Robin Hood Actors Ranked from Dull to Dashing

Robin Hood is a folk hero. If there was a real Robin Hood, he might have been from Nottingham, or he might have been from Yorkshire (the earliest stories feature both). He might have lived in the reign of King Richard, or King John, or even later. Centuries after he might have lived, he gained a noble background as the Earl of either Locksley or Huntingdon, though of course he always ends up living as an outlaw in Sherwood Forest with his Merry Men.

His stories survive because while they can be dramatic, tragic, and meaningful, they are also fun, exciting and entertaining. The very best screen Robin Hoods combine sincerity and dramatic chops with a sense of fun and a personality that is larger than life, because the Robin Hood of legend is not a real person, but an exaggerated, mythologised echo of a real person. So here we present our ranking of some of the best – or most notorious! – screen portrayals of Robin Hood.

This is not a complete list of everyone who has ever played Robin Hood, because that would be a very long list! The 1950s TV star Richard Greene’s Robin Hood was left out for being hard to find these days, for example, and the Keira Knightley-starring Princess of Thieves didn’t make the cut as Robin Hood himself is a much more minor character there (though fans of obscure early noughties TV movies should definitely check it out!).

14. Taron Egerton in Robin Hood (2018)

It’s hard for any actor, however good they are, to stand out in a bad movie, and this is, regrettably, a bad movie. Taron Egerton’s Robin Hood is a bit of a blank slate, with just a touch of Egerton’s character Eggsy from the Kingsman movies. He spins, he jumps, he uses a bow and arrow as if it were a gun. None of it makes much sense, which is not Egerton’s fault, but his Robin just doesn’t have anything especially interesting about him to make him stand out from the terrible movie he is stuck in.

13. Rik Mayall in Blackadder: Back and Forth

The BBC’s sitcom Blackadder had come to an emotional conclusion with the end of Blackadder Goes Forth in 1989, but it came back for one final episode for the turn of the millennium, and this time Blackadder and Baldrick went time travelling in a machine designed by Leonardo da Vinci and built by Baldrick. One of the periods of British history they dropped in on was Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Rik Mayall’s Robin is therefore a two-dimensional comedy skit who is onscreen for only a few minutes, and his Robin is modelled after his character from the sitcom, Lord Flashheart. Flashheart is an overblown, egotistical aristocrat who lives to make barking noises and have enthusiastic relations with beautiful young women. It’s daft, but it’s very funny, and the aristocratic, Maid Marian-fixated Robin Hood of some of the later stories is a decent template to put Flashheart’s character on.

12. Russell Crowe in Robin Hood (2010)

Look, technically speaking, it does not matter what accent Robin Hood has. Just take a look at some of the higher placed Robin Hoods on this list. Historically speaking, not only might Robin Hood have been from either Nottingham or Yorkshire, his accent would have sounded completely different from any modern English accent anyway. But it does matter if the actor playing him adopts an accent that is so distractingly weird, it’s all anyone talks about. And when his Robin is a bit dour and glum on top of that, lacking the character’s trademark wit, humour, and easy laughter, a low-ranked Robin like Russell Crowe’s in Ridley Scott’s revisionist movie is what you end up with.

11. Adam Morris in Maid Marian and her Merry Men

This BBC children’s sitcom was written by Tony Robinson, a.k.a. Baldrick from Blackadder, who played the Sherriff of Nottingham, and for some of us, this was our introduction to Robin Hood. Adam Morris’s Robin is Maid Marian’s sidekick, and while she takes care of plans, strategies, and carrying out their overall mission to help the poor peasants of Worksop (a real village near Nottingham), Robin, otherwise not the sharpest tool in the box, is in charge of making sure they all look fabulous in their Lincoln green outfits. It’s hardly a classic take on the legendary character, but it is very funny and is a good bit of comedic revisionism.

10. Jonas Armstrong in Robin Hood (BBC)

When the BBC’s new take on Robin Hood came out in 2006, it was known derisively as “hoody Robin Hood”, which is an odd criticism when you think about it, since wearing a hood at some point is Robin’s most defining feature. The critics meant, of course, that Robin Hood was being depicted as a modern youth more than a medieval knight (there was a lot of hand-wringing going on in the British press at the time about young people in hoodies hanging around malls and parks). The modernising of the story was controversial then, but pales in comparison to the bizarre scenes of petrol bombs and riot police inflicted on it by the 2018 film, and so seems much less extreme now. Jonas Armstrong’s Robin Hood is a likeable take on the character and a solid central performance for the show. He doesn’t have the larger than life vibe of a legendary character, being almost a bit too grounded, and he’s a bit over-shadowed by Richard Armitage’s Sherriff of Nottingham, but he’s fine to watch. 

9. Richard Todd in The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men

Now this is a recognisable Robin Hood. He is likeable, lively, and energetic, with a twinkle in his eye. Richard Todd was capable of a solid dramatic range (his final line in Dambusters, “I have some letters to write”, will break your heart) but he is not really asked to do that here, even in the more dramatic scenes. His Robin is something of a Robin-Hood-by-the-numbers, taking the performances of Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn and reproducing them with a 1950s hairstyle. It’s good take on the character, but very derivative.

8. Brian Bedford in Robin Hood (1973)

Like a lot of Disney films, this classic animated take on the story opens with some self-conscious framing of the whole thing as, first and foremost, a good story. Alan-a-Dale in the form of a chicken tells us that the animal kingdom have their own stories about the hero Robin Hood. Brian Bedford, voicing Robin in the form of a fox, largely has to play straight man to Phil Harris’ (American-accented) Little John, and Peter Ustinov and Terry-Thomas’s scene-stealing villains Prince John and Sir Hiss. The fact that Bedford manages to give Robin his characteristic twinkle and sense of playfulness through his voice, while up against such larger-than-life performances, is a great compliment to him.

7. Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood (1922)

The one Robin Hood who never had to worry about his accent! This 1922 silent film more or less created the modern legend of Robin Hood as we know it, and then the Errol Flynn talkie from 1938 popularised it. With no spoken dialogue and limited dialogue on cards, Fairbanks’ Robin can’t embrace the witty patter of later Robin Hoods, so he has to lean heavily into the swashbuckling action instead. The action, pre-Hays Code (content guidelines self-imposed by Hollywood studies between 1934 and 1968), is frenetic, energetic, and surprisingly brutal in places. Fairbanks’ Robin laughs gleefully at people he is shooting at, which is an attempt to get his humour and general joie de vivre across without dialogue but does come across as a tiny bit sadistic. Even so, Fairbanks’ pointy-hatted, athletic Robin is the forerunner of all the modern Robin Hoods, and deserves to be recognised as such.

6. Tom Riley in Doctor Who: Robot of Sherwood

Tom Riley’s Robin has a difficult job to do throughout this episode of Doctor Who, because his existence is designed to bring up the question of whether Robin Hood is a completely fictional legend, or a real person. The Twelfth Doctor is absolutely convinced that Robin Hood is just a story, and when he meets him, he assumes something strange, probably involving aliens, is going on. The rather brilliant twist is that this completely typical Robin Hood, with his jaunty hat, green outfit, bow and arrow, and his charming, witty, and flirty personality, is actually a real historical person, much to the Doctor’s surprise. This means that Riley has to play a very stereotypical version of the character, while keeping him just grounded enough that the reveal works, a difficult job that he pulls off very effectively.

5. Cary Elwes in Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Although the main target of this classic Mel Brooks spoof is 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Elwes’ Robin has hints of other Robin Hoods in his character as well, especially Errol Flynn’s famous swashbuckler. Elwes’ Robin is just the right balance of silly and competent, daft and sincere, for a satirical lead. As his character points out in one of his most famous lines, being English, he can indeed speak in a perfect English accent (“unlike some other Robin Hoods”) and he does a pretty good impression of Winston Churchill when giving a speech as well.

4. Michael Praed in Robin of Sherwood

Another show that was many viewers’ first introduction to the legend, Robin of Sherwood is a more serious take on the story. The early ballads of Robin Hood are unusual in that they include little to no material that is magical or fantastical (unlike, for example, stories about King Arthur). The makers of Robin of Sherwood obviously thought that was a major flaw and introduced elements of early British paganism and mythology into the story, like the mysterious figure of Herne the Hunter. Fitting into this more mystical and gritty take, Michael Praed’s Robin is a much more serious figure than most. The twinkle in his eye is less present, and this Robin certainly won’t be cackling with laughter while shooting at people like Fairbanks. Praed’s Robin is more quietly heroic, and the action is more serious and dangerous. It’s a good performance and a refreshing and interesting take on the character, but a Robin Hood who is this serious will always be missing some of that essential sparkle that makes him fun.

3. Sean Connery in Robin and Marian

Stories about Robin Hood’s death go back to the earliest ballads. This is not the only version of the story on this list that kills him off – the BBC’s Robin Hood ended their show that way, having already shocked viewers by killing off Maid Marian, and Robin of Sherwood make a virtue of Praed leaving at the end of season two by having his Robin of Loxley be killed and replaced by Sean’s own son Jason Connery’s Robert of Huntingdon. But Robin and Marian is the version that is closest to the plot of those early ballads, and it features a much older Robin Hood and Maid Marian (played by Audrey Hepburn). Connery the Elder’s Robin – complete with Scottish accent, of course – is a more complex and melancholic take on the character, but Connery’s performance keeps a bit of a twinkle in his eye that suggests he was once the joyful, larger than life character we all know and love.

2. Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Kevin Reynolds, the director of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, caught something that Ridley Scott missed when he made his 2010 version of this story. Robin Hood’s accent only matters if it’s distractingly bad. Costner had attempted an English accent at first, but when Reynolds realised the results were less than convincing, he switched to using Costner’s natural American accent instead (which, historians of language have suggested, might be closer to a medieval English accent anyway!). Accent out of the way, Costner’s Robin Hood was a runaway success because he blends the four essential aspects of the character beautifully – action and over-the-top heroics (launch him from a catapult!), romance, a witty and twinkly sense of humour, and the ability to emote seriously and dramatically when needed. Where Fairbanks is not quite serious enough, Praed is too serious, Connery’s older Robin a bit less action-oriented, and Elwes’ spoof not quite as sincerely romantic as his Princess Bride character, Costner’s much-mocked American Robin Hood may not be good at geography (Hadrian’s Wall is not en route to Sherwood Forest from the south coast) but he is an almost perfect blend of the legendary character’s essential qualities. Almost, but not quite…

1. Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood

There could only be one Robin Hood at the top of this list. Errol Flynn’s Robin from Michael Curtiz and William Keighley’s 1938 Technicolour talkie perfectly encapsulates everything that has made this character beloved for centuries. He is romantic, winning over Olivia de Haviland’s Marian with both charm and sincerity. He can bring the drama when he needs to, as he does in the scene where he shows Marian the ways Guy of Gisborne’s men have been abusing their power, torturing and attacking the poor of Nottingham and Sherwood. He is witty and full of verve and humour, laughing a lot and cracking wise whenever he gets the chance. And of course, this is Errol Flynn – the swashbuckling action is second to none. Heavily inspired by the Fairbanks film, but with the restrictive Hays Code now in place, it is a bit less brutal, and the sword-fighting may occasionally pause for a bit of dialogue, but the action is otherwise dramatic and compelling to watch. Flynn even manages to pull off the iconic hat and bright green Technicolour costumes without looking silly. The perfect Robin Hood.

The post Robin Hood Actors Ranked from Dull to Dashing appeared first on Den of Geek.