Mooch TV's video: Tribute to BEN CROSS In Memoriam

Tribute to British actor Ben Cross who starred in Chariots of Fire, Star trek, First Knight amongst other Movies. (Note: apologies for typo error on "A bridge too far") Ben Cross was born Harry Bernard Cross in London, to a working class family. Cross initially worked in manual jobs, including work as a window cleaner, waiter, and joiner. He worked as a carpenter for the Welsh National Opera, and was the Property Master at The Alexandra in Birmingham. In 1970 at the age of 22, he was accepted into London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), but later expressed little interest in pursuing the classical route. After graduating from RADA, Cross performed in several stage plays at The Dukes, Lancaster where he was seen in Macbeth, The Importance of Being Earnest and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He then joined the Prospect Theatre Company and played roles in Pericles, Twelfth Night, and The Royal Hunt of the Sun. Cross also joined the cast of the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and played leading roles in Sir Peter Shaffer's Equus, Mind Your Head, and the musical Irma la Douce – all at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre. Cross's first big screen film appearance came in 1976 when he went on location to Deventer, Netherlands, to play Trooper Binns in Joseph E. Levine's World War II epic A Bridge Too Far which starred an international cast, including Dirk Bogarde, Sean Connery, Michael Caine and James Caan. During Cross's performance in Chicago, he was recognised and recommended for a leading role in the multiple Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire. For their performances in the film, Cross and his co-star Ian Charleson both won "Most Promising Artiste of 1981" awards from the Variety Club Awards in February 1982. Cross's starring role in Chariots of Fire has been credited with continuing a transatlantic trend in elegant young English actors that had been set by Jeremy Irons in Brideshead Revisited. Cross followed up Chariots of Fire with performances as a Scottish physician, Dr Andrew Manson, struggling with the politics of the British medical system during the 1920s, in The Citadel, a 10-part BBC Television dramatisation of A.J. Cronin's novel, and as Ashton (Ash) Pelham-Martyn, a British cavalry officer torn between two cultures in the ITV miniseries The Far Pavilions. In 1982, the U.S. union Actors' Equity, in a landmark reversal of a previous ruling, allowed Cross to appear in John Guare's off-Broadway play Lydie Breeze. The decision was tied to a joint effort by Actors' Equity, the League of New York Theatres and the British union Equity to allow British and U.S. actors unrestricted opportunities to work in both countries. The agreement eventually led to regular equal exchange agreements for equivalent acting jobs between London and New York.[ During the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, Cross appeared in a commercial for American Express ('Don't leave home without it', with the 87-year-old Jackson Scholz, a sprinter for the 1924 American Olympic team whose character was featured in the film Chariots of Fire. When Cross says something about beating Scholz, the latter remarks, "You didn't beat me!" with mock indignation. Proving he is 'still pretty fast', Scholz beats Cross to the draw in picking up the tab with his credit card. He subsequently replaced James Garner as the featured actor endorsing the Polaroid Spectra camera in 1986. Cross was also featured in GQ Magazine as one of the annual "Manstyle" winners in January, 1985 followed by a featured photo shoot in March, 1985. In 1985, he played Barney Greenwald in a revival of Herman Wouk's courtroom drama The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial at the Queen's Theatre, London, alongside castmates Charlton Heston (as Captain Queeg) and John Schuck.[ Cross died in Vienna following a short illness on 18 August 2020, at age 72. Check us out on these platforms: Facebook, Twitter & Instagram - @moochtvuk Join Mooch Lads Chris Cassidy and Dave Hughes as they meet various peoples, react to trailers old and new, plus movie reviews and have a general Mooch around Blackpool and on the Net!