Portrayals
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the first person to portray Professor Challenger, dressing and making up as the professor for a photograph he wanted included in The Lost World's initial serialized publication in the Strand Magazine. The editor refused, feeling that such hoaxes were potentially damaging. Hodder & Stoughton had no such qualms and featured the image in the first book edition.
- Wallace Beery played Challenger in the classic 1925 film version of The Lost World.
- Francis L. Sullivan had the role of the professor in 1944 BBC radio adaptations of The Lost World and The Poison Belt. The latter was the only known dramatization of any of Doyle's own Challenger sequels until 2011. See below.
- Claude Rains played him in The Lost World's 1960 film version.
- in 1966, Basil Rathbone played Professor Challenger in Dinosaurs!, a radio-style audio adaptation of The Lost World released on MGM/Leo the Lion Records C/CH-1016. In this version, the character of Lord John Roxton was not included.
- in 1975, BBC Radio 4 broadcast The Lost World with Francis de Wolff as Challenger, Gerald Harper, Carol Boyd and Carleton Hobbs.
- John Rhys-Davies was Challenger in the 1992 film version and its sequel (from the same year), Return to the Lost World.
- Armin Shimerman took the role in a radio-style audio cassette/compact disc adaptation from Alien Voices in 1997.
- Patrick Bergin played the angry professor in the 1998 film version.
- Peter McCauley had the role of G.E. Challenger in the early 1999 cable-TV movie adaptation and the subsequent 1999–2002 television series.
- A 2001 TV movie adaptation with Bob Hoskins portraying Professor Challenger. Airing in the UK in two parts over Christmas Day and Boxing Day in 2001, it was the first British film adaptation. Directed by Christopher Hall and Tim Haines, producers of the BBC's dinosaur documentary Walking with Dinosaurs, this BBC/A&E version (like all the other films) adds a female member to the expedition; here, she's the ward of an unsympathetic Christian missionary.
- In the 2005 film King of the Lost World, by The Asylum, Professor Challenger is remodelled as the United States Air Force officer Lieutenant Challenger, and is portrayed by Bruce Boxleitner.
- In March 2011 the first ever BBC Radio adaptations of When the World Screamed and The Disintegration Machine were announced, with Bill Paterson playing the professor in a specially commissioned series for BBC Radio 7. These were broadcast on 19 and 26 March, respectively.
- On 20 and 27 March 2011, on the Classic Serial programme strand, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a two-part adaptation of The Lost World dramatised by Chris Harrald, directed by Marilyn Imrie and starring David Robb as Challenger and Jamie Glover as Roxton. In this version, Dr. Summerlee is now female, Dr. Diana Summerlee, played by Jasmine Hyde.
Read more about this topic: Professor Challenger
Famous quotes containing the word portrayals:
“We attempt to remember our collective American childhood, the way it was, but what we often remember is a combination of real past, pieces reshaped by bitterness and love, and, of course, the video past—the portrayals of family life on such television programs as “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” and all the rest.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)