SALT LAKE CITY — David Suchet’s television legacy may center on his portrayal of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, the fastidious Belgian detective who relied on his brain’s “little gray cells” to solve crimes.
But the 76-year-old actor, who just completed three nights as the narrator for the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s annual Christmas concert, said he considers his audio reading of the Bible to be the legacy that he “would like to leave the world.”
“I’m a Christian, I’m an actor,” Mr. Suchet told The Washington Times in an interview before a Tabernacle Choir performance in front of an estimated audience of 15,000. “How can I use my gifts to serve the faith, the Christian faith or the Jewish faith? Whoever wants to read the Bible, whoever.”
That inquiry led him to the British publisher of the New International Version, Hodder & Stoughton, and to recording the 727,969 words in that biblical translation. He said it was an “amazing” experience. The recording was released in 2014 and remains on sale.
“What I’ve realized in the preparation of not only each book, but each chapter, the number of times in the Bible that it says, ’Hear the word of the Lord, hear the word of the Lord.’ And Paul says, ’You will come to faith by hearing.’ Nobody ever mentions reading,” he said.
Recording the audiobook using headphones makes “you hear what you’re saying in a very different way,” he said.
“As I was reading, I also heard that ’word’ of Scripture. And I believe that by so doing, my faith increased enormously,” Mr. Suchet said. “At the end of the recording of the whole Bible, I really believe I came out a different person.”
A classically trained actor, Mr. Suchet spent 16 years as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. He has been featured in stage productions such as “Othello,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “Amadeus,” as well as big-screen films such as 1984’s “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes” and 1996’s “Executive Decision.”
But it was his turn in “Agatha Christie’s Poirot” from 1989 to 2013 that brought him global fame. The British mystery drama series, which aired on PBS in the United States, produced 70 episodes and won nominations for a raft of awards, including a British Academy Television Award best actor nod for Mr. Suchet.
Born to a Jewish father and an Anglican mother, Mr. Suchet said his Christian upbringing was nominal and geared toward passing school exams in his religious education classes.
A chance reading of the eighth chapter of the New Testament book of Romans in 1986 galvanized him to “make a real investigation” of Christianity and, years later, to be confirmed as a member of the Church of England.
World War II rescue tale touches audience
As the narrator of the Tabernacle Choir’s Christmas program, Mr. Suchet regaled the audience with the story of the late Sir Nicholas Winton, a British banker who organized the transport of 669 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia to England at the start of World War II.
Most of the children’s parents died in the Auschwitz concentration camp. The youngsters went on to live in Britain and elsewhere, their children and grandchildren numbering about 6,000.
Winton’s extraordinary efforts were largely unknown until the BBC aired in 1988 a program in which he was the unwitting guest of honor at a theater gathering whose audience was composed entirely of the now-grown rescued children and their progeny. He later was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and honored with statues in Prague and London.
Mr. Suchet’s narration was capped by the onstage appearance of Nick Winton, Sir Nicholas’ youngest and only surviving child.
The younger Mr. Winton said the presentation “for me wasn’t a history lesson. This is a story with a call to action. And that helps sustain me because, you know, trying to fill my father’s shoes is not possible. So my small part is to help bring the story to people who haven’t heard it with the message that that could have been any one of us, we just have to get off the couch and do something.”
Mack Wilberg, the Tabernacle Choir’s music director, said he didn’t “think there was any way that we could get” the renowned Mr. Suchet to narrate the concert this year.
“One thing that impressed me the most was what a truly warm, generous person he is,” Mr. Wilberg said. “He just puts you completely at ease from the minute that you meet him. There’s a greatness about that, aside from all of the other things, that really impressed me.”
Mr. Suchet said his experience in Salt Lake City and at the Conference Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints left a positive impression.
“All I know is that coming here, you feel everybody’s so warm and friendly and generous and kind,” he said. “What they’ve given me and what I find by walking around this city and by going into stores and talking to people, I find it’s one of the friendliest places I’ve ever been to.”
The 153-year-old choir’s Christmas shows are broadcast on PBS one year after the live shows are recorded; the program featuring Mr. Suchet and singer/actress Lea Salonga is expected to air late next year.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.