Playing Horatio Hornblower requires plenty of swashbuckling action -- sailing and diving and fighting and dueling and hand-to-hand combat -- and even romancing. Just the sort of thing that just about every boy-turned-man ever dreamed of.
'It's a dream for any young actor to play his sort of boyhood dreams," said Welsh actor Ioan (pronounced Yo-in) Gruffudd. "I mean, I was brought up playing cowboys and Indians, and putting on the costume and the hat and everything. So, of course, it's a dream to put on the costume and brandish your sword and fire cannons."And the four stand-alone movies, which begin airing Sundays on cable's A&E this weekend, are also great fun for viewers. This is the sort of television that makes you appreciate the medium -- handsomely produced telefilms that look great, sound great and feature superior acting and directing.
Gruffudd said that, for him, one of the highlights of the experience came while filming a scene as he stood on the foremast topsail yardarm -- way up in the rigging.
"I loved that. That was great," he said. "I felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in 'Titanic.' "
And he knows from "Titanic." Gruffudd played a small role in that film -- he was the officer commanding the lifeboat that went back through all the frozen corpses to save Rose (Kate Winslett) after the ship sank. It was part of an incredible run of success the young actor, who turned 24 during the filming of "Hornblower," encountered soon after he left the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
"It's incredible. It literally happened overnight," Gruffudd said. "It was a period of time in August '96 where I got offered a small part in (the film) 'Wilde,' with Steven Fry and Jude Law, and almost the same week, this part in 'Titanic.' Then, of course, I went to Mexico for three or four months for the six minutes that I was in it and disappeared for a while.
"And the first audition I had when I came back was for 'Hornblower.' So I did go from ship to ship."
In the four "Hornblower" films, Gruffudd stars as young Horatio, who struggles to become an officer and leader of men in the Royal Navy during the Napoleanic wars. In the first telefilm, "The Duel," Hornblower is a 17-year-old, seasick midshipman.
His adventures involve his first assignment aboard a crowded, fetid, land-based ship where he is tormented by a sadistic bully, Midshipman Jack Simpson (Dorian Healy). Hornblower transfers to the frigate Indefatigable -- captained by the proud Sir Edward Pellew (Robert Lindsay) -- where he proves himself a hero before running afoul of Simpson once again.
It's rousing action, fine drama and great entertainment. (It's also quite violent, with a good deal of blood, so parents of young children will want to exercise discretion.)
The "Hornblower" telefilms were filmed on location in Turkey, the Crimea and Portugal, and a full-scale, 125-foot replica of the 74-gun frigate HMS Indefatigable was constructed for the shoot. Only one other full-scale ship -- a trading vessel -- was used in "Hornblower," but with 11 scale models and various full-scale sets, the segments at sea are loaned great authenticity.
And Gruffudd acquits himself well, delivering a performance that is both true to Hornblower's shy awkwardness and his bursts of electrifying magnetism. (He did all of his own stunts, which included everything from dueling to diving into the icy Black Sea for some sequences.)
Not only that, but the actor is humble, polite, approachable and grateful for the opportunity to play Horatio Hornblower.
"I'm sure people wanted a name to sell the show," he said. "But I'm glad the producers and the director really rooted for me and wanted me. So, as a result, people are now interested. I'm a so-called name back (in Great Britain), so people are confident enough to give me starring parts."
As to that name, well, Ioan isn't exactly common. Even the folks at A&E, who co-produced "Horatio Hornblower" with the British company United Broadcasting and Entertainment, had a bit of trouble with it.
Press materials provided to TV critics back in January had the actor listed as "Joan" Gruffudd.
"Even in my own country, I run into problems," Gruffudd said, "because Welsh is only spoken by about 300,000 people out of a population of about 2.5 million. So I feel like a foreigner sometimes in my own country.
"I had all my education in Welsh. I spoke Welsh at home. English is my second language, even though I was brought up bilingually."
Most recently, he's been acting in a BBC drama called "Peacekeepers," set during the war in Bosnia.
"It's my first contemporary part, so I'm very excited about that," Gruffudd said. "I can shed those breeches and flouncy shirts."