Best portrayal of Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)

Laurence Olivier (1939)

Timothy Dalton (1970)

Ralph Fiennes (1992)

Robert Cavanah (1998)

Tom Hardy (2009)

James Howson (2011)

I haven't seen every version but Ralph Fiennes stands out because his portrayal didn't flinch from being a nasty piece of work – I'm sure that's true of other portrayals as well but Fiennes is powerfully demonic on screen.

Fiennes. Some of the others don't even portray the full character, like Olivier. By the end, he's a heartless brute that goes around taking women hostage, forcing marriages, and beating up an 18 year old woman on a fairly consistent basis!

I'm hoping they adapt this again soon though, literally none of them have been anywhere close to being faithful to the original novel, that's simply divine (it is a slow starter though )

Yeah, but in a way, he wasn't even given a chance to play it as full as it should've been if we go by what you are saying. I think the studio cut the movie off after Chapter 17 (I am pretty sure that is the chapter that the film essentially ends on). So you never get into what Heathcliff becomes after her death. Also, I consider the year in which it was made as opposed to the others which don't really have any sort of censorship blocking them from adapting it as it should be. There is no reason why the filmmakers don't keep Heathcliff the way that he is in the novel.

Having said that, Olivier is my favorite out of the bunch. I think he looks the best for the part, too. Fiennes was good, too, I think.

I feel this way about Jane Eyre. There are a lot of good versions. My personal preference is the 1983 TV version. I think that is the most faithful and Timothy Dalton is my favorite Rochester (Michael Fassbender made me happy with it, too - but that ending - they just rushed through it).

Cici, how did you feel about the 2011 version of "Wuthering Heights"?

__________________
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe

Dalton's version didn't tell the whole story either.

I voted for Tom Hardy. Pretty much what I imagined from the novel in both looks and personality, can give off a very evil glare, you can tell that he likes to make life miserable to anyone he's speaking to, and a creepy scene involving digging up Catherine's grave and lying on top of her skeleton. He has decent chemistry with his Catherine (Charlotte Riley) and they are married in real life.

I've seen most all of The Wuthering Heights versions and Jane Eyre too. Each version has something to offer, so if you like the writings of the Bronte sisters I would watch them all.

With that said I voted for Laurence Olivier in the 1939 version. Some of the other Heathcliff's were just too brutal and sadistic for Cathy to have loved them.

Oh, without a doubt Orson Welles was the best Rochester in Jane Eyre.

I've read it – and tried to forget it – but is he not more brutal and sadistic after Cathy dies?

I liked William Hurt a lot – in fact that is my favourite version.

He is pretty brutal in the book. I, for one, never really saw why Heathcliff is such a romantic character (why he would be a literary crush for anyone - but I suppose those people would be asking me why Rochester is mine ), but I always felt a little sorry for Heathcliff. None of the characters are too sympathetic (when you know the book), but I always felt a little something for him because I felt he was almost a victim of circumstance. Sure, he shouldn't have ended up the way he did, but we also know, in the end, he wasn't really "right" in the head either (just look at how he ended up treating each of their children).

He was good in there. I just don't like it when the movies go through the story really fast and create their own scenarios that were never in the book in the first place.

Cathy Linton and Hareton are by far the most sympathetic characters to me in the whole thing, and I loved the ending of the novel, Emily wrapped it up perfectly with them two falling for each other. My patience and tolerance for Heathcliff very quickly diminished though, I think it stopped towards the whole necrophiliac wannabe incident, and definitely by the time he takes Cathy and Nelly hostage and subsequently beats Cathy. I agree Vamp, I have no idea why people adore him so much, although some of his quotes are quite touching at times!

I haven't seen the 2011 version either, they made Heathcliff black in that film, didn't they? I'll have to give it a look though, it does look interesting!

I think the reason why people like him is because some people have probably been in his situation before, with someone they'd grown attached to leaving for someone else and saying that they'll (the first person, the Heathcliff) degrade them (Catherine) and thought of revenge on their rivals because they're seen as a better catch, though of course not as elaborate as Heathcliff's, which involves stealing his rivals' estates and forcing marriages between the next generation so that he benefits. In short, he's an escapist character; we've felt like him and he's interesting to see as his revenge unfolds.

Olivier by far.