[HPforGrownups] Re: FANTASY casting...

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 170876

From: amis917 <amis917 at hotmail.com>
>I also always think of Jayne Meadows as The Queen of Hearts in my 
>favorite 1985 TV version of Alice in Wonerland for Umbridge. The queen 
>may be a bit too evil up front with her constant shouting of "Off with 
>their heads!" (no sugary cover-up) but when she invites Alice to play 
>croquet ever so sweetly, it is very Umbridge. The way she sounds so 
>sweet, but could really snap on you at any moment.

Bart:
Betty White, as Sue Ann Nivens in THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, demonstrated how sugar-coated evil could be done, convincingly. The problem with that character as Umbridge is that Umbridge had a certain amount of cluenessness; Umbridge is the kind of person who would react to the Columbine shootings by banning the wearing of trench coats (OT explanation: For those who are not familiar, there were a couple of disaffected students who brought guns to their high school and shot a number of students, and had set up bombs to blow up even more; luckily the bombs didn't go off. The students belonged to a larger group who wore a "uniform", partially consisting of trench coats. A number of high schools reacted to the incident by BANNING TRENCH COATS, which became a symbol of clueless reactions). 

But there is an actress who can be both motherly AND evil at the same time: Angela Lansbury. I would mix her performances as the villainous, domineering mother in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE with her slightly clueless witch/child caretaker in BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS. 

Bart