R.I.P. James Farentino/Nichol Williamson

Both great actors, Nicholas was Merlin in John Boorman's Excalibur, and is the standard I hold all other Merlin's to.

 

James Farantino was Colonel Owen/Mr. Tideman in The Final Countdown and of course a ton of other shows and movies.

RIP to both.

More greats gone. They better start cranking out better actors or we'll have nothing left soon.

 

I love that movie! He was great.

 

He was the best Merlin and Excalibur is the best King Arthur Movie out there...Nothing has come close

 

See a movie with Nichol and Michael Caine called the Willoughby Conspiracy, his bad Guy makes you want to reach through the screen and strangle him.

 

Try Williamson in Robin and Marion where's he's Little John to Connery's Robin Hood. Denholm Elliot is Will Scarlett, Robert Shaw is the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Audrey Hepburn is Marion. Richard Harris has a cameo as Richard the Lionheart. Directed by Richard Lester. Terrific film.

I saw him years ago on Broadway in I Hate Hamlet playing John Barrymore's ghost. Great fun.

 

Yes but not if you want a happy ending.

 

Ah, and who does not LOVE a happy ending?!

R.I.P to both. He was indeed a great Merlin.

 

awww... okay, hearing about Nichol just bums me out

Excalibur is to me what SW is to a lot of you guys
it really is my most formative movie... This just sucks

"There are other worlds... This one is done with me..."
RIP Merlin

 

I will always remember him for his role in The Final Countdown, however the one other thing I remember him best for is taking over Roy Scheider's part in the tv series version of "Blue Thunder."


Kevin

 

Putting in Excalibur in a few minutes....

 

Williamson also did an interesting Sherlock Holmes in The Seven Percent Solution. Spawn was his last movie.
He made Excalibur memorable.

James Farentino was in the TV version Blue Thunder, and bunch of turkeys. [also in BT Dana Carvey, Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus. Wow.]

 

Ironic. I just watched this with my son earlier this week.

 

A shame. Terrific actors the both of them. Thankfully, their work is well regarded enough that their legacies will live on.

 

Williamson's 1974 audiobook of "The Hobbit" is the greatest audiobook EVER.

 

I still shake my head at comments that decry Excalibur as campish and boorish film-making.

It's still the best Arthur movie I've seen and definitely the most influential contemporary retelling of the Arthurian mythos. If you read Camelot 3000 (the DC graphic novel) and Peter David's Camelot novels you'll definitely see its imprint on those books and David's version of Merlin in particular.

And with that segue...

Williamson to me was the most enjoyable performance in the entire film.

I LOVE his Merlin. To me, his was the iconic version of that character.

He's the best thing in the film aside from the music score and the design of Excalibur itself!

I'm sure many people are remembering and commemorating Nicol Williamson in their own way as the week passes...


P.S. -- Helen Mirren (Morgan Le Faye) was also gorgeous-looking in Excalibur. I'm shocked that this is the same individual who's had such a career upswing in the past few years but I guess it's to be expected. She's really good... and she was a such b%^h in Excalibur, too! LOL

 

According to the "Excalibur" commentaries, Helen and Nicol had just ended a disastrous relationship, culminating in a disastrous run of 'The Scottish Play' and swore they would never work together again.
When asked who she would like to see play Merlin, Helen supposedly replied, "Anyone but Nicol Williamson!"
When asked who he would like to see play Morganna, Nicol supposedly replied, "Anyone but Helen Mirren!"
I couldn't see any two performers in either role in that movie. I paid to see it in the theater over 20 times.