From the opening line of “Call me Ishmael,” William Hootkins put director Nicolas Soames and engineer Clare Winter into the world of whaling ships of the nineteenth century as Bill began a masterful unabridged reading of MOBY-DICK. Nicolas writes of this memorable recording experience on the Naxos AudioBooks Web site, “If any American actor can approach the massive complexity of Melville’s MOBY-DICK, it is William Hootkins.” Sadly, we can’t ask Bill about it as he died from pancreatic cancer last fall. His legacy of this magnificent audio performance will be enjoyed and celebrated by listeners. Our AudioFile Earphones review concludes, “Hootkins, exercising perfect control, orchestrates all these voices in the symphonic whole that is Melville’s dark masterpiece.” Bill also recorded Longfellow’s HIAWATHA last year and took part in Dirk Maggs’s audioplay, SUPERMAN LIVES.
Listen to William Hootkins