Of course, the obits feature his better-known later work....but......
Reading about theatre as a kid, to me David Warner's accomplishments and reviews were the gold standard. His Hamlet was thought to be remarkable. His work in the film "Morgan" was an epitome of the mad young misunderstood hero. If you can find Sidney Lumet's film of The SeaGull, with its incandescent pairing of him and Vanessa Redgrave as Nina, you must at least fast-forward to the heartbreakingly beautiful final farewell of them. Both of them young and beautiful and brilliant.
And then, finally, I got to see him onstage as Undershaft, Major Barbara's father in the Cherry Jones revival of Shaw's play. Undershaft is the quintessential capitalist, the quintessential war-profiteer, and, as written by Shaw and vigorously played by Warner, oh so vitally, he redeems the entire Western World, its progress, and the truth about what is good about money and gunpowder. A great performance. Bravo. |
