King Lear 1970 The Shakespeare tragedy that gave us the expression How sharper than a serpents tooth it is to have a thankless child King Lear has not one but two ungrateful children, and its especially galling because he turned over his entire kingdom to them Paul Scofield is an ancient, imposing shell of a Lear tormented by his too long life as well as by daughters he calls unnatural hags At one point, the king looks his eldest daughter, Goneril Ireme Worth, straight in the eye and declares, Thou art a boil, a plague sore, of embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood These are the troubles not even the best trained family counselor could ever hope to resolve