Stephen Fry is good company on screen, with a verbal precision that can be funny in itself. We rate him most when a role also gives him room to be vulnerable.
Fi1m perspective
Stephen Fry delivers an elaborate sentence as though there were nothing troublesome about it. The precise delivery and substantial physical presence suit the authoritative Englishmen he is often asked to play. We value him most when he makes that assurance companionable, as Peter Morton in Peter's Friends (1992). There is a pleasure in watching someone so verbally assured settle into a group without having to provide its entire entertainment. He is an asset to that film, though he cannot tidy up its crowded script.
His work with Hugh Laurie made those verbal skills central. A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1989–1995) gave them the freedom of sketches, while Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993) put Fry's dry delivery into the recurring role of Jeeves. The wordplay needs timing as well as vocabulary. Fry's control of both explains the appeal more usefully than simply calling him erudite.
In Peter's Friends, director Kenneth Branagh is also alongside him as Andrew Benson, and the two are enjoyable company. It is a funny, worthwhile reunion comedy, but Emma Thompson and Imelda Staunton supply much of its weight, and the writing is less dependable than the cast. We grew impatient as the personal crises took their allotted turns; we began noticing the organisation instead of listening to the people. Fry cannot make those transitions feel less arranged. We recommend the film with that reservation, rather than expecting an agreeable cast to make every difficulty disappear.
Wilde (1997) gave him a leading role and more opportunity to let vulnerability sit alongside wit. His sympathetic performance makes a persuasive case for giving him more to do than deliver the clever lines. Later supporting work includes Dietrich in V for Vendetta (2006) and a part in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). For a fuller sense of what he can do with a leading part, choose Wilde.
Biography
Stephen Fry is an English actor, comedian and writer. Born in Hampstead, London, he first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue and later formed the comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Hugh Laurie.
His film roles include Peter Morton in Peter's Friends (1992), Oscar Wilde in Wilde (1997), Dietrich in V for Vendetta (2005), the narrator in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (2010) and its sequel, and the Master of Lake-town in the Hobbit films (2013–2014). He also appeared in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011).
On television he played Melchett in Blackadder and hosted QI. He has written novels and autobiographies, and contributed to newspapers and magazines.
