NF Gettysburg-Richard Jordan

[M Anthony Young]

Watched "Gettysburg" yesterday for the zillionth time. Touched by a lovely performance by Richard Jordan as Armistead in Longstreet's tent when he's talking about his relationship with Hancock and their final farewell. Jordan saves it from sinking into the maudlin. I doubt if he personally was ever better and I think he was dying at the time. The scene says a lot about the war and the soldiers who fought it.
Micky.

 

[FarawayFriend]

I totally agree.
Knowing that would soon have to say his last farewell sure added a sincere sadness and authenticity to his acting. In this scene and the one at the angle. We can only guess what Jordan must have felt when filming that scene. It was not a death scene, though.
Lewis "Lothario" Armistead did not die on the battlefield, he died two days later in a Union field hospital.

 

[LadyReenactress]

He gave such an outstanding performance in Gettysburg, it's a shame he didn't get any award nominations, because he really hit that role out of the park. One of the other actors in Gettysburg said that before his death, RJ had an operation to remove his brain tumor, and it was successful, but unfortunately (according to them) the surgery caused permanent brain damage where he could no longer write, and had trouble speaking, and there were memory issues. I imagine that would have been very depressing, and it was his actor friend's opinion that RJ just gave up on life, and didn't want to see anyone, although they said the one thing he did enjoy in his final months was taking care of his roses.

On the other side of that, I've also read that just a few weeks before his death Ronald Maxwell showed RJ a rough cut of Gettysburg, and he was very moved by it, so... hopefully it wasn't as depressing an end as one of his actor friends alluded to.

Anyway, I noticed there wasn't a page for him on Facebook, so I created one a few days ago, it's called "Richard Jordan Tribute Page" if you want to check it out. (Didn't know if we're allowed to post social media links, but hope it's ok to mention it here.) Just thought there should be a place where people can remember him, and honor his memory and all the wonderful performances he's given.

 

[captaindrew]

He gave such an outstanding performance in Gettysburg, it's a shame he didn't get any award nominations, because he really hit that role out of the park. One of the other actors in Gettysburg said that before his death, RJ had an operation to remove his brain tumor, and it was successful, but unfortunately (according to them) the surgery caused permanent brain damage where he could no longer write, and had trouble speaking, and there were memory issues. I imagine that would have been very depressing, and it was his actor friend's opinion that RJ just gave up on life, and didn't want to see anyone, although they said the one thing he did enjoy in his final months was taking care of his roses.

On the other side of that, I've also read that just a few weeks before his death Ronald Maxwell showed RJ a rough cut of Gettysburg, and he was very moved by it, so... hopefully it wasn't as depressing an end as one of his actor friends alluded to.

Anyway, I noticed there wasn't a page for him on Facebook, so I created one a few days ago, it's called "Richard Jordan Tribute Page" if you want to check it out. (Didn't know if we're allowed to post social media links, but hope it's ok to mention it here.) Just thought there should be a place where people can remember him, and honor his memory and all the wonderful performances he's given.

That's pretty cool. No issue with posting links, just have to be careful with photos that aren't your own.

 

[milhistbuff1]

Mr. Jordan's performance inspired me to read John Kukla's Patrick Henry bio via the line about Col. Aylett. Always respected and enjoyed his performance as Armistead.

 

[RedRover]

Here's a brief clip of Mr. Jordan on the set of "The Killer Angels" (before the production was renamed "Gettysburg") in the summer of 1992 at 44 seconds...

 

[LadyReenactress]

Thanks so much for posting the video, RedRover! Good to have links like that for his FB Tribute page