A few years ago, the actor Robert Duvall was being interviewed for this paper when, apropos of nothing, he cited Leonard Rossiter as the finest performer he’d ever seen. Four decades after Rossiter’s death, his singular style – manic energy, machine-gun delivery, splenetic intelligence – continues to carry remarkable currency.
Rossiter became a household name in the UK for two 1970s sitcoms, which ran concurrently on BBC One and ITV, but he was also a hugely respected stage actor. Film stardom eluded him, despite regular work with John Schlesinger and Lindsay Anderson and the adoration of Stanley Kubrick. Yet it might have followed: at the time of his death, he was lined up to play the role eventually taken by Tim Curry in Clue.
