by Nathaniel R
In the new film A Private War Rosamund Pike plays real life war correspondent Marie Colvin (killed in 2012) who ran straight for trouble to cover it for the Sunday Times. Critics have been enthralled with her work in the film, often mentioning 'Oscar worthiness'. Jeff Schneider recently said "if Nicole Kidman gave that same performance we'd all be talking about it as a potential frontrunner". I haven't yet seen the film but there is definitely truth in thae general implications of that statement that some actors carry with them a head start in terms of perception of awards-worthiness.
In honor of Pike's new eye-patched role, and to distract us from election worries, a tuesday top ten featuring one-eyed favs from both feature films and TV series.
10 GREAT EYE PATCHED CHARACTERS
10 The Chevalier du Balibari (Patrick Magee) in Barry Lyndon (1975)
Magee was one of the best characters actors of the 60s and 70s, wasn't he? Strange that he got so little awards love during his career (apart from that Tony win for Marat/Sade).
09 Mrs Taggart (Bette Davis) in The Anniversary (1968)
Only an actress as vanity-free as Bette Davis, would have played so many memorably repellent women in such short succession in the 1960s. Love that the eye patch is red and has an Egyptian style point at the side, like it's part of her makeup.
08 Big Dan Teague (John Goodman) in O Brother Where Art Thou? (2009)
Such a clever way for the brothers, Coen, to work the cyclops into their mythologically inspired comedy.
07 Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne / Jeff Bridges) in True Grit (1969/2010)
I can't remember how he lost his eye but given his continual state of inebriation, it's a wonder he didn't lose anything else.
06 Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) in Escape From New York (1981)
Kurt in the 80s. Mmmmm.
05 TIE Franky (Angelina Jolie) in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
and Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) Iron Man through Avengers: Infinity War (2008-2018)
Eye patches are an ideal visual flourish for cartoon universes and for making military or government characters pop instantaneously with almost zero effort (provided you have an actor who brings gallons of their own charisma).
04 Nadine Hurley (Wendy Robie) in Twin Peaks (1990-1991/2017)
How can any single TV show have dozens upon dozens of indelible characters? Everyone pops in one way or another and Nadine, the superhumanly strong, insecure wife of Ed Hurley always popped, providing curious pathos and quirky comedy simultaneously.
03 Tancredi Falconeti (Alain Deloin) in The Leopard (1963)
He doesn't wear an eye patch for the whole movie but did anyone ever look sexier with only one eye? Though to be fair, Deloin would look delicious no matter what you did to him.
02 Aunt Lily (Swoosie Kurtz) in Pushing Daisies (2007-2009)
One of the only eye-patched characters fashion-conscious and savvy enough to have an different patch to go with literally everything in their wardrobe. We ❤️ Swoosie (always) and miss this show (specifically) so much!
01 Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) in Kill Bill, Vol 1 and 2 (2003-2004)
A character written and played to perfection, and for whom the missing eye gets a whole origin story. It's one of our proudest moments here at TFE that we nominated Daryl Hannah for Best Supporting Actress for this killer role. A+ to the costume designer for the red cross eye patch when Elle is in nurse drag.