“Cantankerous. Opinionated. Big mouth” is the description actor Brain Cox, born a few days earlier than Donald Trump, applies to himself, though his politics do lean leftwards. He has had a late career resurgence as the Murdochian media patriarch in the dynastic family drama ‘Succession’ which starts its final season.
Cox was born 1 June 1946 2.15pm Dundee, Scotland, and brought up by his sisters after his father died when he was 8 and his mother was hospitalised several times with nervous breakdowns. He has had a long and notable career on stage in Shakespeare and in numerous successful movies.
Cox’s Mercury is in Gemini close to outspoken Uranus in his communicative 9th and sextile his Pluto and widely Mars in flamboyant Leo which explains his tendency to go off like a sky rocket when prompted about his political views. He has a Cancer Moon conjunct Venus in his career 10th alongside a well-organised Saturn. His Jupiter Neptune in Libra in his 1st trine his Sun, Mercury and Uranus will bring luck to his creative and imaginative talents – with considerable heft since it sextiles onto Pluto and Mars.
An interesting and talented man – his actor’s 15th harmonic is super-strong with a T square of Venus, Saturn, Sun and Moon tied into Pluto; Pluto on the focal point of a Yod to Mercury and Mars; and another T square of Neptune Jupiter Mercury. Born to act.
Succession launched 3 June 2018 and became an instant hit with critics though less so with audiences. It has been drenched in nominations and awards. The start chart has a creative Water Grand Trine of Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio in a high-finance trine to Neptune trine Venus with Venus opposition Pluto in Capricorn, making influential, power-hungry Pluto the driving planet. So it had the celestial powers behind it.
On a personal note – I found the first season dreary, dull clothes and colours and unlikeable characters across the board. I only kept watching since the critics raved about it and I assumed I had missed something. Have not seen it since. It did get me pondering – Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders and Damien Lewis in Billions are playing hardly likeable characters and yet they engage the audience’s interest and sympathy. The Succession lot did not, apart from Cox to a degree. Not quite sure what the difference is.
I’m enjoying Succession but they are a horrible lot. It took me a while to get into it.
His Pluto/Mars in Leo and his Pluto focal point in his 15th harmonic chart yod would be perfect for his role as Hanibal Lecter in Michael Mann’s ‘Manhunter’, several years before Anthony Hopkins’ performance in ‘Silence of the Lambs’.
I watched the first three episodes of Succession and found them soul-crushing because of the extreme cynicism, the constant swearing, the lame humor, and the one-dimensional characters. What I saw seems a perfect expression of Pluto in the late degrees of Capricorn. People selling and degrading themselves and others for money and status
I loved the first season – it really rocked for me. It has only got better and better as well. I guess these things really are subjective… 🙂
I saw him as King Lear at the National back in 1990. The fact that he is still playing such characters more than 30 years later says something. Physically he hasn’t even changed that much.
“On a personal note – I found the first season dreary, dull clothes and colours and unlikeable characters across the board. I only kept watching since the critics raved about it and I assumed I had missed something. Have not seen it since.”
This actually happened to me too. But my husband kept watching, and by the end of Season 2 and Season 3, I found myself watching almost entire episodes with him. Not because any of the characters were likeable, but to see how they get stuck in absurdly compromising situations that might destroy them completely – but obviously don’t, since they are ridiculously rich and powerful. So, I have now been binging it before Season 4, and while enjoying a couple of Season 1 episodes, I really think the series starts to come across a couple of episodes in Season 2, while there are a couple of inciting incidents. I also think the aesthetics become more pleasant around that time – they show surprisingly bright Dundee and by Season 3, even New York looks brighter. Interesting choice.