P&P 200: The Many Faces of Elizabeth Bennet (Part 4)

Updating here with a new post (from my last three previous posts, which I just realized I've started about 5 years ago or so back in 2008!) about in continuing with the 200th anniversary celebration of Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice novel, which has been going on since the beginning of this year (last January 28th) and the upcoming holiday premiere of a new P&P homage/inspired of TV adaptation (of PD James' best-selling murder mystery novel of the same name) Death Comes to Pemberley starring Matthew Rhys (as Mr. Darcy) and Anna Maxwell Martin (as Elizabeth Darcy...née Bennet) (which premieres on BBC One in the UK this Christmas in 3 consecutive nights from December 26-28) 2013 and also set for a PBS Masterpiece premiere in 2014. No broadcast dates has been announced yet...). So, I've created a new post here and updated the old post.

Elizabeth Bennet (later Elizabeth Darcy) is the protagonist in the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She is often referred to as Eliza or Lizzy/Lizzie by her friends and family.

Elizabeth is the second child in a family of five daughters. Though the circumstances of the time and environment require her to seek a marriage of convenience for economic security, Elizabeth wishes to marry for love.

Elizabeth is regarded as the most admirable and endearing of Austen's heroines.^[2] She is considered one of the most beloved characters in British literature^[3] because of her complexity. Austen herself described Lizzy as "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print."^[4]  Read more on Wikipidea: Elizabeth Bennet

Elizabeth "Eliza/Lizzy/Lizzie" Bennet

Greer Garson
(Pride and Prejudice; Film 1940)

Elizabeth Garvie
(Pride and Prejudice; TV Miniseries 1980)

Jennifer Ehle
(Pride and Prejudice; TV/Miniseries 1995)

Kam Heskin
(Pride & Prejudice: Latter-Day Comedy; Film 2003)


Aishwarya Rai
(as Lalita Bakshi in Bride & Prejudice; Film 2004)

Keira Knightley
(Pride & Prejudice; Film 2005)

(Lost In Austen; ITV's TV Miniseries 2008)

(Appeared in Episodes 1 and 4 of 4 Episodes) 

Elizabeth Bennet in her time period...

and Elizabeth Bennet as a modern girl in London 

(where she and Amanda Price, the heroine 

of Lost In Austen switched places

...and get this...
*Spoiler* Lizzy worked as a nanny and cut her hair short!)...

[FYI: P&P '05's Talulah Riley (Mary Bennet) and P&P '95's (Mr. Darcy) co-starred with Gemma Arterton in St. Trinians film. Also, P&P '05's Rupert Friend (Mr. Wickham) co-starred with Gemma in the stage play, .]

 
(A Modern Pride and Prejudice; film 2011)

Ashley Clements

(as Lizzie Bennet in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries; VLog/YouTube Series 2012)

 

More info on Wikipidea: Elizabeth Bennet:

The enduring popularity of Pride and Prejudice has seen the novel frequently adapted for both television and the cinema. Among the actresses who have taken the role of Elizabeth Bennet are:

• Curigwen Lewis, in the first television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in 1938.
• Greer Garson in a 1940 cinema adaptation
• Daphne Slater in a 1952 UK television adaptation.
• Jane Downs in a 1958 UK television version.
• Celia Bannerman in a 1967 film version produced to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Jane Austen.
• Elizabeth Garvie in a 1980 BBC television adaptation.
• Jennifer Ehle in a 1995 BBC television adaptation, for which she received a BAFTA Award.
• Keira Knightley in a 2005 film adaptation, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.

While not strict adaptations of the original text, other notable versions of Elizabeth Bennet (or characters directly based on her) in productions based on Austen's text include:

• Renée Zellweger portrayed Bridget Jones in the 2001 feature film Bridget Jones' Diary, and its sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. The original novel by Helen Fielding was loosely inspired by Pride and Prejudice and follows a similar narrative, and Bridget Jones occupies the same role in the story held by Elizabeth Bennet in the original.
• Kam Heskin in a 2003 cinema adaptation set in a contemporary Mormon university.
• Aishwarya Rai portrayed Lalita Bakshi (a character based upon Elizabeth) in the 2005 film Bride and Prejudice, a Bollywood adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
• Gemma Arterton played Elizabeth Bennet in Lost in Austen, a Fantasy adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in which a modern woman trades places with Elizabeth Bennet.
• Ashley Clements played Lizzie Bennet in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries in the 2013 Emmy Award winning (for Interactive Media) online modernized YouTube adaption 
•  Anna Maxwell Martin plays Elizabeth Darcy/Mrs Darcy in the 2013 BBC One's Death Comes to Pemberley, a novel adaptation by P.D. James about events after Pride and Prejudice.

Upcoming In-Development TV/Films based on P&P...

• Focus Features acquired feature film rights for Pride and Prejudice spinoff 'Longbourn'
• Jennifer Love Hewitt and Lifetime developing 'Darcy's Town
• Director Nora Ephron to direct a film version of 'Lost In Austen'
• Lost in Austen (in development) 
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Film)
  Lily Collins to star as Elizabeth Bennet in 'Pride, Prejudice and Zombies'?
  (producer - Natalie Portman)

Related links

• P&P 200: The Many Faces of Elizabeth Bennet (Part 3) 
• The Many Faces of Mr. Darcy (Part 2)
• Then & Now: The Many Faces of Mr. Darcy
• The Many Faces of Elizabeth Bennet (part 2)
• Then & Now: The Many Faces of Elizabeth Bennet 
• Then & Now: The Many Faces of Elizabeth Bennet & Fitzwilliam Darcy