Drawing: Barbara Feldon as Agent 9

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

barabara feldon 99

“They wanted to call her ‘Agent 100′, but ’99’ seemed like a girls number,” said American character actress Barbara Feldon about her famous role as the smart sidekick to ‘Agent 86’, ironically called Maxwell Smart played by Don Adams in the hit 60’s TV comedy Get Smart. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, it was a parody on the James Bond films and the Cold War politics of the time. Barbara’s character spent most of the show’s episodes trying to stop the dimwitted Smart from doing something stupid. Twice nominated for an Emmy, Barbara’s intelligent portrayal of ‘99′, always having the right answer, went against the trend in that era.…and is why I naturally had a boyhood crush on her.

I was watching a rerun of Get Smart a while back, deciding to draw this sketch and send it to Barbara at her apartment in the Upper East Side of Manhatten in New York. In next to no time it arrived back signed and dedicated, a great memento to add to my nostalgia.

Drawing: Marvin Chomsky

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Marvin Chomsky

8.8.88 is a special date. It doesn’t happen often.It a was quite a special day, when I spent it on the set of Brotherhood of the Rose at the Larnarch’s Castle in the southern port town of Dunedin in New Zealand.It was special in so many ways not the least of being able to watch the great american director and three-time Emmy winner, Marvin J.Chomsky at the helm. The film featured the legendary Robert Mitchum, Peter Strauss, David Morse and Connie Sellecca-all great company, but it was Mr Chomsky and his signature cigar that became the subject of this quick-fire on-the -spot caricature, which he loved and signed.

Drawing: Toni Collette

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

toni collette

This is a surrogate sketch for the one I really wanted Toni Collette to sign. I had originally drawn her in her role as Jennifer when she returned to Broadway, after a 14 year absence last spring in Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses. I knew Toni was an accomplished Australian actress, nominated for every award imaginable (and winner of a few), but only just found out she’s an equally accomplished musician and lead singer in the band The Finish. Unfortunately in my usual haste, my antiquated filing and protection system in my even more antiquated bag assigned the original sketch to a piece of amateur origami…similar to the Royal Mail sometimes when delivering returned goodies through my small mail slot. ( and strangely as I type this the art of postal paper-folding has just been practiced through the said slot). Suffice to say it was not in a fit state for sig-nifying. The suggogate was quickly sketched in time to catch Toni at the Miss You Already Premiere in London last week,where she not only signed, but dedicated it for me.Second sketch, first-rate star!

Drawing: Drew Barrymore

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

drew barrymore

And now for a bit of functional grammar. I apologise in advance, but I just had to state the obvious. ‘Drew’ is the simple past tense of ‘draw’. It’s also a noun and a verb.I have connected both. I drew Drew-a short sentence that contains a subject and a doing word. Drew Barrymore was the noun and I did the verb thing. Drew also drew her autograph on my drawing which I drew of Drew. In drawing the line is a key element-the agent of direction, I’ve heard it called. Drew comes from a long and distinguished line of Hollywood stage and screen illuminati, from Lionel, Ethel,John. John again, this time Jr to Drew and beyond. That’s a lot of DNA to draw on, starting with her breakthrough BAFTA-nominated role as Gertie in Steven Spielberg’s ET: The Extra-Terrestial to her most recent film Miss You Already, which had it’s Premiere in London this month. She also writes, directs and produces-it’s in the blood. Along the way she’s picked up her fair share of recognition, including the Golden Globe and SAG Awards for playing ‘Little Edie’ in the TV movie Grey Garden in 2009.

I drew this drawing based on a younger Drew, which I felt was more representational of her well-known facial features. When you see her in the flesh at the Prem, she still has those features. She said “Oh” and smiled then signed. Some collectors were not happy with her ‘scribble signature’, preferring a fuller name, but I like the distinctive shape. It’s a quick, simple, initialisation, forming a decorative ‘heart’ monogram. Drew can certainly draw!

Drawing: Liv Ullmann on Broadway

Posted on September 19, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Liv Ullmann

“Liv Ullmann is seventy five and flourishing” wrote David Thomson in his interview intro for The New Republic with the Norwegian actress, now celebrated director, discussing her latest project, a film adaption of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie with Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell, which premiered at last year’s Toronto Film Festival.

“She’s not the oldest director with a film screening in the Festival, but she is the best preserved, the most dignified, an icon with clout” said Catherine Shoard in The Guardian.

Liv began her career as a stage actress in Norway during the mid 1950s before becoming the ‘leading lady of Scandi cinema, former muse and partner of Swedish screen supremo Ingmar Bergman, appearing in ten of his most admired films, including The Emigrants and Face to Face, for which she was Oscar nominated.

Bergman’s films with inspirational cinematographer Sven Nykvist are amongst my favourite, especially Cries and Whispers, featuring Liv. She made her Broadway debut in 1975’s production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, followed by Anna Christie, Ghosts and I Remember Mama during the rest of the decade.

Renowned for her expressive face, ideal for drawing, especially in the theatre, I did this montage of Liv from I Remember Mama and Anna Christie with John Lithgow.

Liv was in London this month to do a Q&A after a screening of Miss Julie at the Mayfair Curzon and I really wanted to meet her in person to sign the sketch, but was unable to. I dropped it off to her London agent in a hope she might still be in town. It arrived back in the mail yesterday, from the US, a welcomed and well travelled work of art.

Drawing: Sarah Miles

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

sarah miles

I had always been meaning to draw British actress Sarah Miles. Probably for the past twenty years, maybe longer, but kept putting it off. Then, two weeks ago when I was reading an article on one of my favourite directors, David Lean, I decided to do it! Known for towering cinematic achievements such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago, it is his much-maligned and critically savaged Ryan’s Daughter that remains my favourite. I first saw it at my hometown cinema, having just crossed into purity and instantly fell in love with Sarah, who played Rosy Ryan, the film’s titular character. Because of the critical reception, Lean stopped making films for years afterwards, even though it was nominated for four Academy Awards, including one for Sarah. This part of the article was accompanied by a pic of her as Rosy, which prompted me to take the 4B and start sketching as my mind meandered down memory lane. I had always wanted to see Sarah on stage. She played Ann Kron in Well at London’s Trafalgar Studios in late 2008, transferring to the Apollo and ending four days before I arrived in the UK. Bummer. I added a quick rendering of her from the play to complete the screen and stage composition before placing it in the capable hands of the Royal Mail. Less than a week later, it arrived back, signed and dedicated with a note saying I had captured her perfectly and requesting one for her scrapbook.

Drawing: Nicole Kidman in Photograph 51

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman returned to the West End after seventeen years absence in Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51 at the Noel Coward Theatre on Saturday night. Directed by Michael Grandage, it revolves around the story of molecular biologist Roselind Franklin and one of the twentieth century’s greatest achievements, the discovery of the DNA double helix or what scientists called ‘the secret of life.’ Central to the narrative is ‘Photo 51’, the name given to an x-ray image taken by one of Franklin’s researchers at King’s College in London, which revealed the double helix shape of deoxyribonucleic acid, a crucial starting point for research by Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins who identified how DNA was structured. All three men received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1962, four years after Franklin’s death of overian cancer at the age of 37. Debate about the amount of credit due to her still exists, but in his memoirs, Watson stated that ‘Photo 51’ provided the vital clue to the double helix. Many believe she should have been posthumously honoured by the Nobel Committee.

After receiving a standing ovation at the conclusion of Saturday night’s opening performance, Nicole graciously meet the huge throng waiting at the stage door barriers and did her best to sign and pose for more than 51 photographs as possible. Nicole’s signature probably has 51 plus variations. The common denominator is the downstroke of the first capital ‘N’ with a curl at it’s base, the rest can resemble multiple helixes, where sometimes you can make out a her name in various calligraphic contortions or a flourished line, as I got on this sketch. A glance around others who managed to get her graph confirmed this. Not one of them, apart from the said “N” looked the same. I guess you could say that everyone is truly original. Given the situation and the fact that she was only signing show material, I was pleased with the result.

Drawing: Ellie Bamber

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

ellie bamber

Eighteen year-old Ellie Bamber is amongst the latest group of rising stars in the British stage and screen scene. Her angelic face came in handy for her latest theatre role as the 14 year-old Dinah Lord in Maria Friedman’s ‘effervescent’ revival of Cole Porter’s High Society at The Old Vic. Promoting her role, which she was attracted to because it was “quite cheeky and good fun,” Ellie appeared in a number of print media publications, one of which I was flicking through on the tube. A photo accompanied it, which I thought would be cool to draw…so i did, then dropped it into the theatre for her to sign…which she did.

Drawing: Barbara Windsor

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

barbara windsor 2

She may be only four foot ten and a half inches tall, but she’s a towering giant when it comes to her fans. The diminuitive Barbara Windsor makes time for everyone, signing, posing and conversing…lots of conversing and ‘carrying on’. Appropriately she played the first female God in the musical Spamalot during it’s Summer Season of Charity Celebrity Gods at London’s Playhouse Theatre in 2013. Her height, or lack of it was one of the reasons she accepted the role, saying,”this would be the first and only time people would look up to me.” Since starting her stage and screen career in the early 1950’s, she has scaled the heights with nominations for a BAFTA for Sparrers Can’t Sing (1963) and a Tony in 1964 for Oh,What A Lovely War!

Barbara was at the British Film Institute a couple of weeks ago, so I quickly did this sketch based on her typical pose in the nine Carry On films she starred in during the sixties and seventies as the ‘good-time girl’. I think this one may have been from either Carry On Doctor or Carry On Doctor Again.To digress, she has an honorary doctorate from the University of East London. Anyway, Barbs took the time to meet and greet the large crowd gathered to see her. When she saw this sketch, she commented, ‘We had such fun making those films” and wrote a great dedication in exemplary handwriting, before carrying on to the next person.

Drawing: Gillian Anderson in A Streetcar Named Desire

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

gillian anderson

The 2014 summer production of Tennessee Williams’ 1948 Pulitzer Prize winning drama A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at London’s Young Vic Theatre became the fastest-selling show in the venue’s history with the run extended due to demand.

Gillian Anderson gained critical acclaim for her performance as Blanche DuBois, winning the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress and her second Olivier award nomination. Directed by Benedict Andrews, the production also featured Ben Foster and Vanessa Kirby. The theatre collaborated for the first time with the National Theatre Live to broadcast the show live to over 1100 venues on 16 September 2014. It will also transfer to St. Ann’s Warehouse in New York next year.

I met Gillian at the Young Vic where she signed a sketch I did of her in the role of Nora from THE DOLL’S HOUSE, which collected her first Olivier nom. I left this sketch of the three STREETCAR leads at the theatre, hoping they would sign it. Time passed and nothing returned, so I forgot about it. Vanessa signed an individual drawing for me. The dealers harassed Ben and tended to avoid graphing, so I didn’t bother him. Then, last week, this arrived in the mail, signed by Gillian. It’s one of the many surprises of this game. The longest time an item has taken to come back was three years, so don’t give up hope…or change your address.