Summary
A well-received theater performer turned silver screen character actor, Wilhelm Burnell has long been typecast in military roles, especially those of an authoritarian or otherwise high-ranking bent. Known for his powerful presence and memorable line deliveries, he lends an air of gravitas and discipline to any film he happens to be cast in.
Though he has drawn the eyes of many co-stars during his career, he apparently prefers isolated bachelorhood. This, of course, is complicated when a certain determined woman makes her way into his life.
In the end, shared billing will be something he learns to accept, though not without suitably Gothic storm-and-stress.
Loose Plot Concept(s)
- Plot A: "Thy Wicked Heart" - Set in a hazy period around the late 1960s and early-to-mid 1970s, Wilhelm Burnell is drawn out of a tentative early retirement from acting to take on one of the starring roles in a TV series called "Thy Wicked Heart," a program resembling a cross between Gunsmoke and Dark Shadows, which took place somewhere in the British Isles during the English Civil War. A mysterious witch hunter (Burnell), declaring himself a "Witchfinder General" much in the vein of the infamous Matthew Hopkins, rode into a quiet township on his obedient gelding and proclaimed a personal war on witchery. Ruthlessly, through efforts both violent and diplomatic, he began to persecute all the "heretics" of the surrounding countryside...some of whom were thieves by necessity, innocent elder healers, and social outcasts.
In swept the Caravan Lady, played by Valeria Sommerset, a woman of unknown ancestry who took it upon herself to protect the targets of the huntsman's wrath...while at the same time, beginning a strange and darkly romantic dance of "will-they-won't-they" with the stern Puritan vigilante.
The program, however, came to an abrupt end; a fire broke out on set after weeks of strange events plaguing the production of a particularly fraught and suspenseful storyline. Both Burnell and Sommerset presumably perished in the flames.
Yet there is far, far more to this story than might at first be perceived. After all, the show was always meant to be a Gothic romance, not a tragedy...
- Plot B: "Method Acting" - Set in the modern day, a disillusioned Burnell is sent into a rural mountain region on the Eastern Coast of the US in order to gain more in-depth knowledge for an upcoming film role. But the little community he finds himself in, as well as its reclusive, sophisticated benefactor, seems quite reluctant to even hear of his eventual departure.
Exclusive Trivia
- Like his other roles, this one requires no precise chronological placement, except in the case of Plot A. He can just as easily be a modern actor as one in a period setting.
- This is the only setting where "Captain" is actually a nickname of his. It doesn't appear in priest continuities, and it may be an actual military ranking he held in the emperor 'verse.
- His father was a stage actor, and his mother was also a part-time actor, as well as a seamstress and renowned costume designer. His sister had little interest in the performing arts, aside from a singing hobby she maintained alongside an industrious woodcarving and decorative ironworking business.
- The first foray he took into acting as a child was with the assistance of his father's friend and colleague. Said friend and colleague, "???", is the root cause of his heaviest trauma.
- He seems to have had some actual military service in his past, though whatever caused him to lose sight in his eye is what led to an honorable discharge. Oddly, he never wants to speak about his time in the service, despite being so famous for his military acting roles.
- He is inconsistent about wearing an eyepatch. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. He is particularly annoyed when people overreact to the sight of his blinded eye.