OLIVER FORD DAVIES

Oliver Ford Davies - Has done extensive theater work and was in Ivanov with Ian McDiarmid and Ralph Fiennes (Schindler's List)as well as Sense and Sensibility.

12/01/97 - OLIVER FORD DAVIES LECTURES - Tinman - Oliver Ford Davies recently held a lecture at Dartmouth College while staying at Middlebury College, Vermont. I contacted the College and was able to verify the lecture. The lecture was on Shakespeare, but Davies did mention his work on the Prequels. This comes from a student who attended the lecture:

"(Davies) compared George Lucas to Shakespeare (Davies was really impressed with him). Anyway, he said he plays a counselor to the queen who is a good guy but gives really bad advice (though it seems good at the time). He also said he worked most of July in that palace in Italy (The Caserta Palace--Ed.). Also, he got the part because his daughter loved ROTJ and had to take her many times so when he was interviewed by Lucas, he could give a him a mini-seminar on it. He couldn't tell us more for fear of the "Lucas Gestapo". He also said he had no idea what the movie or he would look like. He also doesn't know if his voice will be dubbed or if he will end up as an alien due to Lucas post-production CGI work.

"I would also like to point out that Davies is an amazing actor! He has the ability to employ both the bravado and skillful subtlety when necessary. What was also interesting was his enormous praise of Lucas. I mean he came to an Ivy Leaue campus with many stiff Shakespearean scholars and wannabe-scholars and compared Lucas to Shakespeare! Also, he said the dialogue was really good.

"Davies also said that Shakepeare's first tetralogy was apprentice-work and that he showed his mastery in the next tetralogy from Richard II on. He said Lucas will be the same way. He also said Lucas was still right on track after 20 years not directing."

6/8/97 - Responding to our plea for help, Teri V. saved the day by finding pictures of both Oliver Ford Davies and Ian McDiarmid. As it turns out, the place to look was obvious. Both McDiarmid and Davies work for the Almeida Theater in London, and they had pictures of both of them. The Davies picture is above. Thanks for helping us out, Teri!