Sir John Gielgud on Working With Marlon Brando | The Dick Cavett Show

Sir John Gielgud discusses working alongside Marlon Brando in the 1953 adaptation of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Date aired - April 28th 1971 - John Gielgud



Dick Cavett has been nominated for eleven Emmy awards (the most recent in 2012 for the HBO special, Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again), and won three. Spanning five decades, Dick Cavett’s television career has defined excellence in the interview format. He started at ABC in 1968, and also enjoyed success on PBS, USA, and CNBC.

His most recent television successes were the September 2014 PBS special, Dick Cavett’s Watergate, followed April 2015 by Dick Cavett’s Vietnam. He has appeared in movies, tv specials, tv commercials, and several Broadway plays. He starred in an off-Broadway production ofHellman v. McCarthy in 2014 and reprised the role at Theatre 40 in LA February 2015.

Cavett has published four books beginning with Cavett (1974) and Eye on Cavett (1983), co-authored with Christopher Porterfield. His two recent books -- Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets (2010) and Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic moments, and Assorted Hijinks(October 2014) are both collections of his online opinion column, written for The New York Times since 2007. Additionally, he has written for The New Yorker, TV Guide, Vanity Fair, and elsewhere.

#thedickcavettshow #JohnGielgud #MarlonBrando #JuliusCaesar

[kalsolarUK]

Dick Cavett truly mastered the art of letting the guests actually speak. Wonderful stuff.

[SIBliss]

Can you imagine Marlon Brando as Hamlet directed by Gielgud? It would have been extraordinary.

[gregcruse]

These uploads are absolute gold. Sadly we can see how diminshed discourse has become these past 50 years.Thank heavens we have access to these gems

[Wills_Duffy]

Sir John takes every micro second of conversational time and runs more per second of mile per thought than the fools on the chat shows today bunched together in one year.

[astolatpere]

That exchange showcases more intelligence than the past 10 years of talk shows combined.

[alext]

Gielgud had an incredible grasp on the english language. I'm in awe at his discourse ability coming across as poised and eloquent, yet humble.

Then again, he is the greatest actor of all time.

[ashcross]

Literally more eloquence and more insight into Brando's youthful psychology in under three minutes than you would find in an equivalent hour-long documentary or some other modern interview, most of which pale against Gielgud in full flow. Oh god, how trivial we have become!

[lonestar]

_"He was so majestic, I'm sure John was born with a crown on his head."_ -Laurence Olivier.
_"From the neck up... he's the greatest actor of all time."_ -Kenneth Tynan.
_"Whenever John speaks the verse, I can hear Shakespeare thinking."_ -Lee Strasburg.
I doubt any actor in history, has been praised more than Sir John Gielgud.

[drjohnson]

Geez, it seems like every segment from the Dick Cavett Show is a national treasure. Great talents with interesting things to say. As to Sir John, what a gracious gentlemen he was toward Marlon Brando.

[jenlambie]

What a charming, urbane, amazingly talented man - Sir John Gielgud RIP

[geenadasilva]

Sir John Gielgud was a magnificent actor and a deeply decent man. His gleeful, mischievous wit and quite simply the most beautiful speaking voice i’ve ever heard made him truly unique.
i was in the same audience as him and his long term partner to see Peter Brook’s adaptation of The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat at the National Theatre in London. i was genuinely starstruck. i think his performance of Prospero’s speech “Ye Elves of Hills...” is the greatest piece of shakespearean verse speaking i’ve ever heard. it’s from Prospero’s Books

[alanscott]

The film version of Julius Caesar with Brando and Gielgud is magnificent.

[dstatton]

I remember seeing Gielgud reciting a poem (also probably on Cavett). He began to weep at the beauty of it, but his voice never wavered. A real pro. The great British actors of that era (Guinness, Olivier, Richardson) always found time for the stage between films.

[rogerparis]

What a depth of words and understanding he possesses and all with that beautiful voice.

[indieshack]

What a wonderful clip - Gielgud is in top form, really great interviewee aided by one of the best, most thoughtful interviewers in the business (Cavett) who who poses a question then actually let's the interviewee speak without butting in!

[MartinT]

I'm from England so we didn't get the Dick Cavett show over here but absolutely every snippet I get recommended by You Tube is absolutely fantastic. A true living time capsule that encaptures its unique time in history.
I don't know why he's not better known over here but he had a great show and interview technique.

[LPMAN]

RIP and long live Sir John Gielgud (April 14, 1904 – May 21, 2000), aged 96
And
RIP and long live Marlon Brando (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004), aged 80
You both will always be remembered as legends.

[mccloysong]

For such a serious, dramatic actor, I'm so glad he could lighten up to do "Arthur" with Dudley Moore. No one could have done it better.

[Barimainlylow]

I was fortunate enough to see Gielgud perform in London in the late 1980's and what struck me about him other than his wonderful acting was his voice. I was in the cheap seats with an actor friend as far from the stage as you could possibly get but we heard his voice perfectly and every nuance and detail. Amazing

[nanosecondtomidnight]

This man knows what he is talking about.