Oh, poor Connie! Forgive me!

[Mary Ellen Byrne]

I am still casting you as the villain. Even in roles that come up after you are dead.

I am in the middle of an historical romance novel called "The Blackmailed Bride"

In the novel, Lady Olivia is being blackmailed into marrying the villain of the story, Baron Finley who is a genuine snake in the grass. Every character in the book hates him because of the unspeakable, infamous past he has had (the details of which we are never really told). Baron Finley has gotten hold of evidence that Lady Olivia's mother did not die years ago by an intruder as has been generally accepted in the community but, in fact, committed suicide. Knowledge of which would mean certain ruin to the family's reputation and the end of a brilliant, burgeoning political career of Lady Olivia's brother, Marcus, the Earl of Fairfax.

Hope arrives in the form of the Marcus' best friend, the dashing and mysterious Nicholas, the Marquis of Huntsford.

Can the truth be discovered and true love blossom in time to prevent Lady Olivia from walking down the aisle with Finley to spend her life trapped in a loveless marriage?

Anyhow, it's a very well written novel and I'm about 2/3 of the way through it. The only problem is each and every time Baron Finley comes on the scene, I keep picturing him played by Connie - monocle and all! Maybe it's because the character he played in "Dark Journey" was also a Baron, I don't know.

Connie, wherever in God's Kingdom you rest (with Lilli, of course!), I apologize. You poor man! You can't even die and escape being typecast! I'm so sorry!

[monica]

Connie will forgive you, Mary Ellen

I think that the best actors are in villain roles, because there they have to convey emotions and thoughts far different from them as the real person.

[monica]

Oh, and by the way, I don't think Connie was a villain in Dark Journey. He was the man who fought for his country and for the woman he loved until the end of their "dark journey". Connie himself said that the role of the Baron was interesting to him because of the double life of the character.
I would like to say an important thing, here. I observed that Connie changed not only mentally, but also physically for each of his roles. I think that in Dark Journey, for example, he looked exactly like a dangerous and mysterious aristocrat, a man with the power of decision in his hands. If you look at his face, you will observe something that might be specific to Connie's attitude in real life, but there is also something else that I haven't seen at none of the characters he played - and this without make-up!

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