With Joan Greenwood in The Man In The White Suit, Alexander Mackendrick, 1951. All the obits are of course citing his avuncular Alfred, but I always most enjoyed him playing non-snivelling little shits of this sort—he had great features for conveying unstudied contempt, an emotion I can thoroughly relate to, I have to admit. Such a fantastic presence, always; we should all be glad he enjoyed such a long and fruitful career, he gave us an awful lot to savor.
Michael Gough, 1917-2011
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Having enjoyed Gough in six decades of performances, I was especially pleased to see him in a fat elder role: as Firs the reactionary peasant-butler in Chekhov’s CHERRY ORCHARD. In a seemingly minor part Ralph Richardson also played in one of his last stage appearances, Gough aces the role so thoroughly that for once, in this production, no one should be surprised at which character Chekhov gave the last monologue of his career to.
One of my favorite roles that Gough played was as the painter in “Dr Terror’s House of Horrors” where he humiliates smug art critic Christopher Lee.
RIP.
Gough is also very good in another film with Alec Guinness, as an arrogant sculptor in The Horse’s Mouth.
I first encountered him in KONGA, a film that probably ought to be forgotten. But I saw it when I was 11, so to me it’s pretty darn memorable, as was Mr. Gough’s mad scientist. There was a paperback novelization, which I also read at the time, and it was memorable for having a set of explicit sex scenes in it. I can still quote parts of it: “And there, on the familar rose-colored bedspread, …” Certainly got my attention! I got that novelization via mail order, along with one for REPTILICUS. Same thing: monster story with porn. Had to hide them from my parents. Weird marketing back then.
You’ll be missed! :’(
My friend created a memorial for Michael Gough, please leave a message for him. http://memorialmatters.com/memorials.php?page=MichaelGough
Just to agree about Horse’s Mouth, which I found revelatory. His Alfred avuncular status carried over well – but with added mustache! – to Age of Innocence, so I had thought that his keen-eyed kindness might be in many of his characters, and potentially part of himself. But the brio he brought to the character of the sculptor in Horse’s was not only wonderful and brash, it was perfectly entwined with Guinness’ performance in a wonderful tangle of contrast and parallel with his vision, ideals, and naked opportunism.
A friend who knew him said he was one of the cleverest actors he’d ever met (not intended as a knock against the profession in general!) You can see his keen intelligence in many of his performances, even in some of the less worthy films.
He was great, and as someone pointed out on Facebook, he was one of the very few remaining threads connecting that era to ours. Say what you want about Tim Burton, but one thing I’ve always liked about him is that he consistently gives people like Gough work, when most in Hollywood could give a shit about them.