One Title to Rule Them All: Peter Jackson, Patrick Stewart Get Knighted

E! Online ^ | December 31, 2009 | Josh Grossberg

[EveningStar]

...In a host of end-of-year honors, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson and Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart were both feted with knighthood by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II...

[Finny]

Yeah, right. You speak from experience?

What have you got against Peter Jackson?

[Finny]

I've met William Shatner. His butt isn't flabby. I think it's your brain that's flabby, dear!

[thefactor]

I just wanted to use the term nutless monkey and figured that was a good a spot as any. Sorry to get your vinegar up.

[Richard Kimball]

[Finny]

I just wanted to use the term nutless monkey and figured that was a good a spot as any. Sorry to get your vinegar up.

*sputter* LOL!!! Thanks for the GREAT response! Maybe 2010 will be pretty good after all, with such an auspicious start! Happy one to ya -- may you be blessed with prosperity, love, good health, and safety!

[Richard Kimball]

Several people bombed trying to make the Lord of the Rings, and many considered it to be impossible to make. Ralph Bakshi had one bomb, and there was a terrible cartoon version of the Hobbit.

I'm not that big a LOTR movie fan, and haven't been able to sit through all three movies, but it's an impressive feat to finish the film, particularly with the problems of some of the characters like Gollum and the Hobbits (making them believable.)

[Finny]

I spoke wrongly. I said: As for Patrick Stewart ... kudos to him, too, but on balance, I'd say Peter Jackson was far and away the better gift to the world.

That was badly put. A better way to say it is that on balance, Peter Jackson's good effect on the world is more widespread. There, I feel better now -- Patrick Stewart is also a fine gift!

[GreenLanternCorps]

“Nothing against Stewart and Jackson but aren’t they throwing around knighthood a little too loosely lately? I believe the “Order of Merit” is what is specifically designated for achievement in the arts, literature and other tasks of the sort. Knighthood used to be reserved for high civil service and direct service to the crown.”

Sir Ralph Richardson was made a Knight Bachelor in 1947.

Baron Olivier OM (aka Sir Lawrence Olivier) was made a Knight Bachelor in 1947, a life peer in 1970 (the first actor so honored) and was awarded the Order of Merit in 1981.

Sir John Gielgud OM, CH was made a Knight Bachelor in 1953, became a Companion of Honour in 1977, and was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1996.

Wikipedia has a list of actors who have been awarded knighthoods, though two Americans on the list (President Ronald Reagan, and Capt. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. USNR) received their “honorary” knighthoods for reasons not related to acting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Actors_awarded_British_knighthoods