Brideshead Revisited 1981: Anthony Andrews or Jeremy Irons?

never liked it.

no desire to revisit.

[quote]Who was hotter?

neither

They did a nude scene : total anti-climax.

OP, you left Anthony Blanche off your poll.

Mmmmmmm.

That blond one was skinny and dull.

Sir Anthony Andrews is now 73, so average DL age.

Jeremy Irons had zero sex appeal.

Charles is just like Waugh himself, such a dreary mope, unable to make emotional connections with others. He’s a cipher.

This show, for all its idiotic bits and pieces, overall had and has lots of charm. It is more fun than the novel.

Irons has haunting voice and magnificent cadene.

R10 He does, but his voice is the only sexy thing about him.

I was, as a gayling, very unimpressed with the Irons backside. Now I am ok. Still prefer Andrews'.

[quote] Irons backside.

Germaine Greer who's used to the bronzed Aussie Adonis referred to one scene in rides head with a close up of Jeremy's flank and she said it looked as spotty as mouldy bread.

But I agree with R10 that Jeremy's talent is in his haunting voice and magnificent cadence. The French chose Jeremy to narrate the Proust film and he was excellent in this audio (which unfortunately is no longer available)—

R7

Says you; but facts speak otherwise.

When BRR reached American shores scores of females and gay men were creaming their undergarments over Jeremy Irons. The man could stand there and recite out of the A-B-C's and give people orgasms.

After BRR Irons was a hot property doing several films (Swann in Love, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Dead Ringers, Reversal of Fortune...) that further cemented him as a more cerebral sex symbol.

No one can say Jeremy Irons is (or was) drop dead gorgeous and or a stud say in way of young Ruppert Everett, but there was something about him that seemed to tick all the right boxes.

Sonny ... was ... a ... drug ... addickt

No so difficult.

[quote]Germaine Greer who's used to the bronzed Aussie Adonis referred to one scene in rides head with a close up of Jeremy's flank and she said it looked as spotty as mouldy bread.

I have no trouble imagining that to be true.

Princess Anne had a lengthy affair with Anthony Andrews in the 1980s.

I assume we are speaking of looks not how each one nailed his role?

Because both were fantastic. Did any of you lot read the book, as well?

[quote] Jeremy Irons had zero sex appeal.

r7 But, he has a bedroom voice.

R18 Yes, I read the book. The casting was perfect. Has nothing to do with the actors’ hotness or lack thereof.

I didn't like Andrews in Sebastian role. He's constantly looking like a man in midlife crisis than some adult kid saying " 'If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe and Aloysius in a good temper...'

Jesus Christ! Jeremy Irons’ son is smoking hot! I voted for the other guy in OP’s poll, but if Jeremy looked like his son....😳

Jeremy Irons. Too bad he's a homophobe.

I like Irons' dark eyes and hair. I thought he was sexy in several of his early film roles.

Jeremy Irons was extremely hot in his younger years- like Patrician, Elitist hot.

I suppose it's a c-curse of the rich that nobody will help them with addiction or mental illness.

BR showed the British people why they are fortunate to be largely a Protestant nation.

When the series first aired, watching as a confused teen I was team Anthony but he’s revealed himself to be a bit of a homophobe (same as Jeremy right? R23). So I am now Team Aloysius.

These actors are homophobes? They're in the wrong business!

I read the book as I was into Waugh but it's an unusual Waugh and I'm not sure I enjoyed/appreciated its longueurs.

Team Aloysius, Yes!!!!!

Jeremy has never been hot. What does Anthony look like now? Show us!

Anthony Andrews married the Simpsons Department Store heiress in the early 70's and has stayed married to her ever since. He's never been desperate for money, which is why we never saw much of him unless he either loved the script or had become bored enough to work.

Jeremy Irons son in R22 looks exactly like his mother Sinead Cusack. .

I was team Anthony at the time, before I realized how monkey-like he looked. Now, I'm Team Neither.

Team Charles. I’m not going to compete with that d-d-damn bear.

I'm team Antony Blanche now, too. Honestly, decades after seeing this series, his performance was what continued to stand out in my memory. D-d-d-elicious!

Aloysius is my runner-up.

Do you talk from personal experience, R8.

Were you the pest hanging around the grounds?

R9 Evelyn Waugh's novel is from his serious phase. It is not meant to be "fun".

I suggest you watch some trash on TV if you want "fun".

The first time I saw Jeremy Irons was in this when it premiered on PBS. Not long after, I saw him in The French Lieutenant's Woman and Betrayal. He held his own with Streep and Kingsley. Long time fan, he gets my vote for anything.

Jeremy Irons had an affair with Carly Simon.

I know from someone who knows her that she became pregnant with his child. And he asked her to have an abortion. She did.

Your prejudice, R23, doesn't bear scrutiny.

Who was the top?

the damned bear

Matthew Goode

R41 "Jeremy Irons and his wife visited Carly Simon's house in Martha's Vineyard in 1984. Jeremy then fornicated with Simon."

This anecdote doesn't seem quite credible to my mind.

Hard choice OP, I lusted after both of them at the time, but Irons looked better in the scene R4 posted

I dont remember Anthony Blanche being cute back then but he's since grown on me

[quote]"Jeremy Irons and his wife visited Carly Simon's house in Martha's Vineyard in 1984. Jeremy then fornicated with Simon."

Jeremy Irons and his whole family (with wife) stayed at Carly Simon's house for several weeks in the summer of 1984. Jeremy Irons returned to Matha's Vineyard alone that Fall to work on a music video with Carly. It was then that they started fucking.

As a teenager I was team Anthony, until he turned up on the Love Boat and ruined it all. And he does look like a monkey.

[quote] BR showed the British people why they are fortunate to be largely a Protestant nation.

Beware of the Anglo-Catholics. They’re all sodomites with unpleasant accents.

Didn't Andrews play the future Duke on Upstairs Downstairs?

He was very cute in that.

R40

You should have caught Jeremy Irons in "Swann In Love".

More:

Hated it. As a young gay man with very little gay content available back then I still found it extremely boring and tedious with very little pay off.

So that was our choice, extremely boring ugly rich queens or extremely bitch self centered mean spirited NYC queens AKA Boys in the Band. Nothing in between or closer to normal.

This was such a massive hit in Australia at the time. And that bitter-sweet soundtrack... I still have the vinyl record. Both actors were too old for the roles, even more so in hindsight - but for me Andrews had the cuter butt. The 2008 film was better cast with Ben Wishaw and Matthew Goode.

Evelyn Waugh was a miserable swine, being a Catholic did him no favours at all.

Team R1. Besides that I despise Irons...snotty bastard.

The straight FRAUS must have LOVE Brideshead Revisted. They LOVE posh, mannered FAGGOTS like Sebastian Flyte.

R2 every regular Datalounger carries the spirit of Anthony Blanche.

[quote]Evelyn Waugh was a miserable swine, being a Catholic did him no favours at all.

Waugh said that if he hadn't become a Catholic, he'd barely be human at all.

I am just rewatching this. I loved it at the time and the series doesn't seem dated. But Jeremy irons is a complete turn-off. His acting is wooden, and he is not attractive at all. The thin lips, discoloured teeth, and he looks utterly gormless every time he smiles. He seems incapable of expressing emotion. The constant smoking, especially the pipe, must have made him stink. He was way, way too old for the role; he was supposed to be 18, 19, but he looked 35. His voice and diction are great however. I liked him in the remake of Lolita.

Anthony Andrews is an adequate Sebastian, especially after Sebastian deteriorated, but his performance is not the equal of Ben Whishaw's. It was also odd that Anthony Andrews and Diana Quick were chosen to play siblings, which we are repeatedly told, strongly resembled each other.

Did Anthony Andrews go on to work in theatre or what exactly happened to his career after Bridey?

Meh. Chariots of Fire, Maurice and Another Country all had better looking men. Jeremy Irons was sexy as Claus von Bülow and a great performance!

The original casting was different -- the two actors decided they wanted to switch roles, so they did.

I think that was a wise choice.

The film version with Matthew Goode and Ben Wishaw was thoroughly hated here, but I thought they were better cast choices. Wishaw had a damaged, charming fragility that pouting Andrews could never manage and it was wholly credible why they would all fall for Charles Rider as played by Goode.