Partners in Rhyme
A new(ish) collaboration between myself and Hilary “Surly Hack” Barta over at Limerwrecks celebrates in five lines the versatility and depth of that actors’ actor, Dwight Iliff Frye. Here.
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shadowplay 
November 27, 2012 at 3:09 pm
It’s a good one, though I’m probably stealing credit from David on it. And there’s another one on Frye’s acting career posted on the same day, and one more scheduled for this Friday. in fact, every Friday is part of our ongoing weekly feature, “DWIGHT FRYE-DAYS”. And Frye is often covered on other days in our current riffing on the FRANKENSTEIN films and DRACULA. Get more than your fill of Frye at LimerWrecks.
November 27, 2012 at 3:22 pm
I was just filling out the above note and it struck me that it would be rhythmically and formally pleasing if Frye had an interesting middle name. And he did! “Iliff” is one I never came across before — anybody know where it derives from?
November 27, 2012 at 3:23 pm
November 27, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Renfield is ALWAYS good on screen. He’s like Goebbels in that respect: he just WORKS.
November 29, 2012 at 1:06 am
Compared to Tom Waits, Frye looks like the model of restraint in his interpretation of Renfield. I seem to remember seeing “Laugh-In ” comedian Arte Johnson as Renfield sometime in the 1970’s, but can’t remember what film it was, or if it was even ever in a film (maybe a TV show?).
November 29, 2012 at 9:29 am
Love at First Bite!
Waits has a pleasing Robert Newton quality. But the best Renfield EVER is the underrated Jack Shepherd in the 70s BBC production (Louis Jourdan as a suave Drac).
November 29, 2012 at 10:39 pm
That’s it!
Robert Newton would have been an excellent Renfield (come to think of it, Tom Waits is plausible as Bill Sykes…). But who would have played Dracula to Newton’s Renfield? Alastair Sim? He certainly had the teeth for it.
November 30, 2012 at 3:06 am
Sim would be a fun Van Helsing if we picture this is a late thirties British picture. As Dracula, you need somebody who can dominate Newton/Renfield, which for my money limits you to Conrad Veidt.
February 4, 2013 at 5:05 pm
I was innocently watching Lang’s HANGMEN ALSO DIE! over the weekend and who should pop up for one impassioned line at the 1hr 26m mark? It’s that man again: Dwight the Hostage!
February 4, 2013 at 5:25 pm
A surprise burst of Dwight is always a great pleasure.