I checked what else Dennis Christopher was in TV-wise and found he was a recurring on Deadwood. Played one of the theatre troupe members, Bellegarde ? Was he the older man [the non-Brian Cox one], or the young, foppish blonde guy? The younger guy, wasn't he? Surprised that he played Cyvus Vail on Angel. Would've expected someone older under the red make-up and prosthetics.

Kris | October 12, 05:21 CET

He was also one of the best characters, IMO, ever in a television series as the only real 'Jack of all Trades' from the Profiler, he even had is own website at the time. Which I did not know until I met him at Joss's Fundraiser back in 2004, he is the nicest guy you could ever want to meet.

RavenU | October 12, 06:19 CET

Well, of course it caused an uproar with librarians. We get used to Rupert Giles as our role model and then they try to fob an 80 year old on us? It's just not on.

Lioness | October 12, 06:22 CET

Kris, he doesn't look it, but Dennis Christopher will be 51 soon. He starred in Breaking Away in 1979, I believe, which was nominated for several Oscars including Best Picture and won for screenplay. Dennis himself, I believe, won most promising newcomer or somesuch at the Baftas. He also played a mean psycho nutjob in Fade to Black (he pulled it off well) and was featured in several Moonlighting episodes. I could be remembering wrong, but I think he and Curtis Armstrong both vied for the attentions of the receptionist played by Allyce Beasley.

jaynelovesvera | October 12, 07:05 CET

Chuckling at the fact that although they are shouting that they aren't like that, there is a 67 year old amongst them. The stereotype probably owes something to age = wisdom, though, so while I understand the complaint, I also shake my head and chuckle.

zeitgeist | October 12, 18:28 CET

Hm, the stereotype is definitely more negative than "wisdom". For instance, Mary in It's A Wonderful Life - in the alternate lifeline she's a librarian and is disparagingly called "an old maid"! I'd bet pounds to pennies that the real 67-year-old librarian in Santa Fe appears more vibrant and savvy than the portrayal in Lost Room. We shall see!

I have a teeensy brush with celebrity here, in that I was the ASM for Berkeley Repertory Theatre's production of Revenger's Tragedy. Drats, there's absolutely nothing online to cite for this, so you'll have to take my word for it that I stuffed Dennis Christopher down an offstage trapdoor every night for 6 weeks!

ohbejoyful | October 13, 00:05 CET

Oh, I'm not saying there isn't more to it than that, I'm just saying that it isn't exactly damning to cast an older lady (although part of the stereotype is old) and as no one really knows what the portrayal is of this librarian aside from age, its probably premature to protest.

zeitgeist | October 13, 00:32 CET

zeitgeist, the stereotype of age = wisdom is just that. However, there is a very real phenomenom shared by many people as they get old: not the acquisition of greater wisdom, but rather a wistfulness for the certainties of youthful beliefs combined with the realization that, in one's youth one was completely incapable, despite any amount of intelligence, of understanding the foolishness of holding such certainty in some of them. To me this is best expressed by Dylan's "My Back Pages"--I know he's white but it's the best example--which includes the chorus:

I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

And that's the least evocative line in the song.

jaynelovesvera | October 13, 00:50 CET

Great catch, jlv and great quote, even from a white Minnesota boy like Dylan ;)

zeitgeist | October 13, 00:52 CET

Oh, absolutely.

ohbejoyful | October 13, 02:03 CET