We still don’t really know for sure that Benedict Cumberbatch will be receiving a CBE (Commander of the British Empire, one rung lower than a knighthood in the British honors system) this month. The original source for the story was The Sun, which makes up gossip at a regular clip. But the way the British press has reacted to the rumor is… interesting. They’re running it like it’s going to happen. And hell, it might. So bring on the Cumberbacklash!
He has never won a major acting award and is yet to reach his 40th birthday, but it emerged yesterday that Benedict Cumberbatch is to be recognised with a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. After reports that the Sherlock star, 38, is to receive the accolade, which is just one rung below a knighthood, critics claimed the decision to do so turned the honours system into an ‘alternative Oscars’. Cumberbatch is decades younger than other stars when they received the same accolade, leading some to speculate the announcement is more to do with his celebrity than his achievements. Sir Anthony Hopkins and Kevin Spacey were both in their 50s before receiving their CBEs, while Sir Michael Caine and Sir John Hurt were both in their 60s.
MP Nigel Evans, a member of the Public Administration Select Committee when it published a report criticising the rise of celebrity honours, said the trend is undermining the whole system. He said: ‘It does seem to be that as long as your 15 minutes of fame stretches into 16 minutes you get a gong. We shouldn’t treat the honours system like the Tony Awards or an Oscar. This is something which should be seen as for lifetime achievements, not an award because someone’s last movie was good. That’s what the Oscars are there for and the Tonys and the Grammys, I do think we run the risk of the honours system being turned into an alternative Oscars or Grammys when it was never intended for that.’
He added that this trend means the people who deserve honours, ‘the people who have worked selflessly for charities for decades, the lollypop lady who has done her work for 40 years or the dinner lady who has been there for her lifetime’, are missing out.
On Cumberbatch’s young age, Mr Evans continued: ‘We do run the risk of dolling things out to people too early, perhaps in anticipation of some greatness they might achieve later on. He might have had a good burst in film or on the TV, it seems like he’s been a big name only for a couple of years, whereas someone has put themselves out for 30 or 40 years, just because people don’t know their name, they don’t recognised’.
Showbusiness agent Tony Fitzpatrick believes the award is a ‘political’ decision to cash in on celebrity status. He said: ‘In the old days of showbiz, you had to be in the business for decades before you got honoured, now it’s to do with the size of your audience. It’s about making money. Benedict Cumberbatch is flavour of the month so it’s a political coup for whoever awards him the honour. It’s not fair, I have people like Anne Diamond who led the cot-death campaign and has saved 150,000 babies lives but because it was a political issue at the time, she will never be recognised for that. There are lots of people out there who are doing lots of good things but because they don’t make OK magazine they are not honoured. It’s a bit like Blair’s Britain, they are saying “Let’s be cool and associate ourselves with fandom”. The honours system has changed, it’s less about rewarding long term good work and more about getting the headline. It’s certainly been devalued in the way a lot of traditions like that are.’
I wonder if critics would be wringing their hands if Bendy was just receiving an MBE or an OBE. Probably not, because those lower-rung honors are usually given to people in the middle of their careers, right? And you know what I was thinking of – how does Bendy get a CBE for LOSING the Oscar while Eddie Redmayne gets nothing for WINNING the Oscar, the BAFTA, etc? It’s weird. Colin Firth got a CBE… in 2011, after he WON the Oscar for The King’s Speech. And he was 50 years old at the time.
Meanwhile, it was just announced yesterday that Chiwetel Ejiofor will be joining Bendy and probably Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange. Chiwetel will be playing Baron Mordo, possibly the villain? You can read more about it here.
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
I think an MBE or an OBE wouldn’t bat an eyelid for people. He is well known in his field and does a lot of charity work, it’s the skipping those stages that I think is making most people go a bit “eh?”
Also yay to Tilda and Chiwetel in Strange. I loved him in Serenity!
i wonder if it’s got a grain of truth to it, as in it’s actually a mbe or obe, not a cbe. i mean the rumor origin is a tab
kaiser, redmayne doesn’t have much in the way of charity work, and it does seem like that’s part of it? like when Sheridan smith got an obe they cited her work with cancer
i remember when Adele got her MBE and people said she’s too young for it…
and some of the boys and girls that won Olympic medals, i remember that a bunch of those who won golds were given medals and some of them were just on their low teens and there’s a question surrounding it (give them OBE/MBE at such a young age or just hand them some scholarship money without the gong) on whether they should get more medals first (even though some of them–there’s one who’s like 14) won multiple gold medals in their respective fields.
i guess age debates can go both ways?
Where is the Cumberbaby?
I was just thinking about that. I thought the baby was due in May?
It’s likely born already and they are hiding out as Keira K. did, waiting to announce it on Father’s Day and/or when/if the CBE is announced – so they can tie it in to PR as they did their engagement (the day before the awards season began) and their wedding (Valentine’s Day, one week before the Oscars).
Sleeping on a comet.
Well I’m happy for Chiwetel Ejiofor at least (God his name is beautiful).
He’s won an Olivier. That’s a major acting award.
Haha there seems to be two Beths commenting on the Cumber-articles today and yesterday. I was the Beth who snarked on the Batch yesterday, just so that folks don’t think there is a schizophrenic loony called Beth on CB. 😀
*waves to the other Beth*
Maybe I’ll change to Bethie, to prevent schizophrenic confusion. 🙂
He shares it with Johnny Lee Miller
emmy is considered one too, i think
But then Ejiofor has won every major theatre award in the uk.. The Olivier, critics circle, evening standard award as well as the bafta for 12 years. He “only” has an OBE, despite being significantly more critically lauded.
But Bendy has more Tumblr pages devoted to him than Chiwetel. Perhaps that the ticket to a CBE…
I don’t know, I think of them as having pretty comparable careers in terms of quality projects. I don’t think it should be all about awards, though his nominations and Olivier are certainly notable.
Chiwetel got a CBE. Cumberbatch has won everything Hannah listed except the BAFTA.
But don’t think these are all about awards (?)
I think he’s too young, although like an MBE/OBE I’d be down with, but not sure about making having acting awards tied to it as some sort of requirement? I mean, there’s loads of excellent actors who don’t have an Oscar or BAFTA.
I agree. Maybe it’s got a bit to do with his charity activities? I mean, long before the Ice Bucket Challenge, Cumberbatch was involved with ALS. Since I’m American, I don’t really understand this whole royal award thing. I just took issue with the statement that he’s never won a major award.
(“Major award” makes me think of “A Christmas Story” and now I’m picturing Benedict walking around with a giant leg lamp, and that’s made my day.)
While I think it’s too early and he’s too young my real issue with the article is this…winning the Olivier is not a major acting award?? I know Daily Fail is self-hating and hates Britain overall but damn, that’s about as prestigious a theatre acting award as there is, even if most Americans haven’t heard of it. 😉
Patrick Stewart has a knighthood and has never even been nominated for an Oscar. There are a lot of reasons Benny should not get this yet but the awards have nothing to do with it.
The daily mail is self hating and or British hating???????!!!!!!!! Are you making a joke?
The daily mail whose raison d’tre for decades is xenophobia?! It’s a cliché what a bastion of little Englanders the DM is.
You need to get off the showbiz pages and read the rest of the DM.
That paper is permanently aghast at foreigners and how they are ruining Britain. And by Britain they really mean the home counties.
Sorry @LAK, badly structured sarcasm. To have them not even recall the Oliviers was just so funny given they are supposedly the last stronghold of the Empire. 😉 The story’s implication seems to be that the major awards are *gasp* American, although they probably just mean no BAFTA.
I think it’s just typical DM and they mean no Oscar or no BAFTA which is all they deem big awards.
Cumberbatch critics hate the idea of anything associated with Cumberbatch. That’s why they’re his critics and not his fans.
I’m inclined to agree that it seems (not knowing the history of this honor) like an attempt to capitalize on his celebrity and popularity. I appreciate that he is an immensely talented actor, but it would seem like he needs to put in a few more years before he is truly deserving of this.
But I could be talking out of my ass.
If true he’s probably been nominated by The Princes Trust. An org that he’s been tight with for years but not as hi profile as he should be for them. The CBE nom if true is pure PR and posh boys slapping each other in the back.
Eddie should get one for his work. Though as rightly pointed out he yet to win ANY major award. He hasn’t quite yet from on from being TV and Internet famous to the international super stardom that he desperately craves.
I hope it’s not true. He will be insufferable if he does. Look how big his ego got with the Oscar nom.
Eddie should have his Oscar revoked for Jupiter Ascending. Seriously that was a follow up of Cuba Gooding Jr levels of embarrassing. 😉
Cumby’s got an Olivier and an Emmy. As I mentioned above Sir Partrick Stewart doesn’t have even an Oscar nomination. The award thing is used to justify giving the higher awards younger but it’s not really a requirement if there are things like charity work to consider. I still believe Cumby’s probably getting an OBE, which would make perfect sense.
Olivier and Emmy.
Like I said above, I think it’s too early for a CBE, an MBE or OBE would be fine, but I don’t think awards won should factor in too much because there’s great actors out there without major awards.
An Emmy does not mean that much hear and he failed to get a Bafta for Sherlock-and his Olivier was shared with Johnny Lee Miller which most of his fans seem to forget,Most actors have charities they support quietly so nothing particularly auspicious there it feels like it is more about drawing attention to there awards than actual merit
Still major awards, icerose. And he’s still got an Olivier, shared or not, no?
We also don’t know the extent of his charity work.
@Kay compared to other actors his award list is still unimpressive -more likely hob nobbing with the Princes trust helped and it is just not here there is criticisms,Some of the daily papers are reporting there has been a back lass from the general public especially as Lenny Henry was ignored
Lenny Henry was not ignored, his knighthood leaked a week ago and was covered then. And I think we’ve already covered actor awards aren’t obviously requirement for these things anyway.
Truth be told, I don’t think the real general public really cares that much.
“Eddie should get one for his work. Though as rightly pointed out he yet to win ANY major award. He hasn’t quite yet from on from being TV and Internet famous to the international super stardom that he desperately craves. ” Do you mean Eddie or Benny? Eddie has Bafta, Tony and Olivier, plus his Oscar.
“how does Bendy get a CBE for LOSING the Oscar”
Oh, Kaiser, I love you. That did make me larf.
BTW: Nigel Evans is all over the air waves at the moment. He’s been off them for a while because he was accused of rape but was acquitted at trial. Now he’s back in the fold, he’s running about doing rent-a-mouth stuff on every political or current affairs show there is. He probably bit off the Sun’s hand for a chance to sound off. It all goes to rehabilitating the image. Although, in fairness, he does sit on the parliamentary culture committee.
Seeing that he is on the parliamentary committee, he should know that a nomination isn’t a win. And BC has the option of turning it down like Benjamin Zephaniah (sp).
Unless he is really saying that a nomination IS a win. In which case, i’m going to lobby my MP to nominate me even though I’ve done nothing to deserve one.
Also, isn’t he breaking the rule of announcing all the winners together in one batch? why leak BC’s potential win.
My husband says he prefers those who refuse them
LAK – you get brownie points for a mention of my best boo, Ben Zephaniah. Did you notice he had a cameo in Peaky Blinders? I love that man.
Honestly? I think Evans is just trying to get back into the mainstream by commenting on anything and everything where anyone will let him. If I see him pop up on Daily Politics once more, I’ll spit tacks.
I don’t think he has any real opinion on it beyond hearing his own voice, to be truthful.
@LAK, highly doubtful that he would turn it down. He is way too thirsty. Likely he campaigned for this for the past two years, hoping it would cap off his triumphant awards season
Think it’d look worse if he turned it down. It’d be perceived as a snub or waiting for knighthood in his case.
Nigel is just terrible.
that was how they put it in the mirror which I have to say put a whole new slant on the CBE.
They dole these things out too freely to actors and musicians regardless – I’m not sure why Cumberbatch is coming in for all the hate based on a rumour, at least he seems to be a reasonably clean living kind of person. They’ve given them in the past to musicians with past drugs convictions which always seems a bit wrong to me.
The director Michael Winner was criticised for turning his down and saying that the CBE was for lollipop ladies who’ve worked the same patch for 30 years (I can’t remember his exact wording but it was along those lines). People thought he was being patronising, but what he actually meant was that privileged people working nice jobs in the arts aren’t the people who deserve awards, it’s the people who service the community for low pay or in voluntary positions who deserve recognition. I always thought he made a great point there.
And those worthy people – like my neighbour, who’s a little old lady but who has raised almost half a million quid for charity over the last twenty years – only ever get MBEs. They don’t get CBEs. (My neighbour got an MBE).
Sixer’s neighbor and all the regular people like her for all the honors
Yep – that’s another hideous bit of imbalance in the system.
Your neighbour sounds great
Cumbebatch is a terrific actor but I have to agree they are rolling out the big honours too early in his career.
Ejiofor has an OBE for instance and you could argue that his acting career is more critically lauded over a sustained period of time, as well as the progressive element, leading parts in Chekhov, coward parts, parts in classical plays traditionally reserved for white males.
It begins
Wow. Harsh. 15 minutes stretched to 16? Flavor of the month? I don’t think I’d go that far, BC has genuine talent, just not a long resume. But I agree with the critics in general.
I really don’t care one way or the other. But I think that agent is probably jealous. Either BC left him and became famous with a new agent or he lobbied BC and he turned him down. You can critize his character or personal life but his talent is clear as day. This is from someone who only saw 1 episode of Sherlock. I am judging his other works.
Read the critical positions. He has loads of talent, true. But the CBE is meant to reward sustained demonstrations of that talent – not the potential for achievement.
It doesn’t seem that way, going by the criteria.
OBE: ‘a major local role in any activity, including people whose work has made them known nationally in their chosen area.’
CBE: ‘a prominent but lesser role at national level, or a leading role at regional level.’
He’s like in between OBE and CBE, maybe? He’s not just locally known now, had an Oscar nom, won an Emmy, and Sherlock is big globally.
The Knighthood and Companion of Honour are the two that cite it’s got to be for a long/sustained period of time.
I also side-eyed Damian Lewis’ knighthood last year. Sure, he’s a good actor, but he’s one of many and still relatively young. I highly doubt he’d have been knighted had he been educated at a comprehensive in Newcastle rather than at Eton. I also suspect Cumberbatch’s private education won him points at Buck palace too.
TBH, I’m not really keen on the idea of actors getting these honours at all, unless maybe it’s a lifetime award. Actors have their own awards. Why should they be singled out just for doing a job they get very well rewarded for?
I think you mean Sir Daniel Day Lewis about the knighthood? He didn’t go to Eton and his career speaks for itself.
Damien Lewis has an OBE which I think is fair enough to be honest. he’s worked a lot for years and is an ambassador to a number of charities, same reason I think if Bendy was to get one it would be fair enough.
Maybe ‘knighthood’ was the wrong term, but no, I do mean Damian Lewis. He’s a good actor but too young to receive an ‘honour’ like this. Particularly as he’s best known for playing Americans, so it’s not like he’s ‘representing British culture’ or anything.
And being an ‘ambassador’ for a charity is often pretty meaningless, though don’t know in his particular case. I’d rather see unknown people who slog day in day out for charity being recognised, not a pampered actor.
Damian Lewis isn’t best known for playing Americans. He currently has a well publicised part in a well publicised american show, but he was a star in Britain long before that AND he put in the theatre work.
That’s like saying Hugh Laurie is best known for playing Americans based on his role in House!
I didn’t say Lewis only played Americans.
But it is a fact that his best known role – including in Britain itself – is on ‘Homeland’, where he played an American. And in the show which made him a star, ”Band of Brothers”, he also played an American. So my point stands.
and one of the best actors around
I don’t really understand the levels of awards, here. I understand the argument for waiting a longer period of time to see how, ultimately, a career goes. But the hollering seems to also give the impression that some would like age requirements. If that is their problem, why not just add the age requirements? The flip side of that is that IS AGE really the determinant?
I have no horse in the race, one way or another.
I don’t particularly think age should be a requirement either. And often, it isn’t. Sports people get honours while they’re still young. The occasional youth activist (charity activism rather than political activism) gets thrown an MBE – think teenage cancer sufferer who raised public health awareness, for example.
I think the main issue really is that it would be unusual to go straight to a CBE, when the BE honours go MBE > OBE > CBE > KBE/DBE. Most people would get an MBE or an OBE first, and then get upgraded, as it were, if they continued to give further service.
Underlying it all, Kiddo, is the usual British classism. Why would Bendy, of all people, be the one to go straight to CBE? Could it be class and connections? You know?
I suspect major bum kissing in the Prince’s Trust over the past year plus the classicism. I really could understand one of the lower rankings for him but a CBE just raises questions. He is a good actor, but so are many others, and he really is not that well known.
Absolutely, the Prince’s Trust is the “right” sort of charity to support if you like the idea of an honour. And I am not trashing the Prince’s Trust by saying this, because it really is a fabulous charity with excellent programmes and a realist attitude. But nevertheless, it’s headed by Charles and a good bet for honours-chasers.
Bendy’s involvement seems pretty much limited to turning up to shindigs, not getting involved in any of the programmes, or spreading awareness of any of its campaigns, so I would be inclined to agree with you, Lilac.
Thanks guys.
nah, he’s done non-shindig stuff for the prince’s trust, like the bike thing, the book thing, the boring types of fundraisers, etc.
that stuff though you won’t know about unless you see a blurry pic or something on twitter b/c there’s little media interest in it for whatever reasons
I now have an image of Charles with Benedict that I must erase from my brain immediately. Thank God for Idris Elba pictures
@Sixer So basically the ‘controversy’ here is an ‘everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten’ bullet point? Don’t be a line cutter?
At the risk of flashing everyone with my American-ness, this whole process just seems like a serf getting a pat on the head from a feudal lord.
@PrettyBlueFox
Don’t get too carried away! I think it’s probably a more moderate take-away: generally, the BE honours are a good thing (by far the largest number of awards go to the non-famous hoi polloi who are pleased to get them; most of the higher awards are genuinely given to people who have enhanced the reputation of the country in their field; etc etc) but, thanks to heritable privilege, it’s possible to be line-cutter and get a higher award than you would have if you didn’t have the heritable privilege. And that there is the backlash. If there was no backlash, you’d be entirely right but since there is, you should probably moderate slightly.
If that makes sense!
Thanks, Sixer, I think I understand what you’re saying – getting a BE honour is a positive thing in and of itself, but as with anything in life privilege can rear its head and needs to be acknowledged when it does? And as it has been in this case. (The only time this particular aspect of the English monarchy seems to blip on my radar is when famous people get knighted, so I definitely admit I’m very ignorant of the finer details.)
PBF: that’s it, exactly. Also good to know: the honours have nothing at all to do with the royals other than the nomenclature and the award ceremony – various bodies nominate people, the public can get a form from any Post Office and nominate people, and a committee looks at the nominations then makes the award. The whole “royal” association is just a tradition thing. Only a couple of the honours – and none in the BE system – are actually the personal gift of the monarch.
Not an Otter-loonie. I just came here to say that I always think his wife is Jennifer Love Hewitt on first glance.
He’s big in Asia (China, Japan, Korea). Becoming some sort of ambassador for Britain there. Maybe that also what was in consideration. You can’t say the same of other English actor, his age or older.
most of the marvel actors are popular in china-i really doubt that comes into to it-but yes the Princes Trust might have helped.
I’ve been trying to post that on the Fail but no luck. I personally thought the BBC had a big part in that deal-mucho pounds for Sherlock theme.
Not only that, he sold 30,000 to Hamlet in 20 minutes-that’s like 3 million pounds in tickets alone. Not to mention hotel rooms, restaurant services, tourist stops, etc. For all of us coming to London. He’s generating some serious cash for London and England.
That alone, in addition to the impressive body of work he’s done in 13 years, has to count for something.
yes but it is fleeting-the most sort out tickets in London are the seats for Brannah’s new company which includes Judy Dench in a new Shakespeare.
Plus the Hamlet sell out was a PR/HYPE led driven by his fans and the media.I was able to book a front row seat the day before they went on public sale as did many others who are regular theatre goers
3 million pounds is OTT-my front row ticket was £60. if theatre was making that amount the subsidised theatre would not be necessary.
Barbican received government funding during the building process and it takes subsidised theatre like the Royal Shakespeare company when it moves up to London .It also has a wider remit in terms of presentation of o music and works from over seas like Japan which I suspect will be subsidised.I have gone to see several ancient Greek works like Antigone which is not west end fodder are not been there a few times and the tickets are not that expensive.
Plus London theatre attracts people from all over the world and his contribution to the tourist economy would count for very little when you consider people fly in regularly for a week of theatre sometimes several times a year
sherlock makes the bbc a ton of bread
it’s now their most licensed show globally, 200+ territories or something ridiculous
It does count, anon121. They look at revenue brought into the country in things the candidate is a material part of.
So does Dr Who ,Top Gear ,Down Town Abbey etc so nothing exceptional there.
I think my problem with Cumberbatch is that, while he’s a perfectly fine actor, he’s been overhyped beyond belief. This is partly his own fault (he’s a consummate hustler who will attend the opening of an envelope if the “right” people are there) and partly the fault of the media.
It’s like they signed some weird pact a couple of years ago to elevate him into the new hope of the British drama scene, and all because of 9 episodes of Sherlock, competent supporting performances in mediocre films, a couple of villain roles, and hamming it up in the most Oscar-baity movie of last year.
He’s talented. But nothing special.
Agreed. He’s good but so are several other actors of his generation. And other than Sherlock, he hasn’t had any outstanding roles.
I agree – he’s talented but in comparison to other Brit actors in his age group he’s outclassed (in both talent and maturity in dealing with the craziness).
The other problem i have with his is his ego – that’s bigger than his career. He’s bought into the media (over)hype and while he’s always been a pretentious snob he was never as bad as he’s been in the past few years.
He’s also very immature – the photobombing at the Oscars was a perfect example of this – he did it for the media attention it got him. As others have said he is thirsty as a desert for international Hollywood fame. Hopefully the pregnancy has made him grow up – his childish antics was is not how a mature, serious person behaves.
I have to agree with this, especially when compared to other late 30-something actors. He’s fantastic as Sherlock Holmes, but has been underwhelming in everything else I’ve seen him in.
Like Rory Kinnear? Or Cillian Murphy? David Oyelowo? Colin Farrell? Dominic Cooper? Michael Fassbender? Tom Hardy?
I agree -i may not always like Kinnears performance but he has more awards etc under his belt and is a far better actor and Benny is not even in the same league as Fassy.
I don’t care for half those actors, lol. Murphy is hit or mess for me especially.
This seems like a non-troversy. Far as I can tell, the only people upset are DM Tories, who are also complaining about Redmayne and Henry, and rags pulling stories from DM because they want that delicious clickbait.
Nigel Evans needs to disappear for real, ugh
This ^
The Fail comment section has always been a mix of critics, but it used to be a little more reasonable. Now the skeptic weirdos and the nutters obsessed with knocking Cumberbatch down a peg like it’s a social cause also flood it, the latter not being those with genuine criticism but the types who comment incessantly all over and turn it into a hobby.
It is a little disheartening that they ran a quote from Evans and no one minded though. Taking out the rape allegations (he was found innocent but tbh I think something happened), he’s done some messed up shit.
I second that. So good in Sherlock, but that’s about it. But that’s not even the point. He’s an actor, they should really stop giving Queen’s awards to people for doing their (well paid) job. I frankly have more respect for artists who refuse them (so many of them, but Bowie above all :)). Anyway, this past year he’s been showing his true colours and they ain’t pretty.
I agree with all of you fine ladies. Took the words right outta my fingers.
Farrell,Fassbender and Murphy are all Irish, not British, so could only be offered honorary honours.
Another mark in favor of Colin Firth is that he won he Oscar for his portrayal of the Queen’s father. A sympathetic and enlightening portrait. I have read that she was pleased with The King’s Speech.
It’s just been confirmed that he has been awarded the CBE through various articles which i don’t know how to link. Yes…this shows i’m not very internet savvy.
Nothing will be confirmed until tomorrow when the official list is released and the “tabloid rumours’ have been wrong before. If true his PR are leaking – the press wouldn’t dare break an embargo as they will get sued.
The nomination would have had to have been submitted months ago so i imagine it was done during the time when the was the favourite to win everything. I wonder if he hustled for this with the same vigour as he showed for his Oscar campaign – yes sarcasm as we all know he didn’t much.
Again if true, am puzzled as to WHY he’s getting any honour, he hasn’t done anything of note to deserve it. Usually if its for charity work it’s for work that has had a profile over a long period of time – like how Jolie is with her work for the UN.
Everything is coming up Cumberbatch. And as many people said before, others in his field should be getting this before he does. He sure is on a winning streak lately. He’s still out in the media when I thought he’d go away. Something to be said for tenacity and a great PR team.
Honors are not a competition. There is no 1st, 2nd, 3rd place like in sports when if someone wins it means somebody else loses. Why is everyone taking it so personally? Why is the need to throw mud at a person, bring him down just to elevate somebody else?
Cumberbatch deserves it. If you think it is too early, what would change by giving it to him 5 years later? I am 100% sure he’ll end up as a Sir eventually. He wants it, he hustles, he’ll get it. Nothing wrong with that.
This is how the world works. You have to put yourself out there and work for it, promote yourself. I do it in my job too. It would be nice to just sit back, relax and assume that everybody will notice how awesome I am. Ha! This is not how it works and I am not going to let others pass me by just because I want to be above it all. I am not above it all. Even though I detest self-promotion I do it.
I can only speak for myself but what has turned me off a bit is his seeming like hes above self promotion. He kind of always hints at and acts like he doesnt do it or that hes doing it with a gun to his head and hates it.
I am like you, i have no issue with it and i said as much when he was out and about early 2014. He hustles and why shouldnt he but own it and ive yet to see him do that. He seems to want to have it both ways and thats just not realistic.
> his seeming like hes above self promotion. He kind of always hints at and acts like he doesnt do it or that hes doing it with a gun to his head and hates it.
it is the game we all have to play. The “polite” society expects us to pretend that we don’t care too much, otherwise we are “too thirsty”, ” too aggressive”. It is especially true for women. You have to self promote and at the same time look like you don’t know what you are doing and it all happened by accident or you are just there because you love your job so much, you are willingly sacrificing your personal time and life for it.
I think British posh society is very similar because for a long time aristocrats weren’t supposed to work or do anything other than serve the king/ queen. They were supposed to be genteel and above it all. And it is still expected today.
There’s a big difference between pretending like you don’t care and don’t self promote to actively going out of your way to complain about people taking your picture and what the media says about you. Especially when you’re courting that attention so blatantly.
He might actually hate it but believe it’s 100% necessary. Still has to deal with that though.
I’m with @Absolutely. Everyone has to hustle to get ahead, I’m not giving him side-eye for that. What bugs me is that BC can’t seem to keep his mouth shut about how much he dislikes some aspects of the public spotlight. Gosh Ben, if tawdry self-promotion is really that distasteful to you then stop doing it. Sure you may not reach mega-stardom, but there are many, many talented actors who don’t and still have long, varied careers and manage to put a roof over their head and feed their family. If the life of a jobbing actor it not what you want, then shut up already and just get on with it.
The promo work for Doctor Strange is going to be a marathon and if he bitches and moans his way through it then Marvel is not going to get my money – even with Tilda and Chiwetel on board.
I’d assume he’d seen actors go from the top to no work and financially screwed growing up. That’s why I posited he may literally feel he has to.
Maybe I’m too emphatically but he seems more burned out than anything else to me, like he made the typical mistake of pushing past your limits.
Do think he’ll be fine for Hamlet/DS.
Out of curiosity, because Google isn’t helping me, has the great Bill Nighy received any honors?
He turned it down along with and according to the list I found so did Kate Winslet AND Gary Barlow, David Bowie, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn Fench, John Lennon, Alfred Hitchcok, Nigella Lawson, Albert Finney, Roald Dahl, Vanessa Redgrave, Jon Snow, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Paul Weller.
Redgrave and Winslet are CBEs. Barlow is an OBE.
Plenty of people have accepted it, turned it down, or turned it down only to accept something later.
hitchcock got knighthood, he held out lol
Dahl turned down an OBE or CBE, can’t recall, specifically because he wanted a knighthood so his wife had a title.
Agreed a million times with everyone who says an OBE or MBE would be merited. He’s worked his way up from bit parts and BBC Radio to big Hollywood films. And still isn’t too good to do books on tape. He’s always involved with charities too. He needs longer yet for a CBE, but one of the other two is well deserved.
Plus, he IS a very good actor. He just keeps getting shoved into period costumes and “misunderstood British guy” roles. Khan showed he has the chops for more. Dr. Strange is another genius thing, but I think he may be able to show us more if all goes well. He’s getting type cast because of Sherlock and his old world looks. He’s got to find a way to break out from that because he’s good.
The weirdness surrounding the way he went about introducing his wife into the mix has soured some and just given ammo to people who would bitterly call him a “posho toff” anyway. Poor man can’t catch a break this year. Don’t worry Bendy! I still love you! LOL…
Chiwetel Ejiofor: CBE for services to Drama
Benedict Cumberbatch: CBE for services to the performing arts and charity
Eddie Redmayne: OBE for services to Drama
Congratulations to all three actors and I note that both Chiwetel and Eddie are younger than Benedict.
And I note that OBE is a lesser honor in rank than CBE. Ejiofor already had an OBE and his CBE is an upgrade. His honors follow the normal course. And he’s not that much younger.
Chiwetel is one of our highly respected actors both on stage and screen and comes with many well earned awards-good on him because he has received the awards and respect coupled with difficulties many ethnic actors have to face makes it even more worthy.
“And still isn’t too good to do books on tape.”
Meryl Streep still does books on tape so not sure what you were going for with that.
agree -a lot of UK actors do books on tapes
Its official Bendy’s getting a CBE for services to the performing arts and charity – well done but make sure and thank the Princes Trust for it.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/queens-birthday-honours-list.
While the person who actually won the Oscar gets an OBE – well done Eddie. Stephen Moffat – who created Sherlock and made Bendy famous – gets an OBE, well done and Chiwetel Ejiofor gets an CBE for services to drama, again well done.
Well done to those who actually deserved their honours – such as Kevin Spacey (an Honorary Knighthood -he can’t be called Sir as he’s not a British Citizen), Lenny Henry (or SIR Lenny Henry), Michael Ball, SIr Van Morrison and all the other people who have dedicated their lives to helping others or have given their lives for others.
To be clear I’m not against him getting an honour – just the one he was given as i don’t feel it’s deserved.
Yeah Michael Ball! I’ve seen him many times in the West End and on Broadway. Bendy…whatever.
Wonder what they’ll name to baby boy.
It’s official. The Mirror just announced it. And Sir Jonathan Stevens, chairman of the honors committee, is mightily pissed that Ben and Henry’s honor leaked. There’s about 1100 recipients. Poor Eddie Redmayne only gets an OBE. Moffat gets one too. Wonder who leaked?
Its usually someone close to the recipients – PR or a big mouthed family member.
so he can already clear a space on his mantle for the Cecil B Demille Award, Honorary Academy Award and the BAFTA Fellowship he will receive next year, can’t he?
So many is out for poor BC’s blood now. Why do I get the feeling that BC’s life has become a 21st century version life parallel to his Tietjens character from the beginning of the last century?. I guess it is true after all, life imitates art. It must be the Truman show, Sorry the Cumberbatch show. The media…..hm.
I don’t think it is that – CBE’s are generally given to those in the performing arts who have had long prolific careers or who have done a lot to raise the profile of the British Industry – Bendy isn’t famous enough for both, yet – so there is a felling that he only got the CBE because of his celebrity status within the UK as the current IT boy. Even with his charity work an OBE is the level at which he should have been nominated at – then worked up to the CBE (which is just before a Knighthood) when he became more established in the international arena.
Excuse the ignorance on my part as I’m Canadian and don’t really understand these awards but why did the actor who actually won the Oscar get a lower “award” and Bendy gets a higher “award”? Aren’t these awards supposed to be earned by charity work and contributions in their field? I guess Cumberbatch does more charity work than he lets on. And he gets a higher award than the person who created the role made him famous on the world stage (Moffat)? I’d feel bad about that.
– CBE’s are generally given to those in the performing arts who have had long prolific careers or who have done a lot to raise the profile of the British Industry – Bendy isn’t famous enough for both, yet –
I’m sorry, but I’m from a third world country in Asia, and because of Mr. Cumberbatch, CBE, I now know more about Sherlock Holmes and Shakespeare. I now know something about Alan Turing, Rumpole, Patrick Melrose, etc. Something that I’m sure a lot of his Asian fans share. That sounds like “raising the profile of British industry” to me. You may not be a fan, or can’t stand him or whatever but he did made an impact and that’s real and should be acknowledge.
Also you said that he is not yet established in the international arena, which is wrong cause he is. Unless by international you mean just America.
Apparently Chiwetel Ejiofo ,Lenny Henry also received Top honours
@sofaandpotato-Ben does a HUGE amount of work for charity. He has been ambassador for the Prince’s Trust and has worked directly with poorer London residents. He is an ambassador for ALS. He’s done numerous walks, bike rides, as well as dinners and events to attract well heeled donors. Letters Live, which he put together with Canongate was for charity. He’s also always donating drawings, cards, and clothes to charity auctions (remember the sparkly shoes?) He’s also been doing it for at least 10 years so not surprised at the CBE over Eddie.
@anon121– Wow! I didn’t know he did all that stuff for charity! Thanks for the sharing!
Also patron of 3 theaters and some drama program.
I saw people discussing this today, credit to them lol
that is not unusual for actors to take on charity work etc along side their charity work -some are just more self effacing about it
If we’re doing Tietjens parallels, does that extend to his wife and child?
I don’t think so. But the knives are out for him from the media and some fans. Those nasty little rumors that cannot be proven that seem to follow him and his wife are just like pulling the strings of the shower bath.
“I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that,” he said. “I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.” – David Bowie on turning down a knighthood in 2003.
Don’t you just adore him? So glad I have been a fan of his all my life; he’s never let me down (except with the eponymous album, but we all have our bad days :)).
IT’S A BOY!
The Cumberbabe has arrived according to People Magazine. It’s a boy! Congratulations
The article is dated the 8th? Wonder was it held for some reason, cough. Remember they want their privacy respected also.
Did anyone notice the People article on bouncing, baby boy Cumberbatch was written FIVE days ago, but only posted today?
Conspiracies in 10, 9, 8….
That’s weird.. but whatever…
Either they held it back to go with the CBE announcement, which is a good move, or they expected the baby to be born this week and it was just pre-written for release when she had him.
Both scenarios are pretty par for the course, no conspiracies apply 😉
I go with the fact they held it back to go with the CBE announcement. Well, congrats anyway. At least now we’ll finally see SH without belly;
Good luck with preparing for Hamlet with a screaming baby around. That will be almost as fun as the past few months.
The future husband of princess Charlotte is born! Yeah!!!
Congratulations to both BC and his wife!
It is too early. It was like giving a nobel prize for peace to Barack Obama who then continued the drone wars and the feeding of the IS (islamic state). Supporting questionable groups with unknown political ideas in civil wars just won’t create peace.
Though the Royal Family has a problem: today’s media is so fast that yesterday’s news are practically worthless. Now the RF is about continuity and long term thinking and that is not very compatible with today’s media world.