Ah, that's sad to hear. He was in my thoughts a couple of days ago as I watched Jodie Whittaker in Perrier's Bounty and couldn't quite place her so had to look it up and remembered how brilliant he was with her in Venus. A truly great Actor.
I met him Neil, during a shoot for Venus at Kenwood House where I was conservator. It was the scene where he's making a period costume film and they used the Adam library as the setting. He was an absolute gentleman, very charming and a big hit with the ladies on staff. I was supervising the shoot, (which was a nightmare) and spent all day hanging around as he did, waiting to do his thing. He was very chatty and certainly knew his stuff when it came to the painting collection we had in the house. We talked about 'How To Steal a Million' one of my favourite films and I told him the secret story of the IRA theft of the Kenwood Vermeer in the early 70s. It made a bad experience slightly more bearable. The crew were a nightmare and the whole thing wasn't worth the trouble and damage they caused.
I'll tell you what, Paul, your job sounds a lot more interesting than mine. I haven't met anyone, let alone a famous actor, since 2007. I thought Venus was a brilliant and thought-provoking film so hopefully it was all worth it in the end.
