In the latter half of the 1990s, Kingsley continued to embrace a variety
of eclectic roles, with turns as the Fool in the 1996 film adaptation
of ‘Twelfth Night’, a media mogul in the 1997 made-for-HBO satire ‘Weapons
of Mass Distraction’, and the barbarous barber Sweeney Todd in John
Schlesinger's 1998 ‘The Tale of Sweeney Todd’. Kingsley also took Broadway
by storm with his one-man show Edward Kean (later taped for cable),
which was directed by his wife, Alison Sutcliffe. Though Kingsley had
retained the variety in his career that he had so diligently pursued,
the ever-sharp actor remained as focused as ever heading into the new
millennium.
Then, in 2001, came ‘Sexy Beast’. His showy, explosive supporting turn
as a spring-loaded gangster was the kind of role of which most 50-something
actors can only dream; and it won him a deserved third Oscar nomination.
Typically he was not fazed. A week prior to the LA award ceremony, Ben
was awarded a knighthood at Buckingham Palace.
"I told the Queen that winning
an Oscar pales into insignificance, this is insurmountable. I've been
nominated for an Academy Award but I will be sitting there in Los Angeles thinking I'm a Knight
Bachelor."
He
has proven he can play just about anyone, from Nazi war criminals to
Jewish Holocaust survivors. For many viewers, however, he will always
be inextricably linked with his title role in Gandhi, a film that won
him an Oscar and the undying respect of critics and filmgoers alike.
More
recently he has become known for refusing to acknowledge people who
do not refer to him as 'Sir Ben' - perhaps all this Knight Bachelor
stuff has gone to his head:)