Since I have an innate dislike for rankings, gradings, and those ENDLESS top 10 lists with which our media industrial military entertainment complex insists upon saturating us, I'll simply comment upon Grayson's different roles. I cherish every moment she was on the screen ... words spoken from the heart.
Dr. Julia Hoffman--the first role I saw her in as a child in 1968, and I instantly fell under her spell. Never had seen anyone like her before, and there never will be another like her again. My sister used to get annoyed by her distinctive "Julia" way of chopping up a sentence--note that that is JULIA's way of speaking, not Grayson's, because in other roles she didn't do this. I often wonder whether Grayson actually knew a woman doctor (or academic?) who spoke in this peculiar manner and based Julia's speech patterns upon her. Even as a child I loved her way of speaking; it turned even the most banal statements into little bits of poetry, to my ears. I also loved Julia's movements, a unique mixture of awkwardness and grace, that seemed to embody a rare spirit of courage, tenacity, and feistiness. I can't help thinking of Julia when Bob Costello described Grayson as "a gutsy broad" (and made it quite clear that that was also a description that came from the heart--he really doted on her).
Magda was Grayson's favorite role, and I'm often amazed by the subtle moments she weaves into the brash, extravagant, proud gestures, the fiery speeches, the deft put-downs, the peppery bits of Rom wisdom. Sam came up with the role of Magda, one fan who knew the family told me, because Grayson actually had Rom bloodlines in her heritage.
Natalie is wonderful to watch because Grayson played this kind of role onstage so much (and, incidentally, Magda may have had a bit of her 1962 role in The Buskers in her). She could have easily let Natalie's humane wit and emotionality get lost in those huge costumes, those endless bits of business with the tarot cards, beauty marks, and so on, but from start to finish, you never forget that Natalie is a woman with a fierce loyalty to her family and her own unique code of conduct.
I personally think that some of Grayson's finest acting on the series was in her scenes as housekeeper Julia Hoffman in Parallel Time 1970. What Stuart said about her performance as Carlotta is even more true of her work as Hoffman; for some reason I like Hoffman better as a character, perhaps because they were not able to excise Hoffman's essential attachment to Angelique (in the NoDS film, it is Carlotta's physical body that enables Angelique to materialize in this world, and whenever Angelique and Quentin make love, she feels their passion within her own being--these scenes were cut from the final version of NoDS).
My favorite scenes of PT Julia Collins (1841) were the very early ones at the tail end of the 1840 storyline. I loved seeing G with long hair, and I thought it would have been more interesting if she had played the Matriarch as seemed to be suggested by the fact that she was originally "MISSUS Collins." In the actual PT 1841 storyline, I liked her scenes with Kendrick (John Karlen) best because both actors seemed to be on the same page, and G got to play Julia's genuine desire to keep her niece from getting hurt.
Constance was hardly more than a walk-on, but she did have a bit of fun with it. I enjoyed seeing her in the costume and do (even if it seemed completely wrong for 1660--oh well!).
Goddess, what a screed! I did try to avoid posting to this topic ... now you see why ...
Gothick
