James Purefoy

OF THE PHILANTHROPIST ON NBC

Q: I know it didn’t last, but I loved the drama series “The Philanthropist.” What has its star been doing since then?

A: You’re right that it wasn’t a hit, and so “The Philanthropist” was really just a blip in star James Purefoy’s long and successful career. It was, however, a great showcase for his combination of grit and refinement — a combination he displayed again as a villainous cult leader in the Fox drama “The Following” from 2013 to 2015. More recently, he did lengthy arcs on TV dramas “Pennyworth” and “Malpractice” and appeared in the historical PBS miniseries “Marie Antoinette.” But he’s not just a TV guy. Lately, he’s launched his own, unlikely film franchise: the “Fisherman’s Friends” movies. It started as an independently made British comedy, “Fisherman’s Friends.” It was a runaway hit, based on a true story of a group of fishermen from the British region of Cornwall who sang sea shanties to pass the time but suddenly launched to fame after getting a global record deal. The success of the first led soon to a sequel, “Fisherman’s Friends: One and All,” released last year. Purefoy stars in the films as one of the singers, and signed on as a producer of the sequel. The series’ success must have been welcome for Purefoy, whose big-screen career was a bit tarnished by a pair of alltime flops. In the same year he did “The Philanthropist” (2009), he had the title role in the big-budget adventure film “Solomon Kane,” which didn’t even earn back half of its $45-million budget. He followed that up with a leading role in 2012’s “John Carter,” one of the most notorious bombs of all time.