oapy Smith will be a character appearing on the upcoming Discovery Channel miniseries Klondike. All I know about Soapy's part in the production is that actor Ian Hart will be playing the role of Soapy. Hart recently had roles in HBO's Luck and FX's Dirt. Additionally, Hart has had roles in such films as Finding Neverland, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Enemy of the State.
Other names staring in Klondike include Chris Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Tim Roth, Richard Madden, Tim Blake Nelson, Marton Csokas, Conor Leslie, Augustus Prew, and Johnny Simmons.
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| Ian Hart Will portray "Soapy" Smith |
The miniseries, previously announced last year, is based on Charlotte Gray's novel, Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike, and brings to life the tale about six strangers and their collective fight for survival and wealth in a small frontier town in the remote Klondike. Klondike is a co-production between Discovery, Entertainment One (eOne), and Nomadic Pictures, in association with Scott Free Productions. International distribution is handled by eOne Television. Paul Scheuring (Prison Break, A Man Apart) is the primary writer and will serve as Executive Producer, along with Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker; as well as John Morayniss and Michael Rosenberg for eOne. Eileen O'Neill and Dolores Gavin will serve as Executive Producers for Discovery. Klondike follows the lives of two childhood best friends, Bill and Epstein, in the late 1890s as they undertake the next, gold rush capital in the untamed Yukon Territory. This man-versus-nature tale places our heroes in a land full of undiscovered wealth, but ravaged by harsh conditions, unpredictable weather and desperate, dangerous characters including greedy businessmen, seductive courtesans and native tribes witnessing the destruction of their people and land by opportunistic entrepreneurs. Production begins in March 2013 under the direction of Simon Cellan Jones (Generation Kill, Treme) on location in Alberta, Canada. The series will be produced with assistance of the Government of Alberta, Alberta Film Development Program.
... “Soapy” was later killed at Skaguay by one Reed whom he had displeased. “Soapy,” however, got a Winchester into position in time to take Mr. Reed with him. It was “Soapy's” way. You could never get him to go anywhere alone, being fond of company.
— Denver Post, September 22, 1909
MARCH 23
1792: The Humane Society of Massachusetts is incorporated.
1813: The first raw cotton-to-cloth mill is founded in Waltham, Massachusetts.
1821: The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries establishes the first pharmacy college.
1822: The city of Boston, Massachusetts is incorporated.
1836: The siege of the Alamo begins during the Texas Revolution, in San Antonio, Texas.
1839: The first express service in the U.S. is organized between Boston, Massachusetts and New York City by William F. Harnden.
1847: Mexican General Santa Anna is defeated at the Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico by U.S. troops under General Zachary Taylor.
1858: The U.S. Senate approves statehood for Kansas.
1861: President Lincoln secretly enters Washington D.C. to take his office after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.
1861: Texas is the 7th state to secede from the Union previous to the Civil War.
1870: The state of Mississippi is readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.
1874: Walter Winfield patents a game called sphairistike, later known as lawn tennis.
1875: J. Palisa discovers asteroid #143 (named “Adria”).
1877: Mormon Elder John Lee is executed at the site of the Mountain Meadow Massacre, twenty years previous, for his part in the murder of a wagon party heading to California.
1882: An illegal posse, led by Wyatt Earp out for revenge, has a shootout at Iron Spring, Arizona Territory, with men thought to be the “cowboy’s gang” of Curly Bill Brocius. Earp claims he shot and killed Brocius but later reports indicate the “cowboys” were actually miners, each party believing the other was bad.
1883: Two people are killed by Indians at Point of the Mountain, Arizona Territory.
1883: Alabama is the first state to enact an antitrust law.
1886: Charles Hall completes his invention of aluminum.
1889: President Harrison opens Oklahoma for colonization.
1896: The Tootsie Roll is introduced by Leo Hirshfield.
1904: The U.S. acquires control of the Panama Canal for $10,000,000.
1905: The Rotary Club is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1910: The first radio contest is held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
I applaud anything that will bring history to the general public, but at the same time the stories can be re-worked and the truth get lost. We will see how this one turns out. Doris
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting Doris. With all the fantastic histories published since the days of the Klondike gold rush itself, they chose to base their miniseries on a novel. The odds are already against the truth being shown, but there is always hope.
DeleteJeff Smith