Laurence Olivier’s Richard was bad enough with his false nose and dragging leg.
Talkst thou to me of dragging legs? Off with her head!
Rest in peace.
Posted on 02/23/2007 6:19:36 PM PST by dighton
Dorothy Mitchell, who died on February 3 aged 80, founded the Society of Friends of King Richard III, a group dedicated to challenging Tudor propaganda about the unfortunate monarch and celebrating his life and works.
Based in York, of which Richard was patron, the society, founded in 1978, holds meetings, publishes booklets and a quarterly magazine, organises lectures and tours, and promotes exhibitions, fairs, and medieval feasts. Among its achievements, it has promoted an annual mass for Richard in York Minster and raised money for a commemorative window, unveiled in 1997, to mark the 545th anniversary of Richard’s birth.
Dorothy Mitchell herself helped to raise funds towards the rebuilding of the Minster after it was devastated by fire in 1984, and also towards the rebuilding of Sheriff Hutton Village Hall; the nearby castle had been a residence of Richard’s and, at one time, the seat of the Council of the North. Her knowledge of the history of York was exhaustive.
When, in 1995, Sir Ian McKellen announced plans to make a film version of Shakespeare’s play in which he would be portraying the king as a fascist tyrant, Dorothy Mitchell immediately took up the cudgels on Richard’s behalf. The plan, she complained, was not only historically inaccurate, but downright rude: “I think it’s pathetic,” she declared. “There’s no need for it. Laurence Olivier’s Richard was bad enough with his false nose and dragging leg. I wish they would make a film based on the truth.”
Richard, she maintained was “a very fair man. He had to be tough because they were tough times 500 years ago. But he certainly wasn’t waiting in the wings to jump on to the throne. He was well liked [in York] and nobody pulls the wool over the eyes of a Yorkshireman.”
The daughter of a railwayman, Dorothy Ward was born in York on October 22 1926 and educated at Park Grove School. After leaving school, she worked as a fashion model and later as catering manageress at Betty’s Café tea rooms in St Helen’s Square, York. Later she became a teacher of modelling and deportment, then drama and elocution.
An elegant woman, always immaculately dressed, Dorothy Mitchell served for some 30 years as a steward at the Minster every Sunday, and she continued to teach until two weeks before her death.
Her marriage was dissolved and she is survived by a son and a daughter.
Laurence Olivier’s Richard was bad enough with his false nose and dragging leg.
Talkst thou to me of dragging legs? Off with her head!
Rest in peace.
"Her marriage was dissolved and she is survived by a son and a daughter."
Must've been married to a Tudor...
Richard III by an unknown artist.
Upon the death of Richard III, the eventual heirs were the Tudors. That was the culmination of the War of the Roses, in which the York forces wore the white rose, which York claims as its symbol to this day. Shakespeare, of course, was writing for the Tudors, so he wasn't about to make Richard III a hero.
Dorothy Mitchell has done history a great service. I would invite you to consider that unless we stand up for him, it is quite likely that future generations will be taught that George W. Bush was our nation's Richard III. The left currently holds both publishing and academe.
By the way, the Tudors had custody of the two little princes.
Count me among those who consider Richard III to be England's last legitimate monarch. The Stuarts? Nah.
ping
RIP.
Not according to Muslims.
Nazis give me the winds something fierce.
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