Best Actor (and Person) + Generous Fandom + Super Cause = RA Birthday Cybersmile Fundraising Triumph!
He’s so modest, he’ll never admit he was the absent, but ever-present inspiration, but we all know he was!
On the heels of a massive, collaborative social media fundraising campaign – to honor RA’s birthday – The Man Himself took to Twitter with personal thanks. RA, I think may I say, the pleasure was ours!
<HUGE, THRILLED GRIN> And drumroooollllllllllll, please!
The Cybersmile Foundation fundraising total at just after 8 PM US Eastern time: a GARGANTUAN… waaaait for it:
* £10,142
* (which is $15,908 US)
* raised by 448 donations!
So we not only exceeded the £10,000 Dream Goal, but also the 444 donations (to mark RA’s 44th birthday)! And, still, people are giving.
With all my heart, I believe RA’s ‘troops’ are the best fandom/Army any actor could imagine, and the most fabulous community of people to have as pals! At your core, you have kind and generous hearts, and when RA asks for your help – and he rarely does – you step forward and volunteer like the loyal, devoted, compassionate, unselfish people who are this fandom. Even fans like Jade – who wrote that she’s on the brink of homelessness – and others on fixed incomes and tight, tight budgets, contributed. All of you are sensational!
Cut to the chase… RA!
With apologies to Joshua Horowitz, who did a “Happy, Sad, Confused” photo with the Hannibal gang at Comic Con, I hope THIS was RA’s face HAPPY face today when he heard the news:
RA’s HAPPY face for MTV’s Joshua Horowitz’s “Happy, Sad, Confused” Photo Collection.
~ Taken at ComicCon15
(And maybe he’ll give us a Thrilled-Beyond-Words selfie later!)
This, I think, is a great moment for the RArmy… and you insubordinate fans who gave generously, but won’t call yourselves part of the Army <heh> (And yes, I’m talking about you, Yvonne Lustenberger, m’dear Twitter pal!)
So we did it, troops! Raise a glass of pinot noir, vodka, a Red Dragon Tini, your favorite tipple, or just grab a bowl of chocolate ice-cream. You all deserve it.
I file this post with great affection for you all, and am proud to be a part of this community more than I can express.
Cheers, Marcia
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Wish RA ‘Happy Birthday’: Support Cybersmile and Help End Cyberbullying!
Cybersmile: RA is the anti-cyberbullying organization ‘s Official Ambassador!
Richard Crispin Armitage couldn’t make his birthday wishes to us clearer than his two tweets today, and – through implication – his post on Weibo.
THIS year, we can let him know that we wish him a very Happy Birthday (which rolls around Saturday, August 22), by supporting the one cause upon which he has focused in these posts: Cybersmile!
The full link is https://www.justgiving.com/richard-armitage17/
Wish RA a happy birthday by donating to Cybersmile!
(Sorry, I HAVE to add the “cupcake thing,” for nostalgia, if for no other reason. RA joined Twitter on his birthday last year and this shot was his very first tweet.. So RA: completely unexpected and adorable!)
On August 22, 2014, RA made his Twitter debut on his birthday. This shot was the tweet, or as RA called it: “the cupcake thing.”
And if you’re wondering about how he recommends we express our birthday wishes, via donating to Cybersmile, here’s his second tweet:
Multiples of 4! Got it? Easy! Not easy enough? Here’s the direct link:
https://www.justgiving.com/richard-armitage17/
What’s more, there’s an RA WEIBO POST: “Let us in the online world, cherish each other, care about each other.”
Sounds like a clear Cybersmile reference, to me. Doesn’t it to you?
RA on Weibo: Referencing Cybersmile? Yes, I think so. Support RA and Cybersmile here:
https://www.justgiving.com/richard-armitage17/
Please, everyone, let’s do what we can to celebrate RA’s birthday in a way that will
make a difference to thousands of people who need a hand.
All the organizations RA supports do incredible work with few resources, like Cybersmile, whose RA page is here.
To also lend a helping hand to RA’s other causes, go to JustGiving for the rest of his list:
YoungMinds, Anthony Nolan, Shelter, Childline, Barbado’s, and
The Salvation Army, and give as generously as you can afford.
If you already know which cause you want to support, here are direct links to all:
Cybersmile: https://www.justgiving.com/richard-armitage17/
Oh, and Happy Birthday, RA!
We hope you spend it with those you love most and make you laugh loudest,
and that your celebration lasts alllll yeeeeear loooooong!
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2014: A Great Year and So Many Gifts from RA! Let’s Give Back & Say Thanks Through JustGiving!
RA as Swann in Pinter/PROUST, January, 2014.
Photo by Chrissy Lampard.
What a great year 2014 has been for RA (and for us): I think it ALL began with The Anglophile Channel 2013 British Artist of the Year Award! That was followed by Pinter/PROUST in NYC in January; the The Anglophile Channel interviews on its YouTube Channel in February; then Urban and The Shed Crew and its regular updates. In May, we had the audiobook (#1 for the year for Audible, by the way) Hamlet: The Novel that overlapped with The Old Vic’s advance promotion for The Crucible. Once The Crucible opened, we had RA updates every day for three months, as he took the time after each evening performance to meet his followers at the Stage Door. And in the middle of ALL The Crucible’s well-deserved accolades, Into the Storm opened, and RA joined social media. The Crucible wrapped up and RA seemed to be in LA almost immediately for Sleepwalker… and now we have The Hobbit: THORIN (aka #BOFTA)!
RA and all of his followers have been immensely blessed this year; RA has brought us so many gifts of phenomenal performances and delightful appearances. Thank you, RA!
In return, we believe we should give something back.
RA supports a number of charities doing superb,
much-needed good work.
Go to JustGiving for a list of them all,
and give as generously as you can afford.
We know these causes mean much to RA, and he might even prefer
that we spend our money there, rather than a Ferrari.
RA as Swann with Lara Hillier in Pinter/PROUST. January 2014.
Screen-grab by Fernanda Matias from Chrissy Lampard video.
RA kicked off 2014 in January, with Pinter/PROUST, a reading in NYC, directed by Pinter directing partner Di Trevis. Look for Chrissy’s videos here: AND our album of her photos here.
Marlise Boland of The Anglophile Channel presents RA with the British Artist of 2013 Award. The interviews were released in February.
Marlise Boland of The Anglophile Channel interviews if RA in February were a tremendous hit with fans: RA as you’d never seen him before!
The interviews here: Teaser; First Interview; Second interview; Third Interview; Silly bits.
RA as Chop in Urban and the Shed Crew. Filmed Spring, 2014.
Thanks to Urban and the Shed Crew for the photo.
“Urban and the Shed Crew,” based on a true story by Bernard Hale. IMDb’s description: It’s been described as a tale of heroin and cement, set in Britain’s underclass in the 90s.
Twelve-year old Urban Grimshaw (Fraser Kelly) is Britain’s most runaway child, he’s even been on TVs Crimewatch. His mother is a junkie and his father might as well be dead. He can’t read or write, and he doesn’t go to school. His average day is spent sitting around a bonfire with his mates smoking drugs and stealing cars. When he meets his mother’s new friend Chop (RA), a 37 year old, disillusioned, ex-social worker also living on society’s margins, on one of Leeds roughest estates, the two become firm friends. But even Chop with his own penchant for drink, drugs and hard living is shocked by the state of Urban’s life. After much soul searching he resolves to clean up his own act and save the kid. But as their friendship deepens, Urban introduces him to the Shed Crew the anarchic gang of kids aged between ten and fourteen years who spend their time joy-riding, thieving, and engaging in drugs and sex. It is only then that we see exactly how long the road to civilization really is.
When ex-social worker Bernard Hare turned his startling experiences with a group of young delinquents into a novel it was described as one of the year’s most compelling and best selling books. Urban and the Shed Crew is a stunning piece of ethnography described by The Guardian as moving but never sanctimonious, another City of God, this time for Britain rather than Brazil.
Our album about the production – from photos to interviews with Author Bernard Hale and others – can be found here.
RA performs AJ Harley and David Hewson’s Hamlet: A Novel.
Released May, 2014.
As Urban and the Shed Crew wrapped, RA released Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel, brilliantly written by AJ Hartley and David Hewson. Audible.com describes it as: “…a tale of ghosts, of madness, of revenge – of old alliances giving way to new intrigues. Denmark is changing, shaking off its medieval past. War with Norway is on the horizon. And Hamlet – son of the old king, nephew of the new – becomes increasingly entangled in a web of deception – and murder. Beautifully and compellingly performed by actor Richard Armitage Hamlet, Prince of Denmark takes Shakespeare’s original into unexpected realms, reinventing a story we thought we knew.
For RA’s rendition, Audible named it its #1 Audiobook of the year! Listen and you’ll understand why!
RA and newcomer Samantha Colley rehearse Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, directed by the great Yael Farber.
Photo by Johan Persson.
RA signed on for an intense, “visceral” three-month gig on stage as John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, directed by Yael Farber in-the-round at the Old Vic. Rehearsal photos began showing up early as part of the promotion. Then things got under way in June with the play’s previews, followed by Opening Night in July.
Richard Armitage in The Crucible.
Photo by Jay Brooks.
The Crucible is powerful and complex – especially this interpretation – and received well-earned 5-star reviews across the board. Learn more about it on The Old Vic website and in our album here, and share your appreciation of RA and the The Crucible production on our Richard Armitage in THE CRUCIBLE Appreciation page.
During alll the amazing publicity, accolades and sold-out shows of The Crucible, RA’s US film Into the Storm opened! Although it was, as RA called it, a “summer disaster film,” it performed well internationally. More here in our Into the Storm album. (RA US had a crew on the Black Carpet! What an honor!)
On August 22, 2014, Twitterers awoke to discover RA had joined them!
AND, on his birthday – again, in the middle of The Crucible run – the very best thing of the 2014 happened: RA joined Twitter. For all his previous comments about not understanding social media (My Space, RA, really? ), he has taken to it like a pro, and seems to be enjoying himself (we certainly are!)! King of the Hashtags and Selfies! It is a welcome link to, and yet another gift to his fans!
Then, toward the end of the run of The Crucible came the news all those who hadn’t been able make the London trip – and, franly, all who’d seen it – had been hoping for: The Old Vic was allowing Digital Theatre to record the production! It would be released in theatres in the UK and Ireland in December, and then globally – except, due to copyright issues, in North America – in theaters in 2015. However, American and Canadian audiences will be able to download a production they never thought to see. What a lovely gift!
RA as John Proctor in the film version of The Crucible.
Thanks to Digital Theatre Creative Director Robert Delamere for the screen-grab!
So: 1980s poverty-stricken Leeds; 1300s-1400s Denmark; 17th century Salem, Massachusetts… what was next for RA?
RA is sleep therapist Dr. Scott White in Elliott Lester and Jack Olsen’s contemporary indie thriller.
The contemporary thriller Sleepwalker, with RA as Dr. Scott White. The Anglophile Channel blog describes it this way: “In a script written by Jack Olsen, Sleepwalker, centers around Sarah (Ahna O’Reilly, best known for her role in The Help) who’s trying to reconstruct her life following the apparent suicide of her novelist husband. After returning to university, to finish her dissertation, Sarah experiences frequent bouts of sleepwalking. She is sent to Dr. Scott White’s (Armitage) sleep research lab for treatment. When Sarah’s life starts to alternate between her waking world and a nightmarish alternate reality, where no one recognizes that she has ever existed, she is plunged into chaos, confusion and terror. The one constant in her shifting world is Scott, the man she’s been longing for all her life. But does Sarah’s true love actually exist, or is it a figment of Sarah’s troubled imagination that derives from wishful thinking and longing? (I think I had a dream like this once…)”
Celebrating 10 years of N&S: To support Young Minds, you may go to RA’s Just Giving page here https://www.justgiving.com/Richard-Armitage13, and also send a note of thanks to RA and YM for all they do OR you may go directly to Young Minds’ donation page here: http://www.youngminds.org.uk/support_our_work/donate.
And in November, RA celebrated the 10th anniversary of the iconic North & South, a role that really put him on (our) map, at least.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
RA in The Hobbit: THORIN, or BOTFA as some call it.
Already making its international box office power obvious, according to Deadline: The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies continues to roll out overseas, planet Earth is becoming dominated by Middle-earth. The finale to Peter Jackson’s big-footed trilogy opened in 17 markets Thursday with No. 1s across the board. Grossing a total $13.7M in 28 markets, the cume at Thursday’s close was $26.6M.”
And it doesn’t even hit the STATES until next week!
I’ve left out other RA projects: his narration of a terrific documentary, not to mention his promotion of the DOS DVD and then the DOS EE DVD, his marathon Hobbit: THORIN promotional tour , and a much-longed for reunion interview with Marlise & The Anglophile Channel; here’s the tease …
Marlise (The Anglophile Channel) and RA REUNITE in a special interview to be aired later… something MORE to anticipate!
Thanks, The Anglophile Channel, for the screen-grab!
And I’ve surely missed some other things as well. TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS!
So BLESS YOU, our incredibly hard-working RA! Congratulations on an astonishing year! We can’t wait to see what’s to come!
And remember: See all he’s done for us this year! SO much Access!
Again, one last call-to-action:
Please, everyone, let’s all determine to give something back.
RA supports a number of charities doing incredible work with few resources.
Go to JustGiving for a list of them – Shelter, YoungMinds,
The Salvation Army, Childline, Anthony Nolan
and Barbado’s – and give as generously as you can afford.
And we wish RA and all or his colleagues a lovely, restful, renewing holiday season! Then on to 2015!
Rest well, have a lovely holiday season and vacation, and return to us SOON!
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Operation #RAXmas Is Friday, November 28 … Shhh, It’s a Surprise for RA!
RAXmas Gets Under Way at 9 PM UK Time on Friday, November 28! Support RA’s Charities though Just Giving…
This message is from a few members of the Facebook page ‘Richard’s Rascals – The Armitage Effect,’ who have have come up with an idea for a special surprise Christmas present for Richard Armitage. We agree that it’s a super idea, and hope they make it an annual tradition.
Here’s the scoop from Mel Brown and Linden Tree, who you can reach here:
Richard has said in interviews that he’d rather his well-wishers give to charity rather than buy him gifts. So, for those fans who would like to participate, we’d love them to join us from Friday November 28th (9pm UK time) and send a flurry of donations to Richard’s chosen charities through Just Giving. We would then love for people to post a message on Twitter (for those who have an account).
As well as supporting some wonderful organisations, it will also be a way to spread goodwill around the internet, and show our respect and admiration of Richard en masse in a way that we think will be very meaningful.
As fans we love to celebrate him, and what better way than by giving him what he wants – to help those less fortunate.
Here is an outline of our suggestion:
1. From 9pm UK time on Friday 28th (not before), head to JustGiving and select one (or more!) of Richard’s chosen charities.
2. Make a donation and leave a message that includes #RAXmas, your location and your Twitter handle (if you have one). You can choose to donate anonymously and still leave a message. Please choose the option to hide the amount of your donation, as we want to avoid any sense of competition or anxiety over donation amounts.
3. We would then love for people to post a message on Twitter (for those who have an account). Write a message with #RAXmas, #JustGiving and your location, plus any message and/or image you wish. You may choose to include the charity’s number. Feel free to use our Christmas tree image.
Eg: For #RAXmas I’ve just donated to #charityname via #JustGiving. London.
4. Feel free to favourite and retweet others’ messages if you can, to have the best chance of him seeing them.
5. Everyone is of course absolutely welcome to make multiple donations and send additional messages. The more activity #RAXmas gets, the more potential interest we generate.
** Note for non-UK residents. If for some reason you are unable to donate through Just Giving, we encourage you to try the individual charities’ websites. If this still does not work, we ask that you consider selecting a charity in your home country that supports the same cause as one of Richard’s, and still write a Twitter message using #RAXmas to let us know who you’ve given to. We are confident that this gesture will still be very much appreciated by him. <NOTE FROM RA US: I’m in the US and have given through Just Giving a number of times and have never had a problem.>
Thank you all for reading, and we really hope you’ll be able to take part in #RAXmas. For any further information please contact me or Linden Tree directly via the @RAXmas FB group (although it’s classified as “closed,” it’s inclusive!).
The RA Rascals.
Remember, 9pm UK time, Fri 28th, and keep it a Twitter secret til then.
An Online Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Premiere of North & South… Interested? Read More Below…
Mr. Thorton is intrigued…
SPEAKING ONLY ON BEHALF OF MEMBERS OF THE RICHARD ARMITAGE US FACEBOOK PAGE (carefully trying not to step on any toes, but truly hoping to lure others who might want to come out and and play…)
On the aforementioned Richard Armitage US Facebook page, our members (aka people who have “LIKE”d the page) have been playing around with ways to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the premiere of North & South this November.
Like most RA well-wisher groups, RA US has a diversity of members. Ours, for example, represent over 43 countries and 47 languages – including Pirate English, which will come in handy if ever RA should star in a remake of Pirates of Penzance or Captain Blood.
SO, N&S premiered on November 14, 2004. Here in the States, November 14, 2014 is a Friday. I’m not good at any kind of math – especially global time/day conversion – so I talked with an Aussie member and she says it is also a Friday on her side of the world. (Our folks liked the idea of this event/celebration/par-tay happening on a weekend.)
Suddenly, RA US peeps are kinda getting jazzed about doing this online “North & South 10th Anniversary Worldwide Celebration” (aka Par-tay) with other RA well-wishers from other groups and individuals, and so are extending the invitation to everyone in the RA Universe to come out and play.
We’ve kept The <Proposed> Plan simple:
- Everyone (who can and wants to pparticipate) watches N&S wherever you live in the world on November 14, 2014 – the 10th anniversary of its premiere. THEN…
- On Saturday, November 15, we gather electronically — all go to one place on the web — and talk about the film, RA, the impact it’s had and continues to have on us, RA, DANIELA, BRENDAN(!), RA, Sinéad, Tim, Anna, Jo, Pauline … Well, basically, all things North & South!
BUT, here’s the question for everyone who thinks this might be fun:
Where should that one place BE????
The more the merrier, but what web venue would be most convenient to the most people?
Feel free to comment here!
Right now, we’re thinkin’ it might be fun to do it on Twitter. We wonder if we could crash Twitter on November 15 with the #RANS hashtag…? Wouldn’t that be a HOOT!?!?!?!
Cheers, ever’body! Hope you’ll join us!
And 1,000 thanks to RA US Special Correspondent Chrissy Lampard, for reminding us that THIS is the YEAR!
Crashing Twitter would be a HOOT! Think we could do it?
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