Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The Strangest Baseball Team in History-Part Two

Team Name:

The Globe Trotters (a reference to the Globe Theater of Shakespeare)

alternate names: 

The Stratfords

Glen's Men
(this was a double entendre.  On one level it was a reference to Glen Byam Shaw, the manager of the company.  Glen's Men as a team name recalls the King's Men of Shakespeare's day.  As Shaw was fairly openly gay I assume it was also a bit of a play on that fact.  Several actors in the company were rumored to be "switch hitters")

If you are coming in late, the full story of baseball as played by the 1959 Royal Shakespeare Company can be found HERE



The Team

Roy Dotrice.  Knighted:  Yes, OBE.  Oscars:  No.  IMDB link:  Dotrice
Recent work: Game of Thrones


Albert Finney.  Knighted:  No, they offered and he declined.  Oscars:  Five nominations, no wins.
IMDB link:  Finney  Recent work:  Skyfall.


Paul Robeson.  Knighted:  Of course not, he is American.  Oscars: No.  Does have a star in the Walk of   Fame.  IMDB link:  Robeson  Recent work:  deceased, but widely remembered for his social activism and the blacklisting that ensued.


Sam Wannamaker.  Knighted:  No, another blacklisted American.  Oscars:  No.
Recent work:  died in 1993.  Shown above hamming a bit in Private Benjamin.


Laurence Olivier.  Knighted:  Oh, yeah.  Knight Batchelor, Life Peer, and the first actor to ever be named a Baron.  Oscars: Three.  IMDB:  Olivier  Shown above not hamming but as Hamlet.


Peter O'Toole.  Knighted:  Oddly no, said to have declined for political reasons.  Oscars:  8 nominations, no wins unless you count an honorary one.  IMDB:  O'Toole


Ian Holm.  Knighted:  yes.  CBE.  Oscars:  no, one nomination.  IMDB:  Holm.  Special note:  As Bilbo Baggins and the notorious android "Ash" Mr Holm appears in two of my top ten all time favorite movies.  Who needs an Oscar.


Julian Glover.  Knighted:  No.  Oscars:  No.  Familiar to Star Wars nerds:  Yes.  IMDB:  Glover

Oh, lets not leave out some non-players of note:


Charles Laughton.  Knighted:  No, becoming an American citizen in 1950 probably hurt his chances.  Oscars: Best Actor 1933.  Two other nominations.  How he failed to win in 1936 with the definitive Captain Bligh defies logic. IMDB: Laughton


Elsa Lanchester,   Knighted: no. Oscars: a couple of nominations.  Married to Charles Laughton.  Her iconic role portrayed on her fan card!


Dianna Rigg.  Knighted:  Yes.  She is a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.  Oscars:  no.  Iconic role:  Emma Peel from the original Avengers!  IMDB  Rigg

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For my UK audience.  Yes, I understand that technically The Order of the British Empire has five separate rank levels.  The lower three, MBE, OBE, and CBE do not actually qualify for knighthood.  So if you want to be stinky about it, Dianna Rigg, and Baron Olivier were knighted.  Holm and Dotrice were made members of an order of chivalry.  We OK on this?  I could have just plead Colonial dumb you know....

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