More Monarchs, Dukes and Duchesses

“Fergie and Andrew: Behind the Palace Doors” is the latest in a long line of plays, novels, films and TV movies with royal blood.

Here are some of the films that have followed the comings and goings of the British monarchy. Those available on video are noted below.

Charles Laughton received his only Oscar for his larger-than-life performance as England’s notorious Henry VIII in producer Alexander Korda’s 1933 “The Private Life of Henry VIII” (Nelson Video). Binnie Barnes, Merle Oberon and Elsa Lanchester (Mrs. Laughton) play three of Henry’s spouses; Robert Donat also stars.

Twenty years later, Laughton reprised his role as Henry in the colorful, entertaining melodrama “Young Bess,” chronicling the relationship between Henry and his feisty daughter Elizabeth I (Jean Simmons). Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr also are featured.

The critically acclaimed 1969 drama “Anne of a Thousand Days” (MCA/Universal), based on the hit Broadway play, focuses on the courtship and ill-fated marriage between Henry (Richard Burton) and Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn (Genevieve Bujold), the first of Henry’s six wives to be beheaded. Burton received an Oscar nomination for his hearty portrayal; Bujold, also an Oscar nominee, steals the show with her memorable, sympathetic turn as the ill-fated Anne.

Australian actor Keith Michell won an Emmy 20 years ago for his masterful performance as the much-married monarch who formed the Church of England in the acclaimed British miniseries “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” (PBS Video), which CBS first aired during the summer of 1971 and was repeated in early 1972 on PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre.”

Elizabeth I has long been a favorite subject of filmmakers. Oscar-winning actress Bette Davis has played the Virgin Queen twice. The glossy but entertaining 1939 drama “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex” (CBS/Fox), based on Maxwell Anderson’s play, “Elizabeth the Queen,” explores her ill-fated love affair with the dashing Essex (Errol Flynn).

Sixteen years later, Davis donned her queenly attire for the moderately enjoyable “The Virgin Queen” (CBS/Fox), which focuses on Elizabeth I’s tempestuous relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh (Richard Todd).

Another Oscar-winner, Glenda Jackson, played the queen in two acclaimed productions. Twenty years ago, she won two Emmys for her gritty, unvarnished portrayal of the monarch in the literate BBC miniseries “Elizabeth R,” which aired in America on PBS’ ” Masterpiece Theatre.”

Jackson also played Elizabeth in the highly fictionalized 1971 film “Mary, Queen of Scots” which focuses on the rivalry between Elizabeth and the Scottish queen Mary (Oscar-nominee Vanessa Redgrave) for the throne of England. Don’t look for the truth in “Mary.” In this version, Mary and the queen actually meet. In reality, they never did.

All-American Katharine Hepburn took a stab at playing Mary with interesting results in the handsome 1936 “Mary of Scotland” (Turner Home Entertainment), which was directed by the formidable John Ford, fresh from winning his first Oscar for “The Informer.”

Recent members of the royal family have found their lives depicted on the big and small screen, especially Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in the ‘30s to marry the American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson. After his abdication and their marriage, the couple were given the title of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

James Fox and Cynthia Harris starred as the famous couple in the Emmy-winning 1981 “Masterpiece Theatre” presentation “Edward and Mrs. Simpson” (HBO Video), which utilized authentic dialogue and employed the services of Frances Donaldson, who wrote the acclaimed “Edward the Eighth” biography, as script supervisor.

Far less successful were two dreadful TV movies: “The Woman I Loved,” produced in 1972 and starring Richard Chamberlain and Faye Dunaway--resembling Joan Crawford more than Wallis Simpson--and 1989’s “The Woman He Loved,” which looked at the romance through Simpson’s eyes. Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour star.

When the world got caught up in the royal romance and storybook marriage of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer, the networks hurried to cash in on the interest and excitement surrounding the new royal couple. In the fall of 1981, ABC and CBS aired their movies within a week of each other: CBS’ “The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana,” starring Catherine Oxenberg and Christopher Baines, and ABC’s “Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story,” with David Robb and Caroline Bliss. Both are dismissible.

For up-to-the-minute royal gossip, later this fall ABC is airing “A Royal Affair,” starring Oxenberg and Roger Rees as Charles and Diana, and CBS is planning to air “The Women of Windsor,” about Sarah, Di and Elizabeth.