Memorable minor characters

[Artymouse]

The conversation about the Sinderbys in one of the other threads got me to thinking about how much I like Lady Sinderby. She's only been in a handful of episodes, but she made an impression as a sweet, but slightly steely character, as when she put Susan in her place when Susan made some snarky comment about being able to find servants. ("no, but we're Jewish, so we pay well.")

 

Anyway, one thing I think this show does well is create vivid characters, even those that we only see a few times. I thought it would be interesting to talk about the ones we think are the most interesting -- good or bad. 

 

In addition to Lady Sinderby, other characters who made an impression for me were: Lord Hepworth, the charming scoundrel who wanted to marry Lady Rosamund for her fortune; Mr. Murray, the attorney; and Lang, the valet who suffered from PTSD. I'm also a Shrimpie fan, but I'm not sure whether he qualifies as minor.

 

Of course, I guess you could count Vera Bates and Kemal Pamuk as minor, if you go by number of appearances, but since their actions reverberated across several seasons, I think of them as major characters.

[Constantinople]

I always liked Evelyn Napier.  He always had a nice turn of phrase, such as

 

Evelyn Napier: I wonder if I might risk embarrassing you, because I should like to make myself clear. The truth is, Lady Grantham, I'm not a vain man. I do not consider myself a very interesting person, but I feel it's important that my future wife should think me so. A woman who finds me boring could never love me, and I believe marriage should be based on love. (chuckles) At least at the start.

 

Though I think it's ridiculous that he's still mooning over Mary.

[ShadowFacts]

Of course we all remember Sarah Bunting. Not that fondly.

[photo fox]

I still miss Madeleine Allsopp.  I liked her, and I really liked her odd friendship with Harold Levinson.

[Gladrags]

I liked Gwen, the ex-housemaid; her enthusiasm was infectious and her reaction to Thomas exposing her employment at Downton was gracious. Not that Thomas deserved it.

 

Tom's brother certainly was memorable. I'm surprised he hasn't had more relatives coming out of the woodwork. 

 

Lord Sinderby's butler was something. To paraphrase Seinfeld: I don't know what he was, but he was something.  

[moonb]

Richard Carlisle was definitely the most memorable of Mary's "minor" suitors, imo.

[Artymouse]

I have a soft spot for Evelyn Napier also. He has kind of a low-key charm, nice guy but not a flashy one.

And Carlisle was definitely one of the most memorable of Mary's suitors. They were spectacularly wrong for each other, and he was a little bit of a snake, but what a sexy voice!

[shang yiet]

Is it too much to call memorable minor characters that never appeared on screen? I think in season one, Rosamund was supposed to have two children and I anticipated the sisters' interactions with their cousins.

[Avaleigh]

Is it too much to call memorable minor characters that never appeared on screen? I think in season one, Rosamund was supposed to have two children and I anticipated the sisters' interactions with their cousins.

I definitely wish they'd kept Rosamund having children. So much lost potential there. I agree that there could have been a lot of interesting cousin interaction. 

[skyways]

I mean is there a more major 'minor' character than Pamuk? 

 

Though I think it's ridiculous that he's still mooning over Mary.

 

He's not. Fellowes only pulls out his carcass when he needs it to 'glue' scenes together lol!  I did like him as well though. That expression he had on his face when Edith 'exposes her dentures' to him (and Matthew), and how he quickly said 'excuse me' and moved away still has me on the floor laughing. He was memorable to me for that.

[AndySmith]

I always wondered if Baron Aysgarth took Martha up on her offer to have him go to the US while she helped find him a rich widow in search of a title there.

Edited February 26, 2016 by AndySmith

[Avaleigh]

I would have loved seeing Madeline and Lord Aysgarth make another appearance. She would have been great for Tom. 

[Andorra]

I still miss Madeleine Allsopp.  I liked her, and I really liked her odd friendship with Harold Levinson.

 

I agree, she was very lovely. And we learned more about her personality in one episode than about Henry Talbot in a whole season. 

[jschoolgirl]

Is it too much to call memorable minor characters that never appeared on screen? I think in season one, Rosamund was supposed to have two children and I anticipated the sisters' interactions with their cousins.

According to the season 1 press pack, one child was a daughter named Lavinia!