FOREVER GEORGE

It was so sad to hear of the passing of British actor Julian Sands who has been found dead in the San Gabriel Mountains in California. I'll forever remember Sands as George Emerson the role he played to perfection in Merchant And Ivory's 1986 masterpiece 'A Room With A View' a film I have watched more times than I dare to count.

Combining enigmatic smugness at the opening dinner table scene at the Pensione Bertolini to passionate declarations of his "creed" in the poppy fields of Fiesole Sands is truly brilliant at depicting the arrogance of youth combined with romantic impetuosity, the very opposite of his intellectual counterpart Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis) who later back in the England based part of the story threatens to steal George's love Miss Lucy Honeychurch from him forever.

There are many great scenes to enjoy with George Emerson never forgetting the infamous bathing scene in the lake with Mr Beeb and Freddy Honeychurch but it will always be that semi-forbidden romantic kiss/encounter shared between him and Lucy Honeychurch above the hills of Florence that will remain forever immortal on screen.

For that moment alone Sands will remain forever George and forever eternal just like the 1859 painting by Italian artist Francesco Hayez: Il Bacio (The Kiss).