R

 R

Welcome again to my meanderings through the convention photo album and this week we arrive at the letter R and as mentioned last week, one of the below listed was a complete R’s-hole. 

Today I  recall meeting:

John Ratzenberger

Iwan Rheon

Andrew Robinson

Maurice Roëves

Brandon Routh

Jeri Ryan

John Ratzenberger 

Ultra conservative, Trump supporter, dismissive and insulting comments about young people and some of his colleagues, I observed all of this in within about 5 minutes of hearing Mr R speak on a panel at a convention in Birmingham (2019). 

There was more but I don’t want to think about it. Hugely disappointing when someone you’ve admired on screen turns out to be…disappointing. I should have known there was something  wrong as when I went for the photo before the panel, he was grumpy as hell. 

And no excuses, I don’t think he was having a bad day, I think he was just being his true self. 

Iwan Rheon 

Luckily at the same convention I got to meet this lovely young man. A little reticent, self deprecating, maybe it was humility; whatever it was, it made meeting him something really positive.  We chatted a bit about Game of Thrones of course but I really wanted to chat about Vicious. Yes, meeting Mr Rheon made up for meeting you know who. 

Andrew Robinson

The first time I remember seeing Andrew Robinson on screen was as the villain in Dirty Harry. He always seemed to be playing villains. Then he was cast as Garak in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and showed what a brilliantly versatile actor he could be. 

There was a delicious ambiguity about the character and Robinson was just perfect in the role. He seemed a very pleasant man in person, not at all villainous.

Maurice Roëves 

A great stalwart of TV and film in a career spanning half a century, a character actor whose gruff voice and granite chiseled features didn’t quite match up to the smiling and charming gentleman I met at a convention in 2019, a few months before his death. 

Seeing him somewhat reduced by old age and ill health was sad but sitting and chatting with him, seeing the twinkle in his eye as he talked about working with the likes of Richard Attenborough and Michael Caine, that was a special moment. 

Brandon Routh

I met Superman. Well, one of the many actors who has played Superman. He was at a convention because of his role in  Legends of Tomorrow (as The Atom) and this was the same convention as the R’s-hole. Another reason why I still look back on that day as a brilliant day was meeting Mr Routh, who along with Arthur Darvill, stood chatting for ages as I was waiting for a photo shoot to start. A charming and funny man. 

Jeri Ryan

Some of the longest queues I’ve seen at a convention were for Jeri Ryan. I thought all I was going to get was this photo. Next morning I was first in the queue for the autograph. She seemed very pleasant. I’ll give her 7 out of 9. 

Next time an encounter with a waxwork, a President, and two jokers as we recall meeting 

William Shatner

Martin Sheen

Armin Shimmerman

Alexander Siddig