Timothy Spall is a classic British character actor who seems as comfortable in a serious Dickens adaption as in a 1930s comedy. He plays a lot of baddies, but his most well-known roles have been complicated characters where he shines. Timothy Spall’s son Rafe also went into acting and has a decent frock flick resume; the elder Spall mused that maybe acting is genetic. Who knows? We do know about this incredible list of historical roles Timothy Spall has already done, and he’s bound to add more soon.
Epikhodov in The Cherry Orchard (1981)
Dr. Polidori in Gothic (1986)
2nd Lt. Trotter in Journey’s End (1988)
Cunningham – Masseur in “Barcelona, May 1917” & “Prague, August 1917,” The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992-3)
Rosencrantz in Hamlet (1996)
Mr. Venus in Our Mutual Friend (1998)
Sterling in The Clandestine Marriage (1999)
Richard Temple in Topsy Turvy (1999)
Armado in Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000)
Gourville in Vatel (2000)
Charles Cheeryble in Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
Simon Graham in The Last Samurai (2003)
Albert Pierrepoint in Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman (2005)
Sugarman in Death Defying Acts (2007)
Mr. Emerson in A Room With a View (2007)
Beadle in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Fagin in Oliver Twist (2007)
Boggis in From Time to Time (2009)
Winston Churchill in The King’s Speech (2010)
Mark in Ginger & Rosa (2012)
Lord Clarence Emsworth in Blandings (2013-14)
J.M.W. Turner in Mr. Turner (2014)
Lord Arthur Wallington in Summer of Rockets (2019)
L.S. Lowry in Mrs. Lowry & Son (2019)
Superintendent Thayer in The Pale Blue Eye (2022)
Edward Swan in Wicked Little Letters (2023)
Duke of Norfolk in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (2024)
Mr. Hilbery in Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day (upcoming)
What’s your favorite frock flick role by Timothy Spall?
I always forgot that Dudley and Wormtail knew each other, and I love The Pale Blue Eye
The Last Bus
I couldn’t finish it. Spall was excellent as usual, but it was sooo depressing…
Spall was a great Turner. He’s also looking more and more Churchillian these days.
My comment that Spall had been a great Turner, and was looking even more Churchillian these days was not accepted, because I had “already said that.” Huh? No, I don’t think so.
I can’t believe how many of his films I’ve seen, whether intentional or unintentionally. Richard Temple in “Topsy Turvey” has to be one of my favorites. I can’t remember if it was before or after I got cast in a production of “The Mikado,” so it was close to my heart. I think the yellowface was less of an issue for me than the outright obstinance of Englishmen in dealing with foreigners and thinking that just speaking louder was going to somehow make them magically understood by people who didn’t speak the language, instead of being sensible and paying for an interpreter. The backstage issues with men being more outraged by the request to go without corsets under their costumes, or drama over a song being removed. One thing this film made me realize is that nearly every Gilbert & Sullivan show has the same plot. Only the character names, settings, and songs (somewhat) have been changed. A film not listed, but one that falls under the fantasy/contemporary category is “Enchanted.” His turn as the slippery henchman Nathanial was brilliant, with his mock Fantasyland/old timey getup appropriate for a Disney villain. I love everything about that film.
He is such a talented actor! Of the projects listed here my faves are The King’s Speech and From Time to Time. I started but didn’t finish Topsy-Turvy (I was too tired) and Summer of Rockets (it was so slow). I really want to see Wicked Letters! It’s been bumped up on this list. I think(?) there’s one Frock Flick missing—My House in Umbria. If I remember correctly, it takes place in postwar Italy (the ‘50s I believe). It is a VERY good made for TV film, and Maggie Smith’s costumes are beautiful!!! Great MCM choice!
It takes rare talent to beat the late, great Mr Bernard Hill at his own game, but Mr
Spall absolutely managed to bring the vinegar as Old Norfolk in the second series of WOLF HALL – and Mr Hill owned every inch of the role to start with.
Also, if any man had the face for a full-bottomed wig ‘twas he, before there was less of him to love.
Oh, nearly forgot to mention: his new series DEATH VALLEY has a little running joke about showing snippets from the ‘Cosy Crime Drama’ (With inter-war period dress) that made his character’s name (CAESAR by title, which leaves me noodling about what little bit of Legal Latin would be employed as titles for each episode of the show – ‘Habeas Corpus’ is the obvious winner for episode one).
Topsy Turvy is about yellowface and cultural appropriation, and a fine job it makes of it. Spall is excellent as always.
He’s lost a lot of weight recently – deliberately – so no longer very Churchillian, but one of those actors who can reliably lift anything he’s in. Death Valley, as mentioned above, is wonderful, albeit only very fringe for frock flicks.
Just wanted to put in a good word for The Clandestine Marriage. I found it very enjoyable. It’s an adaptation of an 18th century play, a comedy of manners. I don’t know the original play, but the film has a strong flavour of 18th c language and humour, and a wonderfully ridiculous period pageant. The sets are magnificent, opening up scenes that must have been difficult to do justice to on stage. I can’t judge the costumes, but they were certainly lavishly done, and the wigs were character-defining.