FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TOM COURTENAY
What are you working on?
I am doing quite a bit of publicity for my new film, Quartet. Plus a DVD about Billy Liar, which is 50 years old this year.
When were you at your happiest?
Now is as good a time as any, really. There are aspects of my youth I miss, obviously, but I live better with myself now.
What is your greatest fear?
Not sure I have a greatest one, but lots of little fears come and go. There’s nothing I’m frightened of at this minute, though. The doom is only impending.
What is your earliest memory?
My mother said we went to Bridlington in the war to escape the bombs and I remember some kind of hole in the garden. It wouldn’t have been very big but it would have seemed big to me. That’s my first memory. My first vivid memory is being in hospital with scarlet fever. The nurses used to sit me on their knee, and I was in there for several weeks. I don’t even know what scarlet fever is now. Anyway, I recovered.
Who has been your greatest influence?
Caspar Wrede [Finnish film and theatre director]: I met him at drama school and because of him, I went off to do so much work in Manchester and helped with the founding of the Royal Exchange Theatre. His film, One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, is pretty much my favourite film. He was never fashionable and I have worked with much bette rknown directors, but he influenced me most.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
Everyone says how young I look for my age, so I quite like my appearance. I am very indecisive but if you took that away from me, there probably wouldn’t be much else left.
What is your most treasured possession?
My mother’s letters, which are in a box. I wrote a book based on them called Dear Tom. It is the best thing I have ever done.
What trait do you deplore in others?
Being boring.
Do you have a fantasy address?
We might find somewhere by the sea one day. I like the sound of the sea. When I sometimes get a bit of tinnitus, it’s a very soothing sound.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
During the filming of Quartet, Dustin Hoffman, the director, kept telling me what a good-looking guy I was. No one had ever done that to me before, so I was kind of buoyed up by it.
What is your favourite book?
Great Expectations.
What is your favourite film or play?
What comes close is La Grande Illusion by Jean Renoir. And a Russian film I saw by a director called Mark Donskoy, called The Childhood Of Maxim Gorky. I was quite young when I saw it and I couldn’t believe that actors could be that real.
What is your favourite record?
The Schubert String Quintet. I remember the first time I heard it, how extraordinary it was. I heard it on a gramophone first; I had to borrow it from the library.
What is your favourite meal?
I like quite homely things. I like shepherd’s pie and things like that – school meals. My wife does nice homemade soup. I’m not much for haute cuisine. I had a very good treacle tart at The Wolseley restaurant in London – Albert Finney bought me it.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Paul Scofield. He was always a hero; the way he was and the way he acted and what he was. He was also the best-looking person I’ve ever seen – male or female.
Which historical character do you most admire?
I’m very keen on Charles Dickens.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has said to you?
I think I have obliterated it.
What is your secret vice?
I don’t think I’ve got any.
Do you write thank-you notes?
Yes. I do notice that actors don’t really reply to letters any more. When I wrote to Scofield and John Gielgud and Alec Guinness, they’d always reply. And now actors don’t. It’s such a shame.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘Really?’
What single thing would improve your quality of life?
That my health will hold up. I’m not far from 76!
What would you like your epitaph to be?
I wouldn’t want one.
Tom Courtenay is in Quartet, which is currently on general release. Dear Tom: Letters From Home, is published by Black Swan, priced £9.99.
I am doing quite a bit of publicity for my new film, Quartet. Plus a DVD about Billy Liar, which is 50 years old this year.
When were you at your happiest?
Now is as good a time as any, really. There are aspects of my youth I miss, obviously, but I live better with myself now.
What is your greatest fear?
Not sure I have a greatest one, but lots of little fears come and go. There’s nothing I’m frightened of at this minute, though. The doom is only impending.
What is your earliest memory?
My mother said we went to Bridlington in the war to escape the bombs and I remember some kind of hole in the garden. It wouldn’t have been very big but it would have seemed big to me. That’s my first memory. My first vivid memory is being in hospital with scarlet fever. The nurses used to sit me on their knee, and I was in there for several weeks. I don’t even know what scarlet fever is now. Anyway, I recovered.
Who has been your greatest influence?
Caspar Wrede [Finnish film and theatre director]: I met him at drama school and because of him, I went off to do so much work in Manchester and helped with the founding of the Royal Exchange Theatre. His film, One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, is pretty much my favourite film. He was never fashionable and I have worked with much bette rknown directors, but he influenced me most.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
Everyone says how young I look for my age, so I quite like my appearance. I am very indecisive but if you took that away from me, there probably wouldn’t be much else left.
What is your most treasured possession?
My mother’s letters, which are in a box. I wrote a book based on them called Dear Tom. It is the best thing I have ever done.
What trait do you deplore in others?
Being boring.
Do you have a fantasy address?
We might find somewhere by the sea one day. I like the sound of the sea. When I sometimes get a bit of tinnitus, it’s a very soothing sound.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
During the filming of Quartet, Dustin Hoffman, the director, kept telling me what a good-looking guy I was. No one had ever done that to me before, so I was kind of buoyed up by it.
What is your favourite book?
Great Expectations.
What is your favourite film or play?
What comes close is La Grande Illusion by Jean Renoir. And a Russian film I saw by a director called Mark Donskoy, called The Childhood Of Maxim Gorky. I was quite young when I saw it and I couldn’t believe that actors could be that real.
What is your favourite record?
The Schubert String Quintet. I remember the first time I heard it, how extraordinary it was. I heard it on a gramophone first; I had to borrow it from the library.
What is your favourite meal?
I like quite homely things. I like shepherd’s pie and things like that – school meals. My wife does nice homemade soup. I’m not much for haute cuisine. I had a very good treacle tart at The Wolseley restaurant in London – Albert Finney bought me it.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Paul Scofield. He was always a hero; the way he was and the way he acted and what he was. He was also the best-looking person I’ve ever seen – male or female.
Which historical character do you most admire?
I’m very keen on Charles Dickens.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has said to you?
I think I have obliterated it.
What is your secret vice?
I don’t think I’ve got any.
Do you write thank-you notes?
Yes. I do notice that actors don’t really reply to letters any more. When I wrote to Scofield and John Gielgud and Alec Guinness, they’d always reply. And now actors don’t. It’s such a shame.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘Really?’
What single thing would improve your quality of life?
That my health will hold up. I’m not far from 76!
What would you like your epitaph to be?
I wouldn’t want one.
Tom Courtenay is in Quartet, which is currently on general release. Dear Tom: Letters From Home, is published by Black Swan, priced £9.99.