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DEPICTIONS Throughout History of The Tudors

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Compare and contrast the Tudors over time!

Tudors over time
Over the ages, there have been thousands of renderings, enactments, and portraits of the Tudors. Use this page to compare The Tudors cast cheek-to-cheek with the various depictions created throughout time.

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Depictions of Tudor wives & mistresses
Depictions of The Tudor Family
Depictions of other Tudor nobility

Experts discuss depictions of Henry VIII in film and how appearances on the silver screen,
from Charles Laughton in 1933 to The Tudors of 2008,
tell us more about the preoccupations of each generation of film-makers
than the King himself.
[source: HistoricRoyalPalacesMay 22, 2009]

KING HENRY VIII

JRM vs Young Henry (aged 18) Portrait from the Denver Art Museum Certainly not as luscious as JRM!! (HVIII aged 45)	Real Henry aged 29 and JRM Henry on the left aged 35
1911 - Silent Movie starring Laura Cowie	1933 "The Private life of Henry VIII - Charles Laughton as Henry & Merle Oberon as Anne
1920 -"Anne Boleyn" starring Emil Jannings as Henry & Henny Portman as Anne	1977 - "Crossed Swords" Charlton Heston as Henry
1966 - "A man for all seasons" - Robert Shaw as Henry
1969 - "Anne of a Thousand Days" Richard Burton as Henry	"Anne of a Thousand days"
1970 - Keith Michell as Henry in "The Six wives of Henry VIII" Keith Michell as Henry VIII and Charlotte Rampling as Anne Boleyn (Henry VIII and his Six Wives)	1973 - Henry VIII & his Six Wives
1979 - Shakespeare's "Henry VIII" TV series starring John Stride Barbara Kellerman as Anne Boleyn & Timothy West as Cardinal Wolsey	Shakespeare's Henry VIII -- Act 1 scene IV
2003 TV series - Henry VIII Ray Winstone, Helena Bonham Carter (Anne), Emilia Fox (Jane) and Assumpta Serna (Catherine of Aragon)	Mature content - Rape scene and beheading included with original audio. Do not watch if this might upset or offend you.
2008 -The Other Boleyn Girl - Starring Eric Bana as Henry VIII	Trailer
2008- Jason Sharp a science teacher in Oldham protrays Henry VIII in a independant film " The Twisted Tale of Bloody Mary.
Cover of the Manga Shakespeare's adaptation of "Henry VIII" Illustrated by Patrick Warren, available April 2009	Sid James as Henry VIII in Carry on Henry 1971

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Depictions of Tudor wives & mistresses

Depictions of The Tudor Family

Depictions of other Tudor nobility

Tudors Fans - What are your thoughts?

JRM can resemble young Henry, but he should have kept the beard. Ray Winstone appears to resemble the Henry at about 36 to 40 ish when he pursued and eventually married Anne Boleyn. I remember the 6 Wives of Henry VIII with Keith Michelll. His physical appearance was suited to the character as was Ray Winstone; it showed Henry VIII getting old and obese.Guess they'll have to do the same with JRM. Richard Burton and Robert Shaw were great Henrys but their portrayals covered a specific time in Henry's life.

Re: A Man for all seasons - Henry's appearance is very accurate for his time, since he was not always the fat and obese man we came to know, he was once a regular man like here by the time he was engaged to Anne Boleyn.

Henry the VIII interpretation by Keith Mitchell in appearance as in acting is very accurate, however; Catherine of Aragon's clothes seem to not be put to much attention in accuracy or in elegance.Anne Boleyn's accuracy was done way better, and so was Jane Seymour's clothing.The french hood is done very well, with a lot of accuracy as it is drawn to the back and not put in the halo form as others have done in their movies.

Re: Henry VIII (1979) - The halo form french hood that Anne Boleyn is wearing is slightly incorrect, the french hood although it had a circular shape and sometimes oval, it would not be 'halo' as this hood is and it would be drown more to the back like tilted to avoid such a 'halo' effect, the hood should have been drawn or tilted to the back life Dorothy Tutin's hood in her interpretation of the same character (see left picture).

Re: Anne of a Thousand days - Genevieve Bujold makes a more believable Anne for her appearance then Natalie Dormier, but, we mostly saw her hair loose which would be highly incorrect given that Anne Boleyn as her 'prestige' as Queen would have probably worn snoods (like in the right picture) or black veil as it was custom to do with a French Hood, that she liked to wear.Overall this movie scored big with appearance for the two main characters, but sadly for other characters like it was for Mary Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon, the imagery was more done to put them in a dark context, than in accuracy.

Re: Henry VIII (2003) - The clothing for this time period would include a square neck dress, with the jewelry on neck for noble women or Queens, specially for Anne Boleyn who loved to wear the 'B' necklace, and long sleeves with "bell" effect to them, Helen Bonham Carter would have made a more believable Anne if she would have worn a veil to her hood and the hood would be drawn a little backwards and not so much in the front. Jane Seymour's hood seems more like the french style, except it would be used later one by the end of her period. The audience would also think that Henry was a wife beater as he hits Jane when she is pregnant, and people may assume this is what killed her. He also rapes Anne. Katherine Howard's execution is also inaccurate, showing her to be hysterical whilst in real life she was fairly composed.

Re: The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) - Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn, she makes a believable Anne, perhaps better then Natalie Dormier in appearance, as for the hood though, the french hood, it is drawn backwards then other examples which is good, but, the hood looks a little flat on the upper front.

Re: The Tudors - series - Catherine of Aragon - Again the popular image of the Spanish woman is that of dark hair, dark skin and dark clothing. However, the Tudors does break barriers not in her clothing style or her hair, but in putting her more white, she is really white (as real Spaniards, many of them are) and has blue eyes, which that means they are not portraying her as all dark as "Anne of A Thousand Days", or other movies have in the Hollywood media.
(DarkLadyWitch11)

The most accurate portrayal of Henry VIII I have ever seen on the screen is Keith Michell ("The Six Wives of Henry VIII") - both in appearance and general manner, it almost makes me believe in reincarnation! Also the Duke of Norfolk in the same series (portrayed by Patrick Troughton) was excellent, I think the real duke jumped out of his portrait to do that series! Dorothy Tutin is still my favourite Anne (followed by Charlotte Rampling in the movie version). The costumes were excellent too, especially the French and gable hoods, and the BBC were on a shoestring budget so this is a remarkable achievement.
As for the costuming in "The Tudors", I think it is the worst I have ever seen! Very very inaccurate and sometimes centuries out of date, I actually laughed at JRM's PVC doublet and zip flies (!), plus that ridiculous Chinese-esque headdress that Natalie wears at some point. It's actually worse than the costumes in 2003's "Henry VIII", which were also pretty wrong!
(Shadow_in_the_Sun)

Anne of A Thousand Days- Overall the costumes though, it was good costuming, excellent points in costume accuracy, Anne Boleyn interpretation was superb as we believed her to be the real one and not just other depiction, Genevive excelled herself in this performance, Richard Burton as Henry VIII is one of his biggest life-breaking performances in all his life, this of all his career won the price as he really looked and acted as Henry VIII. (DarkLadyWitch11)
Henry VIII - the casting directors of Henry VIII (2003) really got it right with Ray Winstone in the title role; as another poster said about the Patrick Troughton as the Duke of Norfolk in another production, Ray Winstone could have jumped out of one of Henry's portraits. He has definitely got the resemblance and the understated (in his younger years) bullying manner of behaving. I liked Robert Shaw as Henry for different reasons. Whatever it was about Henry that attracted women (aside from his being King) has always escaped me. Shaw's Henry had a slightly dangerous look in his eye and a brash, boyish charm that I would have found attractive, and the real younger Henry may have had. I also feel that Steven Waddingtom should get a chance at interpreting Henry in some future movie or series. I think he could do it well, and he certainly has the physical presence.

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highlandgirl

how do YOU see Henry VIII (page: 1 2 3)

Oct 16 2009, 2:30 PM EDT by Bluevanillalady

Thread started: Jan 9 2008, 2:18 AM EST Watch

As time has gone by, Henry 8 has been largely (pardon the pun) misrepresented to show the bloated, ill, ale-swilling older fellow he was preceding his death. However, when digging deeper in recorded history, Henry - as represented here - was a calculating and brilliant young lion. Much of his behaviors and actions that seem so close to madness when seen through the eyes of our century, actually were not that off-base when taken in the context of what life was like during the period in which he lived, not to mention the experiences he had as a child and young man growing up in an environment that most certainly had affected him psychologically. I like how JRM and the writers of the Tudors have chosen to depict Henry. Though I know even this is not completely accurate, as no modern representation can be, I like that someone is looking at a different Henry than the one we've unfortunately come to know. I once played one of the wives of Henry VIII in a play, and took the opportunity to study up on the period and the royal family of that era. I choose to view Henry differently than he is usually portrayed, more in line with some of what the writers of The Tudors are doing. How do you see the real Henry VIII?

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RE: how do YOU see Henry VIII
By: Bluevanillalady, Oct 16 2009, 2:30 PM EDT

It is nice to see people defending him. Granted he was a tyrant in his own right but given the time, circumstances etc...no one can say they would have done better. The depression, suspicion and illness had to have contributed in his later years to his short temper. I know if I am not feeling well I can be grumpy I can't imagine having a festering wound on my leg for several years with the only hope in sight for relief to be death. Henry being the vain man that he was not to mention the catch of the country it had to have been a huge blow to him personally to be "repulsive" to women and the court in general. It was forbidden to discuss think or breath a word of the monarchy's mortality and for Henry he had to have known the severity of the wound he had. He was an attractive athletic and intelligent man in his day this was his identity and he lost it. Anyone would have emotional problems. He was severe however he had alot of people around him that he couldn't trust or didn't know who to trust. He wasn't stupid he was aware that people used him for their own personal gain. Now put that lack of trust of even your closest friends along with the pain and illness he had with his leg. That would be alot for anyone. I think Henry was very clearly a product of his time. As for treating his children badly...really he didn't treat them any worse than anyone else of their time. Other than denying money occasionaly the children all in all were well taken care of and other than Mary much of Elizabeths life I beleive she was in contact with her father. He obviously cared for all his children very deeply. He could have very easily left Elizabeth and Mary out of the succession and chose not to. I like Henry and I LOVE JRM as Henry. He is amazing. As for the fat suit...please that would have made the show horrible and hokey. The decision for JRM to look the way he did in the series was the directors choice not his.

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jmccoy2272

Ray Winstone

Jun 9 2009, 6:39 AM EDT by mistressbibi

Thread started: Jun 6 2009, 7:32 PM EDT Watch

I think he looks the part. When I think of Henry 8 I think of him!!!

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MARQUESSOFPEMBROKE

HENRY VIII

Feb 25 2009, 10:18 AM EST by MARQUESSOFPEMBROKE

Thread started: Feb 21 2009, 12:53 PM EST Watch

I disagree that JRM makes a [great] HVIII. Keith Michell was the ultimate HENRY!! Richard Burton second!
JRM might be a [great actor] but not as HVIII. I wish someone, someday would do the story of HVIII and his 6 wives the true historical way............NOT the HOLLYWOOD way!!
For once get it right! Get the facts right because people think that what is on the TUDORS is the TRUTH!

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DEPICTIONS Throughout History of The Tudors

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Experts discuss depictions of Henry VIII in film and how appearances on the silver screen,from Charles Laughton in 1933 to The Tudors of 2008,tell us more about the preoccupations of each generation of film-makers than the King himself. [source: HistoricRoyalPalacesMay 22, 2009]

KING HENRY VIII

Tudors Fans - What are your thoughts?

Threads for this page

Related Content

**Click EasyEdit to update this page!**

(Don't see the EasyEdit button above? Sign in or Sign up.)

Experts discuss depictions of Henry VIII in film and how appearances on the silver screen,
from Charles Laughton in 1933 to The Tudors of 2008,
tell us more about the preoccupations of each generation of film-makers
than the King himself.
[source: HistoricRoyalPalacesMay 22, 2009]