Paul Eddington: A Life Well Lived 3/3

nominations and the category light entertainment performance are all in Eaton Yes Minister Nigel Hawthorne Yes Minister I do think he was a little sad over the fact that Paul and Nigel were always nominated for the best actor in Turner television um and he never got it forgive me Minister why do you think Nigel keeps winning all the BAFTAs and I don't get one I said because he's got longer speeches than you however he found recognition in other ways remember he's telling me that he'd gone over to Australia once and Bob Hawke better matter function and Bob Hawke sent Paul would you like to come along to one of the rallies and thoughts again love to you know cuz he loved political stuff he's very politically orientated so he got in the car they buzzed off and and he said suddenly I was in this arena with something like 60,000 people and Bob Hawke said you know what I listen to me this is the real Prime Minister and Paul it said he was thrown onto the stage and forced to improvise people expected him to to make remarks about current policy I mean quite quite seriously which of course he never did he always made a joke of it it's a very good question and it's a no no seriously it's a question that as I've said on previous occasions as a in a democracy as the sort of question that ought to be asked I really did think you semi do the government as well as I'd well-known actor because he loved that he reveled in in the sort of rather ground fake of being feted as a VIP rather than just a lovey after suffering with bad health for many years he was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer in 1987 he handled his illness with incredible dignity in that he didn't say look at me poor me and make a fuss about it and for he knew for years he was ill but he absolutely I mean we'd very few people knew until later and then he just said what I'm ill and that's it and he was not sorry for himself at all but he didn't camouflage it'll make a big tear about it but that was very much his life he was never defeated but he was dashed at first but each thing and then he used to say well it could be worse um I can deal with that I can deal with it it was an acceptance and his his life was an acceptance really of one thing after another as the next the next thing happened he would just swallow hardness any I can duck and I can bear that I can bear it you would never ever have known if you didn't know him that he was ill and he was very very ill despite his increasing health worries he decided to reunite with Richard Briers in David story's play home he said you'd love to do this with me and I think because we were very fond of each other and he knew his time was limited it would be nice to do a play maybe his lastly was his last with a friend rather than just another actor so he did he but made the general error when we toured home our forgetting that we were in the sad play but to the public we were still so geriatric Tom and Jerry was that was I was getting letters all the time they didn't write him this I think they still thought he was a prime minister love it the road to me as a sort of Chum saying why are you doing this dreary dreadful depressing play how could you they came for a laugh and we forgot 25 years on that 20 years on that we were Tom and Jerry still then would be forever a friend of mine actually more an acquaintance really was introduced to George the sixth at Waterloo Waterloo we didn't want him to appear in the newspapers too much looking like that and it was getting worse it became public before we were ready for it to become public I ran at that time and they had these people outside and I said you know you're gonna have to open that door and interview them and tell them you know you really have to tell them and that's when the first pictures of him went out so that people could actually see that he was ill I mean the fact that being an actor it had to hit his face I found very hard to take I think when he did face to face towards the end I thought there was a great act of bravery strongly control I mean talk about British stiff upper lip he really had that Paul Eddington you're one of our best and best loved actors and I found it very hard and I found it very poor he was there saying what do you want you know if you're gonna ask me to do this I'm very pleased to tell you and this is what this is me and this is hi I'm and he wasn't sentimental in the slightest a little bit and he wasn't being brave either people are kind enough to say how brave and the last where I'm not brave at all I do wish very sincerely that I hadn't got this problem but as I have it there's no alternative for just say yes I've got it his faith was the main thing which supported him I don't think he could have got through it the way he did without it we all did what we could we all rallied we tried hard but basically it was his own acceptance of the fact that he was not going to get better and he had better prepare to die the actor Paul Eddington has died at the age of 68 from a rare form of skin cancer the real real sadness about about his illness was that it robbed us of 10 years of great performances I have been very lucky to have quite a few meaningful in that they are very special relationships that I've worked with in my working life and his is certainly up there in the top way out there I remember him with great affection and great respect he made me laugh he made me laugh a lot well he was a great personal friend godfather to one of my children I loved him I thought he was a smashing man and I wish little more of his kind about he was a great great friend of mine and at the moment Trish have become great friends of ours it's nice it continues on your journalist once asked me what I would like my epitaph be and I said I think I would like it to be he did very little harm and that's not easy most people seem to me to do a great deal of harm if I could be remembered as having done very little never sued me you

Channel: TobleroneTV

Views: 300,569

Rating: 4.9188595 out of 5

Keywords: Paul, Eddington, Life, Well, Live, Yes, Minister, The, Good, Prime, Richard, Briers, Felicity, Kendal, Penelope, Keith, Patricia, Face, To, Jeremy, Isaacs, BBC

Id: PqRAJ055duk

Length: 8min 1sec (481 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 11 2009