# Most archetypal Englishmen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589 "2017-03-20T03:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/41 "2017-03-20T16:55:34Z")
Sebastian “This IS ‘The Other Place’!” Cabot ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/42 "2017-03-20T17:16:11Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Trevor Howard. > > ETA: Yes, I’m old. I can beat that (citing an out of date actor, I mean). Ronald Colman. He was always a gentleman but never an upper class twit. He was intrepid but not foolish; romantic but not soppy. I mean his characters of course. Or [Sir Wilfrid Hyde-White](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0405035/?ref_=tt_cl_t10). Sometimes more of a caricature, if that’s what the OP had in mind, but always supremely English. Played Colonel Pickering in the movie of My Fair Lady. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/43 "2017-03-20T17:19:23Z")
Brian [Gordon’s alive?!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW8kDtzirpA) Blessed … ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/44 "2017-03-20T17:21:51Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Brian Glover > Sean Bean > Ray Winstone Brian Blessed Mr Bean Captain Mainwaring ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/45 "2017-03-20T17:50:18Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Or [Sir Wilfrid Hyde-White](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0405035/?ref_=tt_cl_t10). Sometimes more of a caricature, if that’s what the OP had in mind, but always supremely English. Played Colonel Pickering in the movie of My Fair Lady. What about Rex Harrison? Or, for that matter, Leslie Howard? They both played Henry Higgins, in _ **My Fair Lady** _ and _ **Pygmalion** _, respectively. How about John “Polo **vet** sian **[_sic_]** Dance No. 2” Williams? Arthur “I’ll be about me duties, now, sir.” Treacher? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/46 "2017-03-20T17:54:29Z")
David “Mr Banks” Tomlinson! [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cYQF5xX3OVI/hqdefault.jpg "Mary Poppins: The Life I Lead / A British Nanny / A British Bank") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYQF5xX3OVI) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/47 "2017-03-21T00:02:41Z")
1930s and 40s character actor Henry Stephenson as a kindly old gentleman. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/48 "2017-03-21T00:34:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Sebastian “This IS ‘The Other Place’!” Cabot That’s who I came here to say (since I’ve been watching Family Affair reruns on Hulu 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/49 "2017-03-21T01:35:52Z")
Mine have all already been mentioned – Cabot, Caine, MacNee, Niven… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/50 "2017-03-21T02:14:52Z")
Captain Pugwash Master Bates Seaman Staines Roger the Cabin Boy ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/51 "2017-03-21T03:30:42Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > You’re all very sweet. > > I can’t think who it would be, but your 21st century archetypal Englishman would be overweight, drunk, under-educated, mildly if not overtly xenophobic, itching for a fight, rude, ugly and poorly dressed. > > This, by the way, is from a long and detailed observation of the species at close quarters. So…Joey Barton? ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/52 "2017-03-21T04:25:46Z")
Michael Kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/53 "2017-03-21T12:29:16Z")
Jim Carter of Downton Abbey fame. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Pork-Chop\_Express](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@The\_Pork-Chop\_Express](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Pork-Chop_Express)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/54 "2017-03-21T12:40:40Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Patrick “John Drake” McGoohan McGoohan was Irish. 🙂 His accent in Danger Man is unmistakable. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/55 "2017-03-21T12:51:18Z")
**Phileas Fogg** from _Around the World in 80 Days_ (who was played, in the Michael Todd version, by David Niven, already listed above) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/56 "2017-03-21T18:45:44Z")
> [@The\_Pork-Chop\_Express](#): > > McGoohan was Irish. 🙂 His accent in Danger Man is unmistakable. And I omitted Sean Connery because he’s Scottish! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/57 "2017-03-21T20:15:25Z")
If I might tweak the premise of the thread a little, how about Victoria Coren Mitchell? Seems to have that touch of haughty disdain that that the English do so well. > [@drewder](#): > > Jim Carter of Downton Abbey fame. I can’t see him without thinking of him playing Deja Vu in _Top Secret!_ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/58 "2017-03-21T20:23:00Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > …I can’t see him without thinking of him playing Deja Vu in _Top Secret!_ And the cross-dressing actor in _Shakespeare in Love_, or the Goering-like henchman in Ian McKellen’s neo-Fascist _Richard III_. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/59 "2017-03-21T20:25:14Z")
Joey Essex. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589/60 "2017-03-21T21:04:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Phileas Fogg** from _Around the World in 80 Days_ (who was played, in the Michael Todd version, by David Niven, already listed above) And by Pierce Brosnan in the TV version … but I believe he’s Irish as well. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archetypal-englishmen/782589.md?page=4)