With the passing of Alan Rickman I am compelled to call out what I consider his most compelling and successful film role. There are many, many characters that Mr. Rickman brought to life on the silver screen including, of course, the conniving kraut Hans Gruber who blew up Nakatomi Tower in a grim foreshadowing of terrorist tactics. But his greatest achievement, in my mind, was his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the horrible Kevin Costner vehicle, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It is show biz rumor that at the early test screenings of the film the audience cheered Rickman and rooted for him to kill Costner in the final sword fight - the producers had to go back to the editing room and cut out chunks of Rickman's scenes to make him less appealing and even after that butchery it's a toss up as to who to support - the tortured charismatic sheriff or the bland American interloper.
She was "sexy", but "too much hard work." I'm a regular Fox & Friends viewer (mostly in protest of the other insipid morning programs like Today and Good Morning America) so over the years I've gotten to know Gretchen Carlson pretty well. Stuck between Steve and Brian she always seemed a prudish scold with an irritating, self-righteous demeanor that I simply put up with because I figured some people in the Fox audience actually liked her persona. It was obvious that Steve and Brian did not, but they were stuck with her like so many talking heads and had to make the best of it - which they did. Besides, she was no worse than any of the other women on morning show TV - I mean, you're only going to find a certain kind of person to do this kind of work and that kind of person is the Gretchen Carlson kind. Then, one day, she was gone and replaced by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the F&F ratings began to climb, and climb and climb - in two months view
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