Cumberbatch Family Heritage

[Carol the Dabbler]

 

The BBC America web site has an article about Benedict Cumberbatch's parents, Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, with an old video clip of each of them, plus a more recent video of the two of them acting together.  An interesting read!

 

[Julia Mae]

My fave line from the article:

 

... what’s remarkable in the case of Benedict Cumberbatch is that his parents, a well-respected thespian couple who put bread on the table from years of theatre work and not-quite-headline-but-still-it’s-a-wage-eh? roles are entirely aware that their only child is some kind of mutant super-thespian...

Indeed!

[Carol the Dabbler]

... playing some kind of mutant super-detective.

 

Dunno about the "mutant" part, though!

 

[Julia Mae]

... playing some kind of mutant super-detective.

 

 

 

I love that! 

 

[Caya]

Posting this here because I don't know where else to put it and it's too damn funny not to :

 

 

(via Geny's tumblr)

 

By the way, is there a way I can get attachments to show up full-sized as opposed to a thumbnail?

 

eta: Thanks for the explanation, Carol! Good point about hotlinking - I'll look into setting up a flickr account or something.

[Carol the Dabbler]

If you embed a photo, that's how it looks till someone clicks on it.  Once they click, it shows up larger.

 

If you want a photo to show up full-size without any fuss, you need to do an image link (or whatever the proper term is), but it's considered impolite to do that unless the actual photo is on your web site (e.g., your Photobucket account) or else on a commercial site such as Amazon, because every time someone brings up that thread, it'll access the site where the photo resides.

 

It's done like this:

 

[Caya]

Follow-up: The interview alluded to in the photo above can be found here.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Wow, does that ever make up for all those stupid last-year's-regurgitated-rumors "interviews"!

 

[Caya]

Yes, it's a wonderful interview, funny, touching and interesting, imho.

 

Btw, there's another post on her tumblr of the same interview, only in the form of some e-reader screengrabs, should anyone find that easier to read (also, some photos).

[tonnaree]

Hi!  

New here and new to Sherlock fandom.  Wasn't sure where to post silly fangirl question but it is kinda related to this topic.  

 

What is Cumberbatch's natural hair color?   LOL    Yes, in surfing pics of him on the net I've seen so many different shades!

 

Thanks guys.

[Caya]

There is no such thing as a silly fangirl question . Anyhow, this should answer it:

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

That's cute, Martina!  And an accurate photo too, I believe.  His natural color seems to be what I'd call a dark strawberry blond -- though anything in the reddish-hair category (humans, cats, whatever) is apparently called "ginger" in the UK.

 

 

[tonnaree]

Ginger?  Ginger!     *swoon*

[tonnaree]

Not that I'd kick him out of bed for eating crackers regardless of hair color.     

[aely]

Benedict calls himself auburn, IIRC. I love the nickname for him in his au naturel hair colour - Gingerbatch. It's worth noting he was Victor Frankenstein with his own hair colour.

 

 

Oh and have some more pics...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a bit of thing about red heads, which makes BC go from merely attractive in my book to startlingly gorgeous. I like him so much better with his natural hair colour.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I agree, he's much more attractive with his own hair color.  That seems to be true of most people.  Every so often, a movie will put a red wig (at least I hope it's only a wig) on Martin Freeman, and it makes his face look unnaturally pale, much like Cumberbatch's with Sherlock-colored hair.

 

[Caya]

This has even less to do with family heritage but fits that interview above ... I stumbled over another, earlier piece by Caitlin Moran, called My Love Affair With Sherlock, today ... not an interview but more a series of impressions, but well written imho.

[Alex the Dabbler]

Here is a link to a Radio Times article that tries to explain Benedict Cumberbatch's appeal:

 

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-30/why-benedict-cumberbatch-is-a-sex-god-according-to-body-language-experts

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

 

 

He does play massively intellectual characters, which helps with the charisma. .... His characters have this remote, almost cold quality about them - almost non-sexual – and it makes women walk towards them and try and seduce them. We tend to desire the unattainable.

 

Sounds like the explanations of why Nimoy's Spock had such an effect on women!

 

[Caya]

Not sure if tonnaree is still around, but her question has finally been answered by the man himself - and it's auburn, not ginger.

[Alex the Dabbler]

Here's a link to a Radio Times article on a mystery involving one of Benedict Cumberbatch's ancestors (on his mother's side).

 

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-10-28/sherlocks-benedict-cumberbatch-had-a-murder-mystery-case-in-his-own-family?ref=Article.RelatedNews

[Pawse]

His mother certainly was gorgeous in that pic!

[Convict13]

Oh they should do a "Who do you think you are" on Benedict. I know we all know a lot about his family but I'm sure they could find someone back there that would be very interesting indeed.

 

Did anyone watch the one on Jim Parsons from TBBT, that was really interesting, they went back several generations and found that one of his ancestors was architect to Louis XVI, and the one on Kim Catrall was really good as well.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

All the episodes we've seen have been really interesting and touching.  Of course, it helps that we've watched only when they're featuring someone we already find interesting -- Martin Freeman, J. K. Rowling, Patrick Stewart.  And we'd certainly watch one on Benedict Cumberbatch!