Well, today we celebrate an absolute favorite of mine! Yes, Benedict Cumberbatch turns 37 today!
My faithful readers already know that I like him and many reasons why. If you're new or have been living on a desert island and haven't heard of Mr. C or his merits, start with my post for his
birthday last year or check out
his tag on my blog. Or read my
favorite interview with him to-date (thank you, Caitlin Moran!)
But yes, there is no denying I'm rather fond of the man and his work. Even were I to try to deny it... the evidence suggests otherwise.
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| [to be fair... all but one of those was a gift!] |
Yep, I think he's pretty amazing. "Absolutely amazing! Brilliant!"
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| [Benedict at 4 days old with parents Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, July 1976] |
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| [Benedict at Star Trek premiere, May 2013] |
36 has been a busy and breakthrough year for him! The year began (literally on his birthday) with his first Emmy nomination (
Sherlock, Season 2); it ended yesterday with another Emmy nomination (
Parade's End). As far as TV goes, he had the aforementioned release of
Parade's End, a guest role on
The Simpson's, and had a bit of fun just the other week on
Top Gear. He also appeared on several late-night shows including David Letterman's, Jimmy Fallon's, and (my personal favorite)
Graham Norton's. His radio work this year included Season 4 of
Cabin Pressure as well as a star-studded production of Neil Gaiman's
Neverwhere (which will be available later this year - and Gaiman has hopes to make a film version with the same cast ;). He's been slightly too busy to pursue any serious stage-work this year. But, of course, the big event of the year was
Star Trek: Into Darkness. It served as a lot of people's introduction to him and he got rather better reviews than the film did. As a personal aside, I thought he did quite fine - but it wasn't even near his top works. However, it is just wonderful that he got into his first leading role in a blockbuster.
The past few weeks have served as a fantastic set-up for his 37th year as the final 2 trailers for his 2013 films were released. This fall, 4 films in which Cumberbatch stars will be hitting the big screen. A brief rundown:
October 18 - The Fifth Estate
Hopefully we'll also be viewing Sherlock Season 3 before the end of the year (or at least by January 2014). He did help play a little joke on the Comic-Con panel yesterday - explaining how Sherlock survived the fall:
Ah... cheeky!
As busy and successful and brilliant as he is... my wish for his 37th is actually that he'd be able to take a breather and settle down. Here's hoping he finds "the right one" - and that this would become a reality:
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| [Benedict with a friend's newborn... and one of my favorite pics of him ever!] |
I'll keep hoping for that. But in all his ventures and doings I do wish him luck and many happy returns!