Richard Todd suffers Stage Fright: the deceptive performance of postwar British masculinity

This chapter analyses Richard Todd’s performance as the duplicitous Jonathan in Stage Fright. Williams first establishes the actor’s association with fraught, intense characters, portrayals of postwar British masculinity in which the cost of emotional restraint is made visible. She goes on to show how, in a film replete with acting, impersonation and deceit, Jonathan is revealed to be performing the role of Eve’s personable young leading man. A close reading of the climactic scene details Todd’s expressive skill in revealing his character’s true sychopathic nature.