James Fox is persuasive as men whose social position has spared them awkward questions. We rate him most when a film tests their judgement, though repeated upper-class casting can make his work seem narrower than it is.
Fi1m perspective
Lord Darlington's authority in The Remains of the Day (1993) is easy to accept, which is part of the trouble. James Fox makes him seem at home in a society whose rules have gone largely unquestioned. We rate this supporting performance highly because he helps us understand why those rules hold. A plainly ridiculous aristocrat would give the film much less to work with.
The association with such men goes back to Tony, his breakthrough leading role in The Servant (1963). Performance (1970), with Fox as Chas Devlin opposite Mick Jagger, is the necessary reminder that his early work also included more intense parts. After a break from acting, he returned as a character actor, often playing upper-class or authoritative men. His Cyril Fielding in A Passage to India (1984) belongs to that return. By Darlington, the resemblance to his earlier aristocratic casting has become something a film can put to use.
James Ivory gets particular value from that familiarity in The Remains of the Day. Jhabvala's screenplay questions the rules these people accept without stopping every conversation to explain the objection, and Fox gives those exchanges a credible figure of authority. We were unsettled because he made deference to Darlington look so reasonable. Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson carry the painful romance, but Fox helps make the social order behind it credible. His contribution needs that patient writing; casting him is not enough on its own.
There is a risk of predictability in returning so often to patricians. A film can rely on his assurance and forget to give him much else to play. Harry, his gangster role in Sexy Beast (2000), is a useful reminder to look beyond the establishment casting. We would rather see a director test that composure than use it merely to establish who matters in a room. Start with The Remains of the Day, and notice how much depends on finding Darlington plausible.
Biography
James Fox (born William Fox, 19 May 1939) is an English actor. He is a member of the Fox family of actors and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
Fox began his career in the 1960s with leading roles in films including The Servant (1963), for which he won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) and Performance (1970). He took a break from acting in the 1970s to pursue evangelical Christian work before returning in the early 1980s.
His later credits include A Passage to India (1984), Patriot Games (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993) as Lord Darlington, Sexy Beast (2001), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Sherlock Holmes (2009).
