‘Hey, they were in Game of Thrones’—Where else have you seen these 50 GoT cast members?
Did you ever wonder where else you might have seen members of the Game of Thrones cast? Some of them, like Sean Bean and Diana Rigg, are well-established veterans with huge lists of credits, while others, like Kit Harington and John Bradley-West, landed their roles right after they graduated acting school. Others never had any acting experience whatsoever before joining the cast, but almost all of them have some small, oddball, or even leading performances that most of us aren’t aware of.
Let’s go digging to see what we can find.
1. SEAN BEAN
Over the course of a long career, Sean Bean (Eddard Stark) is well-known for 1) playing a lot of bad guys and 2) dying onscreen. Bean was one of the easily recognizable faces when Game of Thrones first hit the air. Audiences might have known him from his roles as Alec Trevelyan in GoldenEye, Boromir in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Odysseus in Troy. He’s also voiced a number of video games, including Civilization IV and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Bean has also starred in many TV productions, one of his most successful being the Napoleonic-era Richard Sharpe TV movie series from the UK. In fact, it may have been his portrayal of the dashing Sharpe that got him the part of Ned Stark. At least, that’s when A Song of Ice and Fire George R.R. Martin became a fan of his. When Bean was doing an interview with Hero Complex in 2011, George R.R. Martin dropped by tell Bean: “It was a terrific series,” he told Bean in a conversation recorded right around the time the first season was premiering. “That’s when I became a fan of yours.”
We went digging for one of Bean’s earliest cinematic efforts. Above, he’s looking sufficiently street tough/80s hip in his first onscreen role as Horace Clark on the The Bill TV series in the 1984 episode “Long Odds.” The Bill was the longest-running police procedural drama (1984-2010) in the history of British TV.
The Bill wasn’t Bean’s first professional gig, however: after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he starred in a theatrical production of Romeo and Juliet in 1983. What’s next for the always busy Bean? He’s slated to appear in the TV series Broken and two features, Drone and Dark River, in 2017.
http://winteriscoming.net/2017/03/18/where-else-have-you-seen-these-50-game-of-thrones-actors/‘Sharpe’: George R.R. Martin on U.K. series that made him a Sean Bean fan
George R.R. Martin and Sean Bean have more in common than sword-epic success — they both have a deep admiration for author Bernard Cornwell.
During my recent interview with Bean, Martin happened to pass by our table at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills and paused to chat a bit. The author wrote the sprawling fantasy series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which reaches a new audience on Sunday night with the premiere of “Game of Thrones” on HBO; the actor stars in that HBO series and is known for his film work in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy as well as “Ronin,” “National Treasure” and “Patriot Games.” But an early defining success for Bean back in his native England was in the role of Richard Sharpe, the 19th century British solider created by Cornwell.
Between 1993 and 1997, Bean played Sharpe in 14 television adventures and then he made national news when he returned to the role for a 15th adventure after an eight-year break in production. There was no bigger fan of “Sharpe’s Rifles,” “Sharpe’s Gold,” “Sharpe’s Revenge” and the other installments than Martin. “It was a terrific series,” Martin told Bean. “That’s when I became a fan of yours. I always wanted to meet Bernard Cornwell.” Bean said he is quite proud of the made-for-television films and spoke of interacting with Cornwell in London during the production years. “He’s a very interesting guy and he created this whole world for people. I’m really grateful for that role.”
Martin explained the allure of the novels and the television adaptations in a way that made me want to add these DVDs to my collection right away: ” There’s never been anyone that writes better battle stuff than him; his war is amazing. He really captures the drama of combat. He writes military novels. The Sharpe novels were about the Napoleonic wars but he’s also written about the Saxons with the shield-wool and Alfred the Great. His latest is American Revolutionary war; he’s written American Civil War stuff. And no matter what the era or what the armament, he’s somehow captured the psychology of men at war. He describes the battle in a vivid and visceral way.”
http://herocomplex.latimes.com/books/sharpe-george-r-r-martin-on-u-k-series-that-made-him-a-sean-bean-fan/
