Drawing: Annette O’Toole

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Annette O’Toole, the vivacious red-haired American actress, dancer and singer-songwriter, with English, Irish and Bohemian (Czech) ancestry. Described by entertainment website Fandango as having a, “…. teasing allure, with a girl-next-door magnetism that served her impeccably.”

Perhaps best known to a wider audience as Martha Kent in Smallville (2001), the TV series about a young Clark Kent and Superman. She was nominated for an Oscar along with her husband Michael McKean for the Original Song “A Kiss At The End Of The Rainbow, from the film A Mighty Wind in 2004.

This is an example of the patience required for collecting ‘graphs. I mailed it to Annette’s LA agent’s address in late 2008 and received it in 2012 , accompanied by a note “sorry for the delay”.

Drawing: Ralph Steadman “The Great Gonzo”

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

I’ve had the privilege of meeting the great Ralph Steadman on a number of occasions. One of the three British S’s – Gerald Scarfe and Ronald Searle being the other two – of the satirical drawing trinity. I was strongly influenced by his style and his content – exaggerated, distorted, splattered, sharp, gritty and irreverent. Indeed it was Steadman and Jethro Tull who shaped parts of me during my formative years.

On New Year’s day, 1989 I visited Ralph at his home in the village of Loose, a couple of miles south of Maidstone in Kent. Initially reluctant to have visitors, due to the previous squatters – a couple of Spaniards who camped on his front lawn for an age. I told him I was short, so I would only take up a short amount of time. Three hours later I emerged with reams of notes for my newspaper article, signed books and posters and some great photos. He generously produced some artwork for a New Zealand children’s cancer charity I was involved in.

My wife suggested that I draw Ralph and get him to sign it. I always think it’s kinda weird, sketching artists and getting them to sign your artwork, but they’re entertainers like the others, so why not?

He was attending a Q+A after the screening of his documentary For No Good Reason – narrated by Johnny Depp – at the Curzon Soho in London. Friday night, 6.30pm screening, no other collectors or dealers circling, no dramas.

It must have been a long day… nay, week for Ralph. The Curzon people were also trying to tell me to wait until after the event to ask for an autograph. When I approached him as he arrived I made small talk about previous encounters, blah blah blah. Not a good idea. Skip intros and get straight to the point. Would he sign my sketch? I showed him and he agreed. Find a flat surface.

“Sorry, I’m tired,” he warned. He could remember the day and month, but not the year, hence the correction. As a parting gesture he inked in the pupils of his eyes. How metaphorical. I shook his hand, thanked him and bid him adieu.

Now I only have to get Johnny to ‘graph it.

Drawing: Trinny and Susannah

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine are Britain’s favourite fashionistas. Their cutting comments and no-nonsense approach made them household names during the early noughties. The small screen makeover Queens ‘What Not To Wear’ ran for five seasons with UK viewing figures peaking in 2004 at 7.42million.

They visited the Westfield Shopping Centre in Albany, Auckland, New Zealand in February 2008, where they signed my black biro sketch.

Drawing: Tom Hiddleston in Coriolanus at The Donmar Warehouse

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

I remember meeting Tom Hiddleston at the UK premiere of Joanna Hogg’s Archipelago at The Vue Cinema in Leicester Square. It was in competition for the BFI London Film Festival and a twilight screening, but certainly the dawn of Tom’s career.

Sandwiched between two ‘bigger’ films that attracted large crowds, Archipelago only had a sprinkling of attendees – most of them curious tourists. Tom went unnoticed.

He was already an accomplished stage actor, with two Olivier Award nominations and in fact won one. But I recognised him from the poster and one of the PAs confirmed it “oh yes, that’s Tom Hiddleston, he’s going to be a big star one day. I’ll call him over, if you want his autograph.” So he did and Tom duly obliged. His long moniker took time, even with his speedy style!

We joked that he may have to shorten it when he becomes really famous and having to sign zillions for premiere crowds. Well, the PA was right. He is now a global superstar, thanks to roles such as Loki in Marrel’s Thor series and his signature varies wildly, depending on the moment. But I still have one perfectly formed, every letter (well almost) visible.

Fast forward to the quaint 350 seat Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden. Tom is in the title role of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, directed by Josie Rourke. Seventy performances, eight shows, a week of physically and mentally demanding play. He is bruised, battered and scarred! Critics loved him, “Tom Hiddleston has blazing stellar power… magnificent,” wrote the Independent. His fans adored him.

They gathered by their hundreds, covering both exits in a nightly vigil. Tom would come out under tight security, sign for a few and then quickly leave. I didn’t have a hope. I left a sketch at the theatre, but it was only one piece of mail among thousands for the ‘man of the moment’.

He was nominated for an Olivier Award so I managed to secure a spot at the Royal Opera House, dominated by Tom’s fans. He even signed down my side, but it was bedlam and the sketch went unnoticed in a sea of items wanting his sig, which had reduced to some quick scribble.

Plan C, Canada. I found out he was still shooting Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak at the Pinewood Studios in Toronto. I packaged up the sketch and mailed it, and set about formulating Plan D. To my surprise, it arrived in the post yesterday. Tom had also written his line from the scene (3.2.14) – “Rather say I play the man I am.”

Plan D was shelved.

Drawing: Emily Blunt

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

London born Emily Blunt returned to her home town for the early morning premiere of Edge of Tomorrow. It was the start of a very long day for the Golden Globe winner and Tom Cruise who embarked on a one day global three city premiere marathon which began at the BFI iMax, before flying to Paris and then on to New York.

Having just given birth to her baby daughter, Hazel, in February, Emily said she was used to getting minimal sleep and thought she would last the enduring schedule in better shape than Tom. So it was a fresh Emily who happily signed my sketch between rain drops before jetting off.

Drawing: Tom Cruise in Rock of Ages

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Tom Cruise and co-star Emily Blunt embarked on an epic three cities in one 24 hour premiere marathon to launch their latest film Edge of Tomorrow. London first thing, Paris in the afternoon and New York for a late night screening. That mean a real early premiere at the BRI iMax in London. Tom arrive at 6.45am, others had gathered hours earlier in the persistent precipitation. The iMax’s circular design acts more as a sieve than as a shelter, as the showers swept through. However the did serve us coffee and tea and water.

Tom plays an inexperienced soldier in a futuristic conflict who uses a time loop to help Earth battle an alien invasion. he keeps living the same day over and over again, never reaching the tomorrow of the title. The premieres echoed the films complex plot.

I drew this sketch of Tom as the fading rock god Stacee Jaxx in 2012’s Rock of Ages, a film adaption of the 2006 Chris D’Arienzo comedy Broadway musical of the same name.

His performance received unanimous critical acclaim. He spent two months in vocal training and learning the guitar, singing five hours a day.

He loved the sketch , “that’s such a great drawing”. Given his hectic schedule and tight travel arrangements ahead, the PAs were anxious to kep him moving, but he was calm as always and great with the drenched fans. He had a silver Sharpie, but was more than happy ti sing the sketch wit a black one.

:that role was so much fun… and I like that drawing,” as the minders moved him along the line, replacing my black Sharpie with the silver one, then off to Paris.

Drawing: Dana Delany

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Dana Delany won two Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Captain Colleen Murphy, a nurse with the 510th Evac Hospital during the Vietnam War in the critically acclaimed American TV series China Beach.

During it’s four seasons (1988-91), Dana was also nominated for two more Emmy’s and two Golden Globe. She was was not successful with her first audition for the role. “They thought I wasn’t pretty enough.” Dana said it in interview. So she cut her hair into a bob and successfully re-auditioned when the producer lost their first choice.

In 1991 the readers of People magazine voted her on of the 50 Most Beautiful People In the World. In April 2011 Dana was again in the magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful list. She turned down the role of Carrie Bradshaw in the hit TV show Sex and the City, which went on to make Sarah Jessica Parker a household name.

She has recently been nominated for Outstanding Lead Performance at the Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Cirtcle Awards. fo rher role in The Parisian Woman, which had its world premiere at the South Coast Rep in Orange County.

Drawing: Michelle Williams in Cabaret

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Michelle Williams made her Broadway debut as Sally Bowles opposite Alan Cumming’s depraved emcee in the revival of Kander & Ebbb’s Berlin set musical Cabaret, directed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall, at Studio 54.

Nominated for three Academy Awards, for Brokeback Mountain (2005), Blue Valentine (2010) and My Week With Marilyn (2011), she won the Golden Globe for her role as Marilyn Monroe in the latter.

Hermione Holey in her review in The Telegraph commented on Michelle’s performance: “She becomes more and more compelling as the show goes on, singing and dancing with a furious, madcap quality and by the time she delivers the title number she’s at the height of her power”

NBC simply said “Michelle Williams is brilliant in a stunning and heartbreaking portrayal.”

I sent this quick 4B pencil portrait to Michelle at the theatre and she graciously signed it with a nice comment.

Drawing: James Dreyfus in Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

James Dreyfus

French-born English actor James Dreyfus won the Best Supporting Performance in a Musical Olivier Award for his role in the National’s The Lady in the Dark in 1998. He’s best known to TV audiences for his British comedy characters, Constable Kevin Goody Ben Elton’s The Thin Blue Line, and as Kathy Burke’s gay flatmate Tom in Gimme Gimme Gimme. James has just finished a sell out run of Leonard Bernstein’s operetta Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory, playing three crazy stereotypes Dr Pangloss, Cacambo and Martin.

Drawing: Emma Thompson as Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Emma Thompson returned to musical theatre after a 30 year break to make her New York stage debut in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street to critical acclaim alongside Bryn Terfel as the serial-killing shaver. She last appeared on the boards in London in 1989 in Look Back in Anger. With her then husband Kenneth Branagh and in the musical Me and My Girl with Robert Lindsay in 1985.

For five performances she played Mrs Lovett, London’s worst pie maker in the concert production of the Sondheim’s classic, seminal musical at the Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts in the Big Apple. Backed by the New York Philharmonic Emma wowed the critics last month, one saying she, “not only held her own against more experienced vocalists, but wound up running off with the show”.

I quickly drew this minimal line drawing when I found out she would be attending the Empire Awards at the end of March, where she was nominated for Saving Mr Banks. Like the trooper she is, Emma signed for everyone, including my sketch, “Oh Sweeney,” she smiled, “I hope you win,” I said. “So do I,” she replied – and she did.