British sangfroid: An outdated stereotype

[Gerald]

In unstable times, one near certainty is that Colin Firth will win the Best Actor Oscar this Sunday for his performance in The King's Speech.

British bookmakers William Hill are virtually paying out already - the final odds were 1/50.

The main reason Firth will win is that his portrayal of stuttering King George VI is excellent.

But another important one is that it conforms to the stereotype that many of the Academy Award's Hollywood voters have of the British: emotionally cool and reticent, unruffled by the ordinary floods of emotions that roil lesser mortals - particularly those making deals in the insane asylum that is the film business.

Firth, Oscar-nominated last year for a different understated performance in Tom Ford's A Single Man, is the latest in a line of stars going back to David Niven and Ronald Colman projecting this kind of dispassionate sangfroid.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12576699


Note: 26 February 2011 Last updated at 01:03 GMT