Ralph Fiennes Fan Encounters

Ralph Fiennes fans meet Ralph Fiennes during Coriolanus and Richard II plays

Page 2 Encounters | Back to Fan Encounter Home Page (Updated 10/08/04)

Many members of the Ralph Fiennes fan community had the opportunity to meet Mr. Fiennes after his performances of Richard II and Coriolanus during Summer and Fall of 2000. On this page you'll find pictures and accounts of fans who met Mr. Fiennes. If you have a Ralph encounter you'd like to share, email it to fiennesite@yahoo.com, and I'll add it to the fan encounters pages.

Mkirk aka Mary K's Ralph Encounter

Since we thought Ralph would come out the side stage door, after the play, my friend Rebecca, myself, the other Sept 16 fans (who I hadn't met yet because I couldn't find them before the show), and my friend Joe were waiting. There were stagehands hurriedly trying to load the sod and other scenery for Richard II evening performance into the stage entrance. The security guy told us that Ralph would be coming out the front to sign autographs. Most of the fans went around the front, but I was hesitant. What if this is just a ruse? What if he slips quietly away when we leave? I debated with my friend. Finally, I told her to go around front, and call me on my cell phone if he came out, and I would stay by the stage door and call her if he came out there. Well, by the time she got to the front of the building, apparently he had come and gone! OH NOOOOOO!!!! What, I thought, honest security people? No way...
If I'd had a blade it would have been suicide time. How could I go to dinner and face the other forum fans who I was sure had gotten his autograph in front of the building. Here I was, leader of the forum, sans autograph, sans photo, sans everything!

I was actually feeling so much shame I was considering not going. As I wallowed in my depression several of the other great actors did indeed come out the side door, and we were able to speak to Oliver Ford Davies, Menenius who was incredible. Also, we met Paul Moriarty who plays 1st citizen. He was kind of the leader of the mob in the play and was quite good. We chatted about his Shakespeare career, which is quite lenghthy and impressive.

I was still depressed. Then my friend Joe, who was dragged along since we had an extra ticket and he lives in New York, said, isn't that Ralph on the corner there? All I could see was the back of his head (yes, thinning at the top..sigh), but I recognized the blue denim shirt he seems to wear constantly (according to all other fan encounters). He was obviously waiting on something or someone, so I decided, what the hell.

I approached him slowly, didn't want him to run away. Gained eye contact and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Fiennes, I know you already signed autographs earlier, but we missed you, and could you sign this for my friend Rebecca (whipped out her English Patient Japanese movie program, armed with green Sharpie)." He hesitated, pained expression (oh shit he's going to say no)then smiled and took the pen. I held the book while he signed it (thus Rebecca's autograph is a little less legible than normal...come one I was shaking a bit). Someone else came up and asked him for one as well. He used my pen to sign theirs..I was going to say keep the pen..but then he capped it and handed it back to me. I turned to go, but my friend Joe said, "Ask him for a picture."

Joe had been trained all day as my tag long friend to do his job of photographer. Here was his opportunity. I hesitated. Ralph was still waiting at the corner. I turned back to him,
"Would it be too much trouble to ask you for a photo?" He looked pained again...I felt awful, but I had to ask.

"I'm on my way somewhere..."he started to say.

"I'm sorry, I know you're probably on your way to dinner, but you can't cross until the light changes (where the hell did I get that one!), and it will just take a second..." (Ok, yes, I was begging and irrational at this point, reduced to guerilla tactics and traffic signal excuses).

Joe aimed the camera, Ralph came over, I hurriedly told Rebecca to come get into the picture. I was going to put my arm around Ralph, I mean that's what you do when you're leaning into a photo together, but decided not to last minute. Joe snapped the picture, we thanked Ralph profusely.

Then Oliver Ford Davies walked up and they both headed off acroos the street, apparently on their way to another dinner together (see Shamrock's post).

Soooo, I'm to be beaten with a wet noodle for bothering Mr. Fiennes in a moment of his free time. Damned that traffic signal and damned my impulsiveness.

Oh well, I must admit, I was thrilled despite his obvious irritation to meet him and to get a picture with him, a moment with him outside the crowd. I only wish that instead of going for the autograph and photo, that I'd told him about the forum and other stuff. Next time I guess...if there is a next time.

Shamrock Meets Ralph

August 9th-My husband and I arrived at BAM to see Coriolanus at 12:30 after getting lost in Manhattan for quite a while today(leave extra time in getting to BAM). There are a few tables and chairs in the lobby so we enjoyed some chicken and tuna wraps, cookies and soda (they also sold beer and mixed drinks for those interested)while we watched the eclectic group of theatre patrons file in during the hour leading up to the show. There were some rose-colored t-shirts for sale in the lobby promoting R2 and Cori...and there were special gifts just for BAM members..like coffee mugs and a limited supply of Almeida brochures brought over from England.(By the way, just thought I'd mention how long the lines to the restrooms are, starting at 20 minutes before the show and all during intermission, even for the men.)When we entered the actual theatre I was amazed to find it had a Roman colisseum feel to it. Even the walls had chipped paint and shattered plaster which added to the effect of Roman ruins.

Our seats were in the 7th row.I did use my opera glasses which I'm glad I brought.You could hear this little collective gasp from the women around me in the audience when RF appeared on stage for the first time.When he was wearing his dark green jacket, his eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue/green. (More about the eyes later.) His performance was so great- unbelievably intense! It's a wonder he doesn't leave the theatre with a migraine - his body vibrates with anger and you can almost see the veins popping out of his forehead during his most intense emotional outbursts. He is absolutely gorgeous as the women around me also attested to during intermission. (The one thing that several of us were surprised at is his thinning hair- there is a small bald spot when his hair is slicked back. Not that there's anything wrong with baldness! We just haven't seen that in his movies.Believe me, he is still every bit as handsome as ever.)

It was 2 hours before there was an intermission. As I looked out over the crowd,I saw no one famous in the audience even though it was opening weekend in the US. When the play started again after intermission it was just RF and another actor on stage. They had only been on stage a minute when the fire alarm sounded and the lights immediately went on. RF and the other man froze for a second ,then walked off abruptly.It was perplexing cause there was no sign of a fire, thank goodness, but the manager soon explained that it was due to the smoke/steam being used in the production. The actors came back after a few minutes and started all over again. I have never seen anything like that happen before during a play.

All of the performances were wonderful, especially Barbara Jefford (who played his mother);Linus Roach and Oliver Ford Davies. Ralph did look a little uncomfortable with the applause and flowers and certainly did not linger on the stage. Of course, when they all took their bows, my camera wasn't working due to dead batteries. I would have loved getting a shot of the cast. (Check those batteries!)

Part 2-

After the show, I was hoping that somehow I would be able to get an autograph from Ralph. I asked one BAM worker where I should stand if I wanted to see Ralph leave the building to go to dinner. He told me to go to the side stage door. (There is no parking lot there - just a side street.) I lingered there for a few minutes, saw nothing, and then went back inside. Meanwhile my husband went back to the car to get batteries for my camera just in case we would be lucky enough to see RF. The theatre manager told me that Ralph would most likely not be having dinner outside the theatre as the next show would be starting in just a few hours. I really found that hard to believe since I had heard stories that he left the building in between shows in London. But I waited in the lobby and sure enough, I missed RF coming out the side stage door at around 5:15 to go to dinner. My husband saw him instead of me. Can you believe it? My husband, who I had to wake up several times during the performance!!!

I was really disappointed that I had missed my one opportunity to perhaps talk to Ralph and get an autograph. We spoke to an un-named source at BAM and asked if they knew when RF would return from dinner and they had no idea. I explained that I had travelled up from Philadelphia and that this was my one chance and now it was gone. This kind soul must have felt sorry for me cause a minute later when I said we'd just be leaving and going to find a place for dinner, he recommended a place to us.

We found the restaurant easily and were about to be seated at a table in the middle of the room, but at the last minute, just before we sat down, the waiter changed his mind cause the table hadn't been fully cleared yet. Something made me turn my head to the table next to that one and who did I see....Ralph looking right at me! Now that's not something that happens every day! (by the way, Ralph was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt...black body and gold sleeves. Very casual...never saw him dressed like that before.)

I told my husband that under no circumstances would I ever interrupt a famous person while in mid-conversation or during a meal in a restaurant, even if he is my favorite actor! But no sooner had we sat down when a waiter took Ralph's order, and I felt that if I approached him the very second the waiter disappeared, then I would not be intruding on any meal or conversation.

Well, that's what I did and he was so gracious to me. It was him and Oliver Ford Davies. I told them that this had been my 1st Shakespearean play and Mr Davies was surprised but glad for me. I told them both that I had tried to quickly read Cori this week to get ready for the play but that I was totally lost since I haven't read Shakespeare since high school. Mr Davies said it was a hard play to get through...a tough one to start with. I turned to RF to ask him if he would sign my Oscar & Lucinda book and THOSE EYES!!! I lost my concentration and got all shaky and nervous. He said he would be glad to sign. While he did, I showed him a color printout from the internet about that RF-lookalike comic book vampire in Italy that is supposed to be Lenny from Strange Days. RF seemed amused by it and explained that Lenny and SD are very popular in Italy. I commented how surprised everyone was by the fire alarms and what did they think about that? Mr Davies said he wasn't affected at all since it was RF on stage at the time. RF just shook his head in disbelief and I told him how impressive it was how he kept his cool.He smiled a really nice smile. I quickly told them how much I loved both of their performances and thanked them for bringing a Shakespearean play to life for me. Ralph thanked me for being part of a great audience. I got the impression he felt we had reacted well to all his hard work. I apologized for interrupting anything and I went back to my table. All in all, this conversation lasted about 3 minutes but it was certainly a memorable experience.

PLease forgive me for rambling on...I know this has been such a long post. And please forgive me for not revealing the restaurant name where I ate...I do not want to get the BAM employee in any trouble or cause a riot near RF's table over the next few weeks!!! I WILL tell you he ate between 5:20-6:20 PM. I hope I have been of some help to those going to BAM in the near future! Enjoy! Ralph_Fan..I would love to know more of your impressions of both Cori and R2...and meeting RF!!!!!

Katherine's Report of Sept 16 Meeting

Yes, we all did get to meet him and it was unforgettable experience for all of us. How generous, gracious, nice, beautiful he is!!!!! Both performances were very very well received by audience, much better than last Saturday, standing ovation from most of audience which made us really happy:-) He came out to meet fans waiting after both performances and I am sure others will write about their own stories. It was so nice to meet all at the restaurant!!! All of us there! No, he did not eat at the same restaurant:-( Most of us (except me)flew from far away or drove long distance, so they all are exhausted, some still in town and don't have computer excess so you have to wait for report from each member who attended. I got home so late and have to leave now! Will wait for others report for more details to give to all of you!

Below are pics Katherine took on 9/16, in the second one you can see Val. The third pic is of the forum members who met for dinner between performances, the people are:

Film Freak, Katherine, Mareska, Bridget, Valerie, Jacqui, Judy's Friend, and Judy (can't find her screen name).