Nicholas and Alexandra's Roderic Noble

[bkohatl]

Can anyone explain what happened to Roderic Noble, Alexei in

Nicholas and Alexandra. He gave one of the three brilliant performances in the movie and yet it was his only performance. How can this be possible?



But it is just as stunning that neither Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman have ever achieved the fame I thought they deserved at the time. That feeling has not been diminished by the passage of time. The gentleness and nobility communicated by these two brilliant actors has rarely been equaled and certainly never been surpassed. After I finish this, I will go to Imdb and see where they've been.



As to Roderic Noble, I am not alone in my evaluation of his acting. Almost universally praised as the perfect portrayal of the tormented, troubled life of Alexei Romanov. Dead, murdered on orders of Lenin, Trotsky and Sverdlov, the Bolshevik Triumvirate(Yekaterinberg was renamed Sverdlosk in his honor. He was the instigator of the assasination, a friend of the assasin Yurovsky, a family photographer from Yekaterinberg and murderer of Czars). History has made a joke out of Trotsky disingenuous defense of Lenin in the execution order. Trotsky was a liar, but a good one.



Reuters reported a few weeks ago that they had found the remains of Alexei Romanov and his sister Maria Romanov near where the rest of the family was buried, called the "pig meadow" several miles outside Yekaterinberg.



I remember reading Nicholas and Alexandra in 1968 right after the book came out. I was 12, but the romance and sweep of the book has colored my view of history, particularly Russian History ever since.

In college I concentrated in Ancient History and Russian History.

I think that Czar Nicholas and his wife, Alexandra, are two of the most romantic and tragic "characters" in all history.

I never minded the naivite of the movie(a log Tobolsk House for their prison, when everyone knows it was a marble mansion, the Governor's Mansion of the Province, and of considerable proportions. Siberia wasn't that rustic and it was the region's capital.

Well a few weeks ago they found the remains of Alexei and Maria Romanov(it never was Anastasia) and it got me to thinking.

A few characters struck you as being on the money and conveying the sense of history, of the times and the events as they unfolded.

Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman were magnificent as Nicholas and Alexandra. When I picture the Tsar and Tsarina, it is them as much as the photos of their real life counterparts which come to mind(much like Brian Keith's magnificent portrayal of Teddy Roosevelt in "The Wind and The Lion," which was every bit as brilliant and accurate as John Singer Sargeant famous portrait). As one Russian Website put it, Nicholas and Alexandra's value as autocrats may be debated, but not their love for each other or their love of their children. They were wonderful parents.

Which brings me to Roderic Noble who portrayed Alexei. Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia were blurred together in the film, regrettably, when they were in fact wonderfully different and captivating on their own. Olga was the smartest, with a gentle wit and perhaps the most beautiful(personal prejudice); Tatiana, the most like her mother, elegant, but always the one to count on; Maria the conventional Russian beautiful, not the smartest but the most loyal, when the Bolsheviks forced Nicholas and Alexandra to move to Yekaterinberg from Tobolsk, they wanted Maria to come with them because of her upbeat, good nature; and the famous Anastasia, tomboy clever, court jester, but like too many who provide humor, hiding a very sensitive nature. I only wish that another hour could have been added to the movie, so that the ill-fated Grand Duchesses could have been brought to life as Nicholas was by Michael Jayston, Alexandra by Janet Suzman and Alexei by Roderic Noble.

But Alexei the child who was born with Hemophilia: overprotected, yet doomed. Sings a dity:



Alexei, Alexei,

Mustn't Run, Mustn't Play,

Mustn't Jump, Mustn't Slide,

Alexei must be careful all the time.



Which is exactly what I would expect him to sing, but in Russian, of course.

Later at Tobolsk, the Bolsheviks took away an artificial snow hill that Alexei would sled down with his sisters. The Bolshevik gaurds were vicious(drawing pornagraphic drawings all of over the common latrine, many picturing the Czarina and Czar's daughters) to the family, whereas, Kerensky's had only been inconvenient. Eventually, they would even become sympathetic to the family.

But the Bolsheviks were cruel to the end.

Which brings me to Alexei having taken a sled and tried to ride down the stairs. A spoiled brat? No, this picture of the real Alexei aboard the Steamship Rus on the way to Yekaterinberg answered the question. Two months later the family would be slaughtered. They knew they were going to die.

13-year-old Alexei two weeks short of his 14th birthday; Anastasia, 17-years-old; Maria 18-years-old; Tatiana 21-years-old; and Olga 22-years-old.



Roderic Noble conveys the sense of hopelessness as well or better than any child actor who ever lived could. A kid who would blame himself and try suicide to remove the burden he had become to them. Look in Olga and Alexei's faces and you'll see that Massey's "Nicholas and Alexandra" got it right. That Roderic portayed the real Alexei, maybe you could even say channeled him.

Dr. Botkins son Gleb and daughter, Tatiana, both said that their Dad told them that Alexei had tried to kill himself. But Romanov purists won't have any of it. They are wrong.

Better than anyone could have guessed, Roderic was perfect.



My question is whatever happened to Roderic?

[TimR]

A pleasure to read your post. "Nicholas and Alexandra" was my favorite film growing up - it is still on the top of the list. It was the first historical epic that I saw in a movie theatre. I can remember coming out of the the theatre on a hot July day in a New York suburb overwhelmed and determined to read everything I could find on the subject.



I thought Roderic Noble did a fine job as well, but I do know he did not continue acting as an adult. I wish I could give you a link. I remember reading about the cast on a forum about the Russian royal family and the works of Robert K. Massie, the author of the book. Have you read the book and his other works? Also, Suzanne Massie, who was married to him at the time, is an outstanding author on Russian history and culture.



As for Suzman and Jayston, I agree with you. You are posting from the US, so perhaps you are a fellow American? I do not want to assume because I know there are many expats here.



My understanding is that Jayston went on to a successful stage career in Britain. As for Suzman, I know that she is South African and played in London on the stage. I don't think she made many films.



I read that the original stars of the film were going to be Rex Harrison and Vanessa Redgrave! However the scheduling did not work out. Redgrave would have been outstanding. Suzman did a fine job but after reading on the subject I realized that she was not the larger-than-life person needed for the role.



I kept the souvenir program from the film. It's a bit battered, but I would not like to lose it. I don't know if you are old enough to remember, but at the time in the early 70s large scale epics would be shown on what was called a "roadshow" basis. A film would play in New York (or another major city) for a year or so and then move to the suburbs for a showcase run. Programs were available at an inexpensive rate - well-designed and interesting.



The last one I can remember getting was for"Young Winston", a fine, under-rated epic film. I saw it in Manhattan with my Dad: a WWII veteran, son of a woman born in Cheltenham, England and a devoted anglophile.



That was during its road show engagement. Ah, those were the days!

[bkohatl]

I'm an Irishman in America who loves the English. It's good to know that cynicism hasn't taken over the world.



Nicholas shows that nobility has nothing to do with heredity or lineage. I can only hope that faced with similar circumstances I would act as well. World War I was the stupid war. World War II was the war to end all wars: Good against evil. Thank God good won.



I wish we Americans could make movies like Lawrence of Arabia, Nicholas and Alexandra and A Man For All Seasons. Like the fictional, Dr. Zhivago, movies which convey the story of history but give you a sense of the cataclysmic "sweep" of events.



Though criticized by some, Nicholas and Alexandra does convey the sense that real people are very much the same whatever their station in life.



Now, my apologies to Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman. I was looking through Imdb and was stunned at how much acting they have done in the last 20+ years, but almost none of which I have seen. The failing is mine, not theirs.

But I have no excuse for not knowing that Michael was on Sherlock Holmes with the wonderful and much missed Jeremy Brett. How dumb of me!

But like Edgar Allan Poe said the best place hide something/(Someone) is in plain view. Now when I rewatch the episodes it will give me special joy to know that Michael's career has been rich and fulfilling. I intend to make a point of trying to catch some of Ms. Suzman's later work. Great acting by great actors is always a pleasure.



But then I return to my original question: "Whatever happened to Roderic Noble?"

[bkohatl]

And I have one more apology to make, Tom Baker is magnificently convincing and corrupt as Rasputin. That is inexcusable. His voice alone is so velvety smooth as to be creepy and charming at the same time. In context, it convincingly gives comfort to the Empresses and yet can seduce any listener to debauchery.



I would like to add the only criticism of Nicholas and Alexandra is the portrayal of Tatania as flaunting her body to "seduce" a bolshevik guard.

First, anyone who has ever studied the royal family knows that Tatania was the most like her mother: prim and proper and most importantly, shy. That never happened. The only accusation ever leveled at the Grand Duchesses was the Maria went off with a guard to share some birthday cake on her birthday. Tatania and Olga chewed her out for fraternizing with their Bolshevik jailers.

It is made worse by what happened on the Steamboat Rus when Alexei, Tatania and Olga were being taken from Tobolsk to Yekaterinberg. Gibbes cowering with Nagorny(a real hero) and Alexei under Bolshevik guard in one room hear screams from the Grand Duchesses room. We will never know what happened. Some suspect taunts and lurid insinuations, some worse: quite possibly rape. But Olga and Tatiana carried the truth with them to their graves, because I truly believe that they wouldn't have burdened their mother and father whatever the truth was.

Olga was said to be very moody after arriving in Yekaterinberg and Tatania even quieter and more reserved than normal. So, it was totally inappropriate and wrong for sreenwriter James Goldman to include that scene. Maria stealing a moment with a guard for cake doesn't carry the emotional force of his made up scene but certainly is more factual considering the record.



But then again I am prompted to return to my original question: "Whatever happened to Roderic Noble?"

[katienoble]

Hi, im not sure if anyone still checks this post, but Im Roderic's daughter. Ive replied to similar posts about my dad but didnt see this one! Its amazing to hear all this praise about his acting! He didnt star in any more films after Nicholas and Alexandra although he did appear in an episode of The Main Chance. Im willing to answer any questions you may have about him.



Katie Noble

[darrenburnfan]

BELOW: Just arrived at my address from a specialist eBay seller in the United States, this rare and highly collectable vintage 1971 Columbia Pictures studio portrait of Roderic Noble as Alexei in Nicholas and Alexandra. It cost me quite a bit, but it was worth it. The photo is thirty-nine years old, but in superb condition. To enlarge the image, left click with mouse on white bar over top of image.