Who should have played Caesar?

[deleted]

I agree that Olivier would have been exciting, and I believe a better choice than Welles. But didn't Calhern fit the role as Shakespeare intended the character of Caesar?

Going back to Shakespeare I got the impression that Caesar is portrayed as rather pompous and conceited. He is clearly not the main character even though the play bears his name, as he's murdered half-way through. Brutus is a very reluctant murderer (he is included by the others because of his ancestor who killed the last king of Rome and thus helped found the Republic), and the rest of the conspirators' lust for power; Cassius proves to be corrupt. Mark Anthony at first comes across as a faithful follower of Caesar who will not accept that his murderers go free, but later on within the triumvirate he slanders Lepidus as soon as he leaves the room, and Lepidus in his turn is willing to have his own brother murdered, wheras Octavian participates in putting names on the conscription lists. The list of atrocities goes on and on.

In the end Brutus is portrayed as the only character who has a shred of decency in him. So my impression is that Shakespeare wanted to show us how ugly politics is, and to that end Louis Calhern did "pompous and conceited" very well indeed, if somewhat stilted...

/ elisabet

I think Calhern's a very good Caesar, who understands the character plays well off and with others, in the way that the great "character actors" always do. Calhern was a wonderful, underrated actor. If you get a chance, watch how he supports Cary Grant in _Notorious_; and how he chills the screen in such films as _Asphalt Jungle_.