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David Suchet, aka Hercule Poirot, takes on a Biblical role

By Lynn Elber, Associated Press television writer

So here's this actor, David Suchet, claiming it was him playing Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot these past six years on PBS' "Mystery!"

Nah. Had to be the real thing. Poirot on TV was, after all, just as a Christie reader would picture the detective, from his precisely barbered mustache to his perfectly exasperating ego.

A mere impersonation? C'mon. Here's Mr. Suchet appearing as Aaron in the TNT miniseries "Moses," and there's not a whit of resemblance between the Old Testament figure and the Belgian sleuth.

Aaron is a simple, ragged refugee who grows from fear to faith in the two-part drama starring Ben Kingsley (8 p.m. Sunday and Monday). Poirot was all cleverness and manicured pomposity.

But TV credits don't lie, so we'll have to give Mr. Suchet his due as an exceptional character actor who simply vanishes into the role he's playing. Which is exactly his goal, says the Englishman.

"I love to be different people," he said. "I'm not very interested in showing myself off as myself. My gift at all, if indeed I have a gift, is being able to transform myself."

Those transformations, besides Poirot, include Sigmund Freud in a much-praised British TV production and a Middle Eastern terrorist in the new film "Executive Decision" (a "big Hollywood action movie," Mr. Suchet tags it).

"That's what I am, a character actor," says Mr. Suchet, lulling a caller with his rich, theater-trained voice. "I've never been a great romantic lead."

He is, he admits by phone from New York, playing just such a part, a suddenly jobless and homeless man who finds love, in a film now in production in the city.

"There you are," he said, playfully. "People like short, stumpy men sometimes."

Roles like Aaron, in TNT's fourth Old Testament epic, are more typical for Mr. Suchet, 50. He said he welcomed the chance to play Moses' brother and to explore the Bible.

"These wonderful stories that are found in the Old Testament and the New, they're glorious. I don't find them dusty; I find them full of humanity, full of reality, full of drama."

And in full voice.

"I thought Aaron would have more of a booming voice, because God choose him to be one of Israel's high priests -- and without a microphone," the actor said. The movie was filmed in Morocco, near where "Lawrence of Arabia" was made. He found the desert location, if not the weather, appealing.

"The most grueling moment for me was the night shoot when we had to stand up on a rock and declaim and shout, and it was mercilessly cold and very windy. And I thought to myself '40 years in this desert? I'm not sure about this.' "

The TNT project touched on his personal interests: Mr. Suchet is working on a bachelor's degree in theology in and around his acting and family commitments (he and wife Sheila, a former actress, have two children).

"I think it's one of the most fundamental, important issues of our day," he said. "I'm quite religious anyway. But irrespective of that, I'm appalled at what mankind has done to religion and how we use it for our own gain."

It was neither religion or acting that first fueled Mr. Suchet's professional ambitions. Growing up in London, he wanted to become a physician like his father.

"I decided to be an actor at the age of 18 when I realized I wasn't going to make it as a doctor," he said.

He studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Mr. Suchet wasn't completely ignoring family tradition -- his grandmother was a performer in the old English music halls.

"She once did a sand dance for me in her kitchen. ... She had this cigarette hanging out of the side of her mouth and was in her robe and slippers. She poured sugar all over the floor, and went into a soft-shoe shuffle and sang a song.

"She was 72. It was wonderful. A bit of history."

Poirot, he says, may be history as well. Although PBS has episodes to air next season, further production in Britain has stopped.

"Not from my choice, I hasten to add. I absolutely adored playing him," Mr. Suchet said.

"He's been a source of delight for me to play ... and a bit of a pain as well. He does know it all. I made sure to put a twinkle in it, or else he would be insufferable."

In Mr. Suchet's hands, never.

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