Wednesday Trivia Question

Who played Mr. Conductor in the 2000 feature film THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD?

Okay, let’s start with the truth that this was NOT a PBS production. It was a box office bomb that can easily be dismissed in the legacy of the PBS Kids classic series SHINING TIME STATION. But it’s all attached in some way and that’s what makes for good trivia.

SHINING TIME STATION debuted on PBS in 1989. Although it featured Didi Conn in the role of station manager Stacy Jones and Brian O’Connor as comic relief Schemer, it was ex-Beatle Ringo Starr in the role of the diminutive Mr. Conductor that brought the magic. Ultimately, SHINING TIME was a way to re-package the British kids series THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE & FRIENDS for a US audience.

Ringo played the role for the first season of the show and comedian George Carlin replaced him for seasons two and three (technically, the original Mr. Conductor’s cousin). Mr. Conductor (not to be confused with DINOSAUR TRAIN’s Mr. Conductor, who is a Troodon) is an 18-inch tall man who lives in a signal house inside the train station’s mural and tells the stories taken from THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE & FRIENDS to the kids. He appears ever cheerful and has at his disposal some magic gold dust and a wishing star, which would seem pretty handy tools in any occupation.

Since the PBS series was a hit, it makes sense that a big screen movie would be in the works. Discussions began in the mid-90s, stumbled and eventually came to fruition around the turn of the century. THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD premiered in July 2000 and featured Peter Fonda and Mara Wilson, among others (Didi Conn did appear as Stacy Jones). The role of Mr. Conductor was played by an actor who was well known then and now. He was nominated for an Academy Award for a 2003 film and has at times been plagued by what we’ll call some scandal. I will note that if you asked me to compile a short list of actors who might be suitable for the role of Mr. Conductor in the late ’90s, this actor would not have even entered my mind. Meaning while his career had at that point included some comedies and rom coms, he was best known for more dramatic roles.

So who was it? What actor played Mr. Conductor in the 2000 feature film THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD?