Jonathan Pryce

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 1990

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is actor Jonathan Pryce. Since the early 1970s, he has taken on many guises and received many plaudits. He was called the new Brando when he appeared on Broadway, and his Shakespearian roles - Hamlet and Macbeth - elicited comparisons with the late Lord Olivier. Most recently, he has diversified from classical roles, feature films and television plays to take a new path with an all-singing, award-winning performance in the West End's biggest hit of the year - Miss Saigon. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his accidental entry into the acting world and the pitfalls and pleasures of his profession.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Cello Quintet In C by Franz Schubert Book: Short Stories by Bernard MacLaverty Luxury: Endless supply of rum punch

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Krestey Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.
0:05.0	For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.
0:08.0	The program was originally broadcast in 1990, and the presenter was Sue Lawley. My castaway this week is an actor.
0:29.0	My castaway this week is an actor.
0:31.0	Since the early 70s he's been entertaining us in a wide variety of
0:34.4	parts he was called the new brando when he appeared on Broadway, received great
0:38.9	acclaim for his hamlet at the Royal Court and was thought controversial as Macbeth at Stratford.
0:44.7	It all represents considerable success for a man who became an actor by chance and who's not
0:50.2	only played many classical roles but starred in television plays and feature films as well.
0:56.0	He's lately given us and possibly himself another surprise by taking on an all-singing
1:01.0	role in the West End's biggest musical hit of the year.
1:04.4	What's more he's won an award for it.
1:06.0	It is called Miss Saigon.
1:08.0	He is Jonathan Price.
1:10.6	How amazed are you, Jonathan, to find yourself the award-winning star of a musical?
1:15.0	I mean does the idea still give you a thrill?
1:17.0	I suppose it would sound terribly modest of me if I said that I'm not surprised, but I'm not
1:22.0	and I don't see it as different from what I normally do in any acting role
1:26.7	except just this time I happen to be singing it. But had you ever
1:31.6	before starring in Miss Saigon had you ever stood up in public professionally and sung a song not as part of an acting role but just stood up in front of an audience and belted it out.
1:42.0	A few years ago, George Martin put together a tribute to the Beatles with the London Symphony Orchestra and the John Danforth Trio.
1:50.0	And this was to be performed at the Barbican in front of a couple of thousand people and
	...

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