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(1942– ). British actor.
Acted in television: "The Night of
the Golden Cobra" (1966), episode of The Wild, Wild West; Jesus of
Nazareth (tv movie) (Franco Zeffirelli 1977); Phantom of the Opera
(tv movie) (Robert Markowitz 1983); Space (tv miniseries) (1985); Dark
Mansions (tv movie) (Jerry London 1986); "Ponce DeLeon and the Search for
the Fountain of Youth" (1987), episode of Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and
Legends; "Brave New World," "SpinDrift," "Brainlock" (1993), episodes of SeaQuest
2020; TekWar: TekLab (tv movie) (Timothy Bond 1994); Not of This
Earth (tv movie) (Terry Winkless 1995); "A Late Delivery from Avalon"
(1996), episode of Babylon 5; "This Slide of Paradise" (1997), episode
of Sliders; A Knight in Camelot (tv movie) (Roger Young 1998).
Provided voice for animated films and
television: "Beauty and the Beast" (1981), episode of CBS Library:
Misunderstood Monsters; The Magic Paintbrush (Tom Tataranowicz
1992); "Off Balance" (1992), "Zatanna" (1993), episodes of Batman: The
Animated Series; The Magic Flute (tv movie) (Emanuel Schikaneder
1994); "Cold Feet" (1994), episode of The Magic School Bus; "Tools of
the Trade" (1997), episode of Superman; A Christmas Carol (Stan
Phillips 1997); Le Chateau de Singer (Jean-Francois Laguionie 1999); The
Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire (animated; voice) (Charles
Grosvenor 2000).
Perhaps it is simply the magical
allure of his British accent, still perceived by colonials as the perfect way
to add a touch of class to any production. Yet there might also be something—one could not call it talent—about York as a performer that is strangely
appealing: that grim determination to carry on with a brave smile on his face,
no matter how wretchedly he is acting or how appalling the film is, an
occasionally evident puppy-doggish desire to please whoever he happens to be
around. Filmgoers feel compelled to admire survivors, even as producers feel
compelled to cast them—against their better judgment.
After bursting into prominence as the
male ingenue in Cabaret (1972), York immediately attempted to destroy
his embryonic career by appearing in three of the most execrable films of the
1970s. One cannot blame York for the musical Lost Horizon, since his
lackluster performance as the young romantic lead was only one of many reasons
for the failure of this ill-conceived and perfunctorily executed project. Yet Logan's
Run and The Island of Dr. Moreau might have at least been watchable
with another, more capable actor at the helm. Another well-deserved flop, The
Last Remake of Beau Geste, first gave York the only sort of part he could
ever be good at—the stiff, hapless straight man incongruously surrounded by
wildly overacting comics.
Soon, York was growing too old to
play the only other role he ever got good reviews for, D'Artagnan (though that
has not prevented him from making two return appearances as an aging
swordsman), and his career predictably went into free fall. He spent most of
the 1980s playing supporting roles in television movies, series, and
miniseries, including The Phantom of the Opera and Space, with
some excursions to star in obscure European movies. By the 1990s, he was
reduced to guest appearances in television series and providing voices for dire
animated films, and it seemed the inevitable next step would be a little-noticed
interview in which he announced that he was returning to his first love and
rediscovering his roots on the legitimate stage.
Then, inexplicably, York mounted his
celluloid comeback. He was a conveniently cheap British actor to play Merlin in
A Young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (later, he would essay
King Arthur as well), but he attracted more attention by appearing in the
remake of Not of the Earth, a movie doomed from the start by two
terrible decisions: one, to play Paul BIRCH's blood-sucking alien for laughs,
and two, to cast in the part an actor who couldn't do comedy. (Of course, I
suppose it's possible that York turned around and started doing some brilliant
acting in the last half of the film, but I guess I'll never know.) Then he was
given little to do and did it reasonably well in the James Bond spoof Austin
Powers: International Man of Mystery, leading to return appearances in its
two sequels, and having come out of the closet as a born-again Christian, he
again garnered a leading role in a theatrically released film, the evangelical The
Omega Code. Now in demand more than ever for voiceovers, minor parts in
major films, and major parts in minor films, and his chances for a thriving
career in dinner theatre seemingly dashed, one can only hope that York will
develop a belated yen for directing and thankfully step behind the camera.
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