I was sorry and a little oddly shocked to hear of it today; since I have been working on a fanfic where Blake has a major part he has been very alive in my mind of late, and the disjunction between fiction and reality is never more bluntly brought home than by news such as this.
It's easy to play the mocking, cynical antihero with a slick quip for everything (even more so perhaps today than in the heyday of B7); it takes a rare sort of talent to play someone who genuinely cares about other people and about abstract ideals, and to make him into a credible human being who can influence the cynics to follow him by force of personality alone. Blake could have been a cardboard hero or an intolerable poser. Thanks to Gareth Thomas, he was neither.
Oh no...Sometimes we think that some people are immortal... G.T. was really an excellent actor. Oh yes, most of us insist on him being Blake but I know Morgan and Adam and How Green Was My Valley and... I am sad. I never met him but I know he was your friend...
I didn't know he'd died. He was so kind to me when I met him at that convention. Talking to him was one of the most moving "celebrity" meetings I ever had. I even wrote a poem about the experience if I can find it. A very good actor, as you said, and a kind man. Sometimes news doesn't travel over the ocean very well.
I was about to point you to my 'filk for Gareth' on AO3, but I see that you've already read it (and left kudos)
Which convention did you meet him at? Not instantly recognising your name, but I suspect we may have met.
I used to go so see him in the theatre when I was able. That's where I originally met SelenaK (very interesting journal on DW). She's German, but had studied English at university and half a dozen of us just sat in gobsmacked wonder as she and Gareth had this amazingly intellectual conversation about Titania, an hour or so after we'd watched Gareth as Oberon.
I'm looking through my papers for the poem; it's pretty awful, but something he said hit me so profoundly.
I got the impression you didn't like me very much at the time so I'm very embarrassed to tell you where we met, but I'll try to describe it. I was going by Sam or Shannon Stanbridge, my maiden name. I first met you when I was attempting to stage door Paul Darrow at a matinee performance of Are You Lonesome Tonight? in Nottingham. I felt very put in my place.
I saw you again at Space City 1988 at a gorgeous hotel in the middle of nowhere. Gareth Thomas auctioned off his hair for charity. The celebrities had a liar's panel. I met a few other lovely people, got to take a picture of poor Orac, and didn't sleep a wink. I was very young and naive. My year in the UK was an experience for me. I didn't want to come home. I hardly read it at all now, although I drop by AO3 from time to time.
I think you're mixing me up with someone else. I don't think I ever saw Paul in Are You Lonesome Tonight? (I saw him on stage in Cardiff, but it was mostly Gareth I followed on stage).
I don't think I ever went to Space City either.
I got into fandom relatively late. My first convention was Who's 7. About four years after that, I started the Redemption conventions. But that was around 1999.
I ended up writing an awful lot of B7 fanfic, both gen and slash, and published a fair number of fanzines.
Thirty years would have just predated my time in B7 fandom. I was a late comer to zine publishing, though I like to think I published some excellent collections of stories. I was a very hands on editor.
I figured it out, and it's kind of embarrassing. There are literally more than 2 women named Judith in the United Kingdom. There may even been more than 2 in Blake's 7 fandom. It was Judith Seaman. My brain says she was also spare and dark-haired, but I can't remember very well.
Apologies for the mix-up.
BTW, I found the poem, and it's as awful as I remember, but I'll get it typed in for you. If you take a peek on Fanlore, one of the reviewers of that con went on and on about how drunk Gareth Thomas was (who cares? I've seen Marc Strickson nearly fall off a stage), though he did give me a different perspective on the banter between Paul Darrow and Gareth Thomas.
Ah! I remember Judith Seaman - and I'm pretty sure you weren't the only one to mix us up! We were both involved in zine publishing, if memory serves.
Gareth drank more at some cons than others. The most I ever saw him drink was shortly after his mother died.
He didn't get badly drunk at the con I ran, so I'm guessing he wasn't under a lot of stress.
The thing I remember most is his performance in the cabaret. We left it to him as to what he performed. He sat on the edge of the stage and did Hamlet's soliloquy from memory. I have never known a full hall to be so quiet.
The speech suddenly made sense, in a way it never had before. He really was an amazing actor. I saw him on stage in Equus - the same feeling. Total focus - the audience were spellbound.
On another track - I've found my file of Linda Short singing my filk songs. I'd like to put it on YouTube for everyone else to listen to. Do you know how to convert MP3 to MP4 and add pictures?
I realise that your health may be worst then mine, so possibly not, but it's a project I know I will never actually get round to in spite of wanting to do it.
Either way, if you give me an email address, I'm happy to send you the filks to enjoy.
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came over to your LJ to comment, and realised there was another post of also distressing stuff that i couldn't see on my f-list. hope you're ok.
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It's easy to play the mocking, cynical antihero with a slick quip for everything (even more so perhaps today than in the heyday of B7); it takes a rare sort of talent to play someone who genuinely cares about other people and about abstract ideals, and to make him into a credible human being who can influence the cynics to follow him by force of personality alone. Blake could have been a cardboard hero or an intolerable poser. Thanks to Gareth Thomas, he was neither.
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Crap.
Bowie, Rickman, Thomas. 2016 is not a good year.
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G.T. was really an excellent actor. Oh yes, most of us insist on him being Blake but I know Morgan and Adam and How Green Was My Valley and...
I am sad. I never met him but I know he was your friend...
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kerk
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Which convention did you meet him at? Not instantly recognising your name, but I suspect we may have met.
I used to go so see him in the theatre when I was able. That's where I originally met SelenaK (very interesting journal on DW). She's German, but had studied English at university and half a dozen of us just sat in gobsmacked wonder as she and Gareth had this amazingly intellectual conversation about Titania, an hour or so after we'd watched Gareth as Oberon.
I'd love to read your poem.
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I got the impression you didn't like me very much at the time so I'm very embarrassed to tell you where we met, but I'll try to describe it. I was going by Sam or Shannon Stanbridge, my maiden name. I first met you when I was attempting to stage door Paul Darrow at a matinee performance of Are You Lonesome Tonight? in Nottingham. I felt very put in my place.
I saw you again at Space City 1988 at a gorgeous hotel in the middle of nowhere. Gareth Thomas auctioned off his hair for charity. The celebrities had a liar's panel. I met a few other lovely people, got to take a picture of poor Orac, and didn't sleep a wink. I was very young and naive. My year in the UK was an experience for me. I didn't want to come home. I hardly read it at all now, although I drop by AO3 from time to time.
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I don't think I ever went to Space City either.
I got into fandom relatively late. My first convention was Who's 7. About four years after that, I started the Redemption conventions. But that was around 1999.
I ended up writing an awful lot of B7 fanfic, both gen and slash, and published a fair number of fanzines.
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Memories are strange sometimes. It's very vivid to me, but it was more than 30 years ago.
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No, don't recall hanging out with any Marys.
Thirty years would have just predated my time in B7 fandom. I was a late comer to zine publishing, though I like to think I published some excellent collections of stories. I was a very hands on editor.
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Apologies for the mix-up.
BTW, I found the poem, and it's as awful as I remember, but I'll get it typed in for you. If you take a peek on Fanlore, one of the reviewers of that con went on and on about how drunk Gareth Thomas was (who cares? I've seen Marc Strickson nearly fall off a stage), though he did give me a different perspective on the banter between Paul Darrow and Gareth Thomas.
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Gareth drank more at some cons than others. The most I ever saw him drink was shortly after his mother died.
He didn't get badly drunk at the con I ran, so I'm guessing he wasn't under a lot of stress.
The thing I remember most is his performance in the cabaret. We left it to him as to what he performed.
He sat on the edge of the stage and did Hamlet's soliloquy from memory. I have never known a full hall to be so quiet.
The speech suddenly made sense, in a way it never had before. He really was an amazing actor. I saw him on stage in Equus - the same feeling. Total focus - the audience were spellbound.
On another track - I've found my file of Linda Short singing my filk songs. I'd like to put it on YouTube for everyone else to listen to. Do you know how to convert MP3 to MP4 and add pictures?
I realise that your health may be worst then mine, so possibly not, but it's a project I know I will never actually get round to in spite of wanting to do it.
Either way, if you give me an email address, I'm happy to send you the filks to enjoy.
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I have not seen him perform, even on film, in many other things, but I have heard the praises. He will be missed in the world.
My partner is very savvy with the electronic things. We can figure something out. :)
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