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Description
The creative team behind Rankin Bass' version of "The Hobbit" envisioned the leader of the dwarves as much, much older than Peter Jackson has in his current adaptation. Not too surprising--Hans Conried was pretty old himself when he signed on to provide Thorin's voice.

His face is crammed with character. The wrinkles on his high forehead are a weather front of convoluted curves. His whiskers are made up of more sweeping curves that become a written language that I had to learn as I went along. His beard is an alphabet of tapers, meeting points and divergences.

Thorin's deathbed scene was moving when I saw "The Hobbit" broadcast in 1977. Rankin Bass doesn't like to have their animated characters die, good or bad. But it was Tolkien's plot point and one they could not steer around. The scene could have been easily botched, but it was pulled off with good acting, timing and music. I never forgot it.

Description
The creative team behind Rankin Bass' version of "The Hobbit" envisioned the leader of the dwarves as much, much older than Peter Jackson has in his current adaptation. Not too surprising--Hans Conried was pretty old himself when he signed on to provide Thorin's voice.

His face is crammed with character. The wrinkles on his high forehead are a weather front of convoluted curves. His whiskers are made up of more sweeping curves that become a written language that I had to learn as I went along. His beard is an alphabet of tapers, meeting points and divergences.

Thorin's deathbed scene was moving when I saw "The Hobbit" broadcast in 1977. Rankin Bass doesn't like to have their animated characters die, good or bad. But it was Tolkien's plot point and one they could not steer around. The scene could have been easily botched, but it was pulled off with good acting, timing and music. I never forgot it.