Amid all the excitement over the return of HBO’s Rome to our cinemas in 2011, as well as ongoing whispers about a remake of I, Claudius, it is only natural that our thoughts turn to those Roman emperors immortalised in a way they would never have dreamed possible. In Rome, Pullo and Vorenus stole the limelight but Ciarán Hinds was a dark and charismatic Julius Caesar. So how does he compare to other screen versions of the character? Rex Harrison was overshadowed in the role in 1963 by Richard Burton’s Mark Anthony in Cleopatra, and who could out-beef John Gavin’s Caesar in the 1960 film Spartacus?
But the most memorable emperors aren’t necessarily the swashbuckling, macho ones, as shown by this list of the top 10 screen emperors. Derek Jacobi gave a BAFTA-winning performance as the emperor Claudius with Tourette’s syndrome and a limp and is certainly one of the most memorable screen emperors. Jim Sheridan is set to direct the film of Robert Graves’s two classic novels (I, Claudius and Claudius the God) while there have been reports of Leonardo di Caprio’s interest in the project.
Caligula is one of the most famous Roman emperors for all the wrong reasons – incest, murder and utter madness being some of his most notable achievements and traits. It’s a great part for any actor to get his (or her – see below) teeth into and there are two Caligulas in my top 10, although my favourite is definitely John Hurt’s. There are many more screen emperors who didn’t make it onto the list, so here’s a special mention for George Baker as Tiberius in I, Claudius, Sir John Gielgud as Nerva in Caligula – as well as Patrick Cargill’s Nero in Up Pompeii (comedy emperors are always good).
One regret while compiling the list was that there was no conceivable way I could pretend that Mark Anthony was an emperor – Julius Caesar (dictator not emperor) I could get away with, but there was sadly no chance for Anthony, a mere general in the Roman army. This means that several classic performances are excluded, including Marlon Brando’s Mark Anthony in the 1953 film Julius Caesar, Richard Burton’s leading alpha male in Cleopatra, as well as James Purefoy in HBO’s Rome.
Top 10 Screen Emperors
1. Derek Jacobi as Claudius – in I, Claudius (TV 1976)
This performance won Jacobi a TV BAFTA and rightly so – he stuttered and stumbled his way through the show, but still managed to portray an emperor that was far from the buffoon most people took him for. His speech to the senate (“I have survived to middle age with half my wits, while thousands have died with all of theirs intact!”) is a defining moment for Claudius and for the series.
2. Peter Ustinov as Nero – in Quo Vadis (Film 1953)
This genius performance from Ustinov won him an Oscar nomination. Watch this clip of Nero singing – a very funny characterisation of the vanity and theatricality of the emperor.
3. Ciarán Hinds as Julius Caesar – in Rome (TV 2005-2007)
OK, so Julius Caesar was not technically an emperor, more like a ‘dictator in perpetuity’, which is pretty much the same thing and is good enough in my book to get Ciarán Hinds onto this list. The role won him an IFTA and his crowd-rousing speeches reflect Caesar’s reputation as being the best orator of his time. His confrontation with Brutus in this scene shows the ruthlessness in his character.
4. Malcolm McDowell as Caligula – in Caligula (Film 1979)
Directed by Tinto Brass and based on a screenplay by Gore Vidal, this 1979 film is a portrayal of the depraved emperor. A film trailer based on the original film was made in 2005 featuring Courtney Love in the leading role – the mind boggles! Anyway, Malcolm McDowell plays a fiendish, depraved and merciless Caligula – which is exactly how he should be.
5. Joaquin Pheonix as Commodus – in Gladiator (Film 2000)
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator showed us Rome as we’d never seen it before – fast, exciting and complete with a digitally modelled Colosseum. Phoenix’s Commodus is a scheming, shadowy figure eaten by jealousy, perhaps more Wicked Witch of the West than leader of the biggest empire on earth. He can never really relax while Russell Crowe is around, and we all know that Maximus was the rightful emperor.
6. Brian Blessed as Augustus and John Hurt as Caligula – in I, Claudius (TV 1976)
Brian Blessed and John Hurt are both equally fabulous in their imperial roles so they share a place in the top 10. Blessed is a ponderous and guffawing Augustus, while Hurt portrays an utterly mad Caligula. This clip, in which Caligula returns from a battle with Neptune with his spoils of war (chests of seashells), is the emperor at his craziest. This episode didn’t necessarily happen in real life – the primary sources writing about Caligula’s life disagree on whether the emperor actually ordered his troops to collect seashells following a campaign in Britannia and Gaul – or whether this was just a metaphor for something else.
7. John Gavin as Julius Caesar – in Spartacus (Film 1960)
As this clip (with rather bad sound quality) shows, Julius Caesar was actually far better looking and more muscular than you might have ever imagined him to be (Mr Hinds excepted). It seems that John Gavin might have been chosen specifically for the bathing scenes.
8. Alec Guiness as Marcus Aurelius – in The Fall of the Roman Empire (Film 1964)
Although this film was described as a financial flop, it has some classic performances – notably from Alec Guiness as Marcus Aurelius, while Christopher Plummer is also a convincing Commodus. At the time of its release it was called ‘the most magnificent recreation of an ancient empire’.
9. Peter O’Toole as Augustus – in Imperium Augustus (Film for TV 2003)
Peter O’Toole as the aged Augustus steals the show in this detailed portrayal of his life, narrated by the elderly emperor talking to his daughter Julia. Charlotte Rampling is frightening as Livia.
10. Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar – in Carry on Cleo (Film 1964)
Kenneth Williams’s Caesar could just as well show up on the top 10 list of worst screen emperors ever, but you’ve got to love his tongue-in-cheek rendition, which delivers the funniest one-liner in British comedy: “Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me!”