Michael Sheen: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
5 Awesome...
5. Kenneth Williams - Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! (2006)
Until recently, the general characterisation of Michael Sheen was not so much as an actor, but as a supremely talented impressionist. Many of Sheen's early notable performances had him playing real-life, very public figures in a string of biopics and fact-based dramas, meaning rarely were audiences seeing his true face. One of the most notable of those early performances was the title role in Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!, a one-off BBC Four drama where he played the infamously troubled Carry On star. And, to his enormous credit, he managed not to boil him down to the camp catchphrases that Williams himself mainly relied on in his career. Peeking behind the curtain at a life that was far from the light, fluffy, scandalous-in-a-whole-other-way comedy films he starred in, Sheen received a tidal wave of positive critical notices, with the Observer describing his starring role as a characterisation for which the description tour-de-force is, frankly, pretty faint praise.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
