Who was the Greatest King Lear?

Olivier did the role for TV much too late. He was just OK.

Onstage I've seen Jacobi, McKellen, Gambon, and Christopher Plummer. Jacobi was the best by far.

Glenda Jackson was stuck with a horrible production, at least on Broadway, thanks to the shit direction by Sam Gold.

She previously did it in London with Deborah Warner directing, which had to be better.

[quote] Who do you think was the greatest Lear (recording)?

I don't understand this sentence.

[quote] Who was the Greatest King Lear?

The greatest King Lear was king of the greatest Lear kingdom.

Keanu Reeves knocked it of the park in his one-man show where he played ALL of the parts! We laughed, we cried, we threw up and passed out.

Ian Holm = Garden Gnome

A Shakespeare "kick"? Please.

Correct Answer: Richard Burbage. As his primacy is historically established, there's nothing more legendary about his performances than most of the suggestions in the OP's list.

I was very lucky with this play. My brother and I were wandering around London the day after Christmas and we found ourselves at the Globe. Shakespeare's new play, "King Lear," was opening that afternoon.

The guy who originate the role was really good and I've never seen better casting. However, the actor was quite old and actually died just a few weeks later.

Paul Scofield. See the Peter Brook film. Worst: Larry. He lost his power by the time that production was recorded for TV. For the record, Al Finney never played Leer. Nor did O'Toole in his prime. Fear O'Toole would embarrass himself like he did his MacBeth if he did it post 1990. Apparently Michael Redgrave nailed it for Pete when he saw it in 1951. The performance inspired him to audition for RADA. Rest is history.

I have only seen the Olivier teleplay version as well as local theatre production. It is a powerful play on stage. And is possibly my favourite Shakespeare altho I also love Richard III.

Arthur Leander

Since both Lear and Kurosowa's Ran depict an aging warlord who decides to divide up his kingdom among his three children, I'm going to really stretch this question to include Tatsuya Nakadai as my answer.

Apparently Michael Redgrave nailed it for Pete when he saw it in 1951.

And then Redgrave was Claudius to Pete's Hamlet for the inauguration of the National Theatre, 1963.

Hard to say since famous stage Lears often don't have their performances preserved on film in ideal circumstances. Paul Scofield's Lear was voted by a poll of RSC members as the greatest Shakespeare performance of the 20th century. But it would be awfully hard to tell from his performances in the 70s Peter Brook film where everything is very self-consciously muted and half-whispered. But listen to audio excerpts of the original stage production (or the audio recording Scofield made in the 60s for Caedmon) and you can sense the power and intensity and drama of what his Lear must have been like.

Olivier was too old, as others said. He could no longer summon the intensity and seems uncomfortable. Gielgud recorded an audio version when he was too old. There's an audio recording with Alec Guinness which is not bad. I don't think the BBC television adaptation with Michael Hordern shows him at his best.

In recent years, I didn't love Ian McKellen either on stage or on the tv adaptation. I thought Ian Holm was quite good. Derek Jacobi was very good on the stage version that streamed to theaters. Simon Russell Beale I just find terribly overrated and his Lear did nothing for me. The Anthony Hopkins version streaming on amazon was also disappointing.

Why did they never do a Mr. Magoo version of this play? He's the only actor I can imagine for lines like "I am a man more sinned against than sinning!"

R15 - with songs as well, like A Christmas Carol?

Yes, R16, Edmund could have had a great villain song.