In Praise of Louis Edmonds!

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Hey gang,

As a young kid back in the sixties, I always enjoyed watching Louis Edmonds as the "slightly" haughty and supercilious Roger Collins (in addition to his other memorable characters on DS).

And when Mr. Edmonds was portraying Roger, Joshua, Edward, Amadeus (?), and, I believe, Brutus Collins, there was always something that Mr. Edmonds did (or more to the point) did NOT do; he never wore a toupee on his head.  I can't say this is definitely true, but Mr. Edmonds, going sans the toupee, might very well have had the philosophy of: "When you've got it, worry about it.  When you lose it, forget it!"

I get the impression that Mr. Edmonds could not be bothered, wearing some God-awful rug on the top of his head. (Although, it's rather obvious which fellow male DS co-stars of Mr. Edmonds' DID wear a Cy Sperling "special" for their roles. But, no names, please!)

So, now as an aging, greying and somewhat folliclely-challenged DS fan myself, I praise Mr. Edmonds for his apparent hip and blithely insouciant attitude about his thinning locks, circa 1966 to 1971.

Bob

PS It was a hoot, nonetheless, to see the, by then, completely bald Mr. Edmonds, sporting a William Shatner-like toupee on the ABC soap, All My Children, in his memorable role of Langley Wallingford!

[Gerard]

It's like Patrick Stewart, Bob, on Star Trek - The Next Generation.  Some futurists hypothesized that a cure for the hair-challenged would've been discovered centuries before.  He responded that people in the 24th century would no longer care about how people (whether Terran or other-worldly) looked.

Gerard

[michael c]

the original premise of the character was weaselly, shiftless, effete. a liar and a coward who hid behind his sister's skirts.

Edmond's physicality worked with that ideally. and contrasted perfectly to Mitch Ryan's leading man ruggedness (and full head of hair).

over time of course the character developed differently and became the somewhat pompous but beloved figure most viewers remember and those physical attributes played again perfectly to the ascots and brandy decanters so well associated with Roger.

[Bob_the_Bartender]

It's like Patrick Stewart, Bob, on Star Trek - The Next Generation.  Some futurists hypothesized that a cure for the hair-challenged would've been discovered centuries before.  He responded that people in the 24th century would no longer care about how people (whether Terran or other-worldly) looked.

Gerard,

Yeah, I think that Jay Leno once commented that he thought it was strange no cure for male pattern baldness had been discovered by the time of Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, etc., in the future.

And, on a Top Ten List of Things from the New Star Trek Film, David Letterman once quipped:

"Captain Kirk, there's a horrible alien creature on the top of your head! Oh no, it's only your toupee."  

Ironically, I recall a scene on DS, where Marie Wallace as Jenny Collins whacked Grayson Hall as Magda Racosi over her head with a heavy book, and as she's falling down, Ms. Hall had to keep her hand firmly on her enormous black wig to keep it from falling off of her.  Now, that's acting!

[Uncle Roger]

The first day script contains a description of Roger that compares the character to George Sanders. Very accurate comparison.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

brandy decanters so well associated with Roger.

Brandy is associated with Roger? Hmmm - I don't think I've ever noticed that...

   How could we miss it? I've never counted, but I bet in close to if not more than half of Roger's scenes, he has a brandy in his hand! One of these days we should start a running tally like we once did with every RD character touching his hair!! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The first day script contains a description of Roger that compares the character to George Sanders. Very accurate comparison.

Indeed!

[Uncle Roger]

While some of his DS characters could be dour and humorous, Mr. Edmonds was just the opposite in real life. Nancy Barrett has said that she and Alexandra had troubles stiffling giggles about something that Louis had said just before they went on  camera. Perhaps that was to be expected from someone who liked to garden in the nude. And Louis lived next to a church.