in the Dark "updates" the piece with flash shots of "mod" London, which now seems more anachronistic than anything in the 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicol Williamson, Anna Karina, (more)
- 1968
Based on a play by John Osborne, this is one of those movies where the audience pulls for the protagonist but has a hard time actually saying that he IS a protagonist. A highly unlikeable fellow, this protagonist is an attorney in all the ways that make this more an epithet than a profession. He's hated by his office personnel as much as his associates. He's unfaithful to his wife, lousy to his clients, and miserable with his children. Surprisingly, though, Nicol Williamson has taken this nasty person and made us still somewhat care what happens to him. Quite an accomplishment considering the lack of anything at all to love about this misanthrope, but somehow we see just a glimmer of humanity. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicol Williamson, Eleanor Fazan, (more)
- 1968
John McGrath's television play The Bofors Gun was expanded (if not improved) by this film adaptation. The time is 1954: a weak-willed British corporal (David Warner) desperately wants to improve his lot in the National Service by taking the officer's entrance course. A rebellious, sociopathic Irish private (Nicol Williamson) takes a dislike to the corporal. He hopes to humiliate the would-be officer and to this end commits suicide while the corporal is guarding him. The character motivations in The Bofors Gun might be lost on anyone who lacks intimate knowledge of the turbulent Irish/British relationships of the era, but the characters themselves are easily recognizable types. One problem: Who is there to root for in this squalid tale? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicol Williamson, Ian Holm, (more)
