Mar 7
the Birthday of Rob Roy MacGregor
Rob Roy (Film)
Rob Roy (1995)
Liam Neeson as Rob Roy"Honor made him a man. Courage made him a hero. History made him a Legend." ~ Rob Roy (1995) tagline
Rob Roy became a legend in his own lifetime, with a 1723 publication of a fictionalised account of his life, The Highland Rogue. Sir Walter Scott's Rob Roy (1817), further added to his fame and fleshed out his biography. The composer Hector Berlioz was inspired by the book to compose an overture., and William Wordsworth wrote a poem called "Rob Roy's Grave" during a visit to Scotland. Adaptations of his story have also been told in film including the 1922 silent film Rob Roy, the 1953 film from Walt Disney Productions Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue and the 1995 film Rob Roy which commissioned a specially designed tartan in muted colours in order to avoid controversy with the MacGregor tartan.
Premiering in April of 1995, Rob Roy was directed by Michael Caton-Jones with Liam Neeson in the title role. Neeson plays Rob Roy as an 18th-century Scottish clan chief who battles with an unscrupulous nobleman in the Scottish Highlands. Jessica Lange, John Hurt, Tim Roth, Eric Stoltz, Brian Cox, and Jason Flemyng also star.
Roth was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the treacherous aristrocrat Archibald Cunningham.
This tartan was designed and woven for the film Rob Roy by Gordon Covell of The Islay Woollen Mill.
For a discussion of how this tartan design was chosen, and for the controversies in using tartans illustrating historical characters in film, click the picture of Liam Neeson as Rob Roy.