From Dick Winters to Steve McQueen: The “American” Damian Lewis

“This sounds absurdly pretentious, but the American Damian, I’m sort of oddly comfortable with him.” – Damian Lewis

A Guardian article from July 2015 talks about Brits versus Yanks in Hollywood:

The invasion of British and Irish leading men in Hollywood has now gone beyond a joke for many in the American entertainment industry. First noticed some time in 2011, the trend was initially dismissed as a novelty: an interesting phase that would pass, rather than as a threat. But this summer actors and directors are calling for action to mobilise American drama teachers and schools to counter it.”

So Hollywood has finally taken notice and is now somehow mobilizing to defend its territory against the British invasion šŸ˜€ Well, maybe it is too little too late at this point? I mean, it is not that the Brits are coming, but they have already arrived. Besides, Vanity Fair says “victory is assured” in the video clip below, with fabulous ginger alert at 0:29, about which I blogged about earlier here! Continue reading “From Dick Winters to Steve McQueen: The “American” Damian Lewis”

Throwback Thursday to D-Day’s 70th
Anniversary on Utah Beach: In Memory of Jim “Pee Wee” Martin

When Damian attended the ceremonies for the 70th Anniversary of D-Day on Utah Beach back in 2014, he met the WWII veteran Jim “Pee Wee” Martin. A member of the 101st Airborne Division, Martin got his nickname because he was the lightest man in his regiment. He parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and was also a part of the ill-fated “Operation Market Garden” and the Ardenne Forest Offensive aka “Battle of the Bulge” during the WWII. He was 93 years old on the 70th Anniversary of D-Day but this did not  hold him back from parachuting  into Normandy to re-live that day all over again! And he did it again, in Holland this time, on the 75th anniversary of Operation Market Garden. He was 98. Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to D-Day’s 70th
Anniversary on Utah Beach: In Memory of Jim “Pee Wee” Martin”

Let’s Salute Major Winters – the Rank and the Man – on Memorial Day

damianlewisdickwinters2 source: People Magazine

Today is Memorial Day – a day of remembrance honoring all men and women that died in active military service. And it gives us a great opportunity to salute all war heroes, and in particular Major Dick Winters and Easy Company.

I know a thing or two about war. My day job is to study and understand war. I have written academic articles on war, I have taught on war… and even though I can write about war for pages and talk about it for hours as a scholar, the human cost of war is still incomprehensible to me.

Let me take a moment and look at my own family. My maternal grandmother never knew her father because he was a soldier in WWI in the Eastern Front in Turkey, and he literally froze because of the cold as he fought against the Russians. My paternal grandmother never knew her father, either; because he was also a soldier in WWI and was killed by a shrapnel in Gallipoli as he fought against the Anzacs. Continue reading “Let’s Salute Major Winters – the Rank and the Man – on Memorial Day”

Throwback Thursday: How Damian Lewis Became Soames Forsyte

As the new, glossy remake of The Forsytes makes its way to PBS, I thought — what better time for a Throwback Thursday tribute to our own Soames Forsyte? Because long before this new version, Damian Lewis gave us a Soames who was complicated, intense, and unforgettable. So how did he get there?
Continue reading “Throwback Thursday: How Damian Lewis Became Soames Forsyte”

Throwback Thursday to Tom Hanks
Surprising Damian Lewis on his 30th Birthday

source: WWD.com

February 11 is a very special day, well, at least for us: Damian’s 55th Birthday. We will kick off the festivities soon so stay tuned, and join us today for a fun trip back to Damian’s 30th Birthday!

We all know Tom Hanks playedĀ a major role in making Damian an internationally known actor. We blogged earlier about how Spielberg and Hanks cast Damian Lewis as Dick Winters in Band of Brothers.

source: tircuit.com
source: tircuit.com

Damian tells IndependentĀ that, once he was cast for the role, he had the opportunity to hang out with Steven Spielberg as well as Tom Hanks for a while, and in his own words, got to know, ā€œwhat kids they are.ā€ šŸ™‚ Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Tom Hanks Surprising Damian Lewis on his 30th Birthday”