"Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic" (1978) "Disraeli" (original title), TV mini-series

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

1 June 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot Keywords:

TV Mini-Series | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Rosemary Leach	...	Queen Victoria (4 episodes, 1978)
Ian McShane	...	Benjamin Disraeli (4 episodes, 1978)
Mary Peach	...	Mary Anne / ... (3 episodes, 1978)
John Carlisle	...	W.E. Gladstone / ... (3 episodes, 1978)
Jeremy Clyde	...	Lord John Manners (3 episodes, 1978)
Brett Usher	...	Bulwer / ... (3 episodes, 1978)
Brewster Mason	...	Chancellor Bismarck / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
David de Keyser	...	Baron de Rothschild (2 episodes, 1978)
David Wood	...	Lord Derby (2 episodes, 1978)
John Gregg	...	Lord Salisbury (2 episodes, 1978)
Frances Bennett	...	Lady Chesterfield (2 episodes, 1978)
Brendan Barry	...	Sir Stafford Northcote (2 episodes, 1978)
Patrick Drury	...	Montagu Corry / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
Peter Hughes	...	Philip Rose (2 episodes, 1978)
Peter Miles	...	Lord Henry Lennox (2 episodes, 1978)
Antony Brown	...	Peel / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
Barrie Cookson	...	Lord Derby / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
Maria Charles	...	Maria D'Israeli / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
Mark Dignam	...	Lord Lyndhurst / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
Sheridan Fitzgerald	...	Selina Forester / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
Patricia Hodge	...	Rosina / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
Leigh Lawson	...	Count Alfred D'Orsay / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
Jenny Lipman	...	Sarah D'Israeli / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
Aubrey Morris	...	Isaac D'Israeli / ... (2 episodes, 1978)
Godfrey Quigley	...	Daniel O'Connell (2 episodes, 1978)
David Riley	...	George Smythe (2 episodes, 1978)
Anton Rodgers	...	Lord George Bentinck (2 episodes, 1978)
William Russell	...	Wyndham Lewis (2 episodes, 1978)
Margaret Whiting	...	Lady Blessing / ... (2 episodes, 1978)

Series Directed by
Claude Whatham		(4 episodes, 1978)

Series Writing credits
David Butler		(4 episodes, 1978)

Series Produced by
Cecil Clarke	....	producer (4 episodes, 1978)
Lorna Mason	....	associate producer (4 episodes, 1978)

Series Original Music by
Wilfred Josephs		(4 episodes, 1978)

Series Casting by
Joan Brown		(4 episodes, 1978)

Series Production Design by
Anthony Waller		(4 episodes, 1978)

Series Costume Design by
Ann Hollowood		(4 episodes, 1978)
Sheelagh Killeen		(3 episodes, 1978)

Series Makeup Department
Sheila Mann	....	makeup supervisor (4 episodes, 1978)
Lorraine Dawkins	....	makeup artist (unknown episodes)
Anita Harris	....	makeup artist (unknown episodes)
Mary Southgate	....	makeup artist (unknown episodes)
Brenda Yewdell	....	makeup artist (unknown episodes)

Series Sound Department
Henry Bird	....	sound director (4 episodes, 1978)

Series Camera and Electrical Department
Dennis Bartlett	....	senior camera operator (4 episodes, 1978)
Pete Dyson	....	lighting director (4 episodes, 1978)
John Willment	....	senior vision controller (4 episodes, 1978)

Series Editorial Department
Felicity Maton	....	vision mixer (4 episodes, 1978)
Al Pigden	....	editor: video tape (4 episodes, 1978)

Series Music Department
Marcus Dods	....	conductor (4 episodes, 1978)

Series Other crew
Sheila Atha	....	stage manager (4 episodes, 1978)
Bruce Chandler	....	senior floor manager (4 episodes, 1978)
Jane Mullard	....	production assistant (4 episodes, 1978)
Brian True-May	....	location administrator (4 episodes, 1978)
Colin Arthur	....	prosthetics design (unknown episodes)
Nick Maley	....	prosthetics technician (unknown episodes)

Production Companies

• Associated Television (ATV)

Distributors

• Masterpiece Theatre
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Also Known As:

"Disraeli" - UK (original title)

Runtime:

60 min (4 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Company:

Associated Television (ATV)

The Consummate Statesman

Ian McShane had a couple of pretty good acts to follow in portraying Benjamin Disraeli who was arguably the United Kingdom's greatest Prime Minister. George Arliss played Disraeli on stage and screen in a story that centered around Great Britain's acquisition of the Suez Canal and it was one of his most celebrated parts. In The Prime Minister, John Gielgud plays Disraeli in 1941 with the backdrop of World War II and the climax there is Disraeli facing down the threatening Otto Von Bismarck and the newly united Germany. That was a considerable rewriting of history, but it served the propaganda purposes of the time well.

But this mini-series gives us a look at Disraeli's whole life and the many facets of that life. Disraeli was not a Jew, he was baptized in the Church of England, but his Jewish ancestry was always used as a slur against him and he never repudiated it or acted ashamed. He was a Georgian dandy, would be rake, would be novelist who dabbled in politics and eventually got a seat in Parliament.

The original impression of Disraeli was as a dandy and fop who hadn't a serious bone in his body. He did a considerable amount of bed hopping in his youth before meeting a woman a dozen years older than himself who became the love of his life. Mary Peach as Mary Anne Wyndham Lewis Disraeli matches McShane's performance in every step of the way.

Disraeli was one of the most creative statesmen of his century. The Tory Party owes its very existence to his vision today. He got way out in front of his party in his first ministry on the franchise reform question and his support of enlarging the franchise won voters to the Conservatives for generations though it did not bear immediate results. The series does go into his acquisition of the Suez Canal and gives the real story of the Congress of Europe in 1878 when both Disraeli and Bismarck took the measure of each other. The lesson there was that Europe did not go to war as it did in 1914. Had these guys been in charge at that time, World War I would never have happened.

Disraeli was Ian McShane's career role and if this series is ever rebroadcast on Masterpiece Theater or some other venue, do not miss it.