Paul Scofield - R.I.P.

Although he won an Oscar for A Man For All Seasons, his best screen work remains Quiz Show. As Mark van Doren, Scofield nails the distracted, cloistered college professor for, uh, all seasons. He's patrician but never smug -- his best scene is one in which he shares late-night chocolate cake and milk with son Charlie Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), in which their companionship is made very clear. Points too for a raffish exchange with a miscast but okay Rob Morrow as Richard Goodwin, years before he pledged his troth to Camelot; they discuss the origin of the Reuben sandwich ("the only entirely invented sandwich") at the restricted Harvard Club.

Scofield: Who invented it?

Morrow: Reuben K, at a poker game in Omaha.

Scofield: I knew there was a k in Nebraska.

Morrow: Unfortunately they have the sandwich here, but I don't see any Reubens.

Scofield: Touche.

The NYT's obit includes this anecdote:

He served as a director of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1968 and as an associate director of the National Theater from 1970 to 1972, but in each case he found the post unfulfiling. He became a Commander of the British Empire in 1956 and, in 2001, was named a Companion of Honor, a title only about 65 living people now hold. But, after years of politely refusing to discuss the matter, he admitted in 1996 that he had rejected the next step up the honors ladder.

“I have every respect” for people who are offered a knighthood, he said. “It’s just not an aspect of life I would want. If you want a title, what’s wrong with Mr?”