I don't do obituaries here on Cinema Styles for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I'm never prepared and feel others are more up to the task. Second, I don't want to pick and choose, doing the big stars but not the smaller ones. As such, if I did do obituaries I would feel obligated to include everyone, not just the big stars, at which point this blog would become nothing more than a long chain of unending death notices. That's why usually I just put up a picture on the sidebar with the necessary dates and call it a day.
But this time's different. Why, you may ask, would I not do obits for so many big stars but make an exception for Charles "Bud" Tingwell, the Australian actor who died from prostate cancer this morning in Australia? Because Bud was virtually a member of the family, that's why.
My youngest daughter (seven years old) adores the Miss Marple movies of the sixties with Margaret Rutherford. My wife and I got her into the habit of watching old films from around the age of two and she is now fully versed in their rhythms and pacing. Oh sure, she still watches what other kids watch too but she understands classic film and will watch it on her own without any pushing or prodding. More often than not, if she has her choice of a movie to watch, it will be a Miss Marple film from the sixties. Miss Marple (Margaret Rutherford), Mr. Stringer (Stringer Davis) and Inspector Craddock (Charles "Bud' Tingwell) have thus become familiar faces and names in our household and now the last, Craddock, played with such charm and wit by Tingwell, is gone. It's like saying goodbye to a favorite uncle.
I visited Tingwell's blog a couple of times (he only updated it twice, years ago) and read about him after we first started watching the movies a few years back. He even had a mild career resuscitation when he began appearing on The Late Show in the role of "Gramps" in the "Charlie the Wonderdog" segments that ran on the show in the mid-nineties. If you read his bio here you'll see that he had a full and rich life. And I recommend going there for biographical details because I intend only to talk about Inspector Craddock, and how wonderful he was in the role.
The Miss Marple movies of the sixties, Murder She Said (1961), Murder at the Gallop (1963), Murder Most Foul (1964) and Murder Ahoy (1964) will never be remembered as 
great examples of the art of cinema or even as the best examples of the mystery genre on film but they have a charm about them that is undeniable, and that charm has two actors at it's epicenter, Margaret Rutherford and Bud Tingwell. Rutherford as the nosey and headstrong Miss Marple constantly running up against, and intellectually besting, Inspector Craddock every time, in every movie, is formula to be sure but one given vigorous new life by those two eminently appealing actors. Tingwell did more than hold his own against Rutherford, at times you felt he was making her hold her own against him and that's no mean feat considering the immense screen charisma of Rutherford. But there's more.
Moviegoers and cinephiles are forever discussing chemistry between actors and usually, if not always, it centers around a male and female in a romantic relationship movie or two actors or actresses playing off each other in a Buddy picture. Well, I'm here to say that Rutherford and Tingwell had some of the best chemistry I've ever seen from a screen couple and their characters were not romantically involved nor were they buddy buddy. Nevertheless, those two played off each other as well as any team I can think of.
It may not be much of an honor to be written up on Cinema Styles but it is certainly an honor for me to write a goodbye to an actor that did something immeasurably important for me and my wife: He helped our youngest daughter fall in love with old movies and that's not something so easy to do these days. If not for him and his chemistry with Rutherford, it might not have happened. Thank you Bud. You were a gifted and charming actor and somehow, a good friend. You'll be missed.
16 comments:
Tingwell was a favorite of mine, too, instantly, when I saw him in The Castle. He plays a constitution law expert who helps a matey kind of guy hold onto his house when an airport wants to eminent domain him out of it. Tingwell was quite, thoughtful, and eventually, a lot of laughs. He had a part in the less successful the Dish (the less said the better) and an octogenarian sex scene in Paul Cox's Innocence. I think comedy is his real forte.
RIP Bud.
Yes, I saw and liked The Castle several years ago. Bud was gifted as a comedian. His frustrated reaction shots with Rutherford were always perfectly timed but never overdone.
I never saw The Dish and Innocence however. He was also in the Hammer film Dracula: Prince of Darkness.
Tingwell was a favorite of mine, too. I had seen him in Hammer's Dracula, Prince of Darkness of course (oh, he didn't fare so well in that one) and The Secret of Blood Island but it was as a British ranking officer in Breaker Morant that had me remembering his name. I didn't see him in the Miss Marple movies until years later; oh, I'd seen the movies but he didn't really register with me. As I grew older, though, I came to love and value the very kind of controlled, nuanced performance Tingwell could bring to something. That speaks to me so much more profoundly than Malcovichian histrionics. He was one of the good ones, our Bud.
I love Breaker Morant as well. I just watched it again recently and my memory of it was not false, it's a great movie and I hadn't remembered Bud being in it until I saw it again.
We told you know who in the car on the way home today. It was strange. I mean, she took it fine and everything, but we set it up like we were going to tell her an actual family member had died.
Very nice tribute, Greg. Although I'm not overly familiar with his film work I did like him in everything I saw him in (mainly the horror films mentioned and the Miss Marple movies I've seen him in).
I dislike writing obits too but I don't stick to any structure for them. I just write them whenever the mood strikes. Recently I was glad that I wrote about Feroz Kahn's passing since it was barely mentioned anywhere and he deserved a tip of the hat.
It's hard to blog randomly from the gut or the heart. I tend to over think everything myself, but I enjoy these spontaneous posts.
Thanks Kimberly, it's easier when you feel a personal connection with the actors work which may be why I don't do obits all the time because I don't know what to say, even if I like them. But with Bud it was easy.
I don't do obits all the time because I don't know what to say.
Boy, it was the opposite for me. Writing obits got to be something of an addiction. When somebody died, I busted my ass to write the most significant obit, often ignoring all other obligations until I got it just right. It all seems so silly now, certainly after I was gorged on death at the end of last year. Like Kimberly, I'm occasionally moved now to write something when it seems no one else will and that feels okay.
We told you know who in the car on the way home today... she took it fine and everything...
Sure, it's not like Arbogast died. That'll be a sad day, mark my words. (Specifically, "mark my words.") But I'm jumping ahead of myself.
So is Arbogast dying soon or something? That's not allowed you know so I won't mark your words.
And looking around my usual blog haunts I appear to be the only one who wrote up Bud and that's fine. Had I not had the emotional connection to him due to the little one I probably wouldn't have either but I'm glad I did. I feel better about focusing on actors like Bud or Len Cariou who have been more overlooked than not.
I was surprised not to see any other blogger write up Lesley Gilb from Legendary Curse of Lemora, given that a gorgeous DVD came out just a few years ago and she participated in the audio commentary. You never know. And maybe other bloggers just gave up on obits, too.
I think you and Kimberly are the unofficial King and Queen of obits for the underappreciated. I know we all write up Paul Newman and all will write up other classic stars like Liz Taylor and Olivia DeHavilland when they die but I feel better when I see an actor I might not have even remembered but for a special role or two getting the star treatment on someone's blog when they go.
My blog partner usually does the obit duties. I've only written a couple right from the heart: Studs Terkel and Robert Altman (for the Beachwood Reporter). I prefer to commemorate someone's passing by reviewing their work, like Gothic for Natasha Richardson.
That's really it, Marilyn, generally for me the passing of an artist generally is a catalyst for my reviewing their work, and it does put it in a different perspective. I'd seen A Prairie Home Companion when it first came out and while I enjoyed it immensely, it wasn't my favorite of his. I watched it again after he passed and now I'd put it right up there with his best films easily. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say...
Marilyn, I loved your piece on Studs Terkel and I don't know if any, or many, other movie blogs wrote him up so it had a more unique and personal feel.
Ryan, I still haven't seen A Prairie Home Companion but have always heard good things about it. One of these days I'll get around to it.
Nice obit, Greg. Clearly from the heart.
And do watch A Prairie Home Companion. Don't know if I'd agree with Ryan and put it with his best, but it's pretty good. Plus you get to see Streep completely inhabit another character.
I hope to see it soon. I've never had more movies that I want to see until these last couple of years blogging. Who knew it would be so great for recommendations?
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