The Unforgettable - Gordon Jackson

we must all of us learn to trust our fellow men perhaps her but not all the women that new parlourmaid for instance I wouldn't trust her as far as a flick of a feather duster you made a joke Hudson well it was a how we attempted once her I'm sorry not at all we were all of us in this country in or with Upstairs Downstairs and Gordon was the father of them for the series he called himself a jobbing actor but it was the nicest jobbing actor I've ever bet seemed to have been in every film that was ever made since 1944 the Great Escape in Cranston usually on the bombing with Gordon like with all really great actors they make everybody that they work with better why can't you say you are my lover I do not want to be your loving husband he had this ability to bring the audience in and to make the audience like him I'm not quite sure whether they're upstairs or downstairs he was outrageous with agasi my father's best qualities were his tolerance his generosity and his kindness I told you my tears and if you don't like them you can go to you can go to Glasgow he was a big star but he didn't ever see himself as a big star you Gordon Jackson was born in 1923 in Glasgow the youngest of six children they lived in a one floor apartment above a newsagent or on a shop on the vans road not a big house very small garden imagine he even had his own bedroom he was from a Scottish Calvinist family you know which quite a strict but very loving upbringing he was the youngest he had loads of nephews and nieces so it was a huge huge family and family life was as a child and also as a father very very important to him young Gordon's talents were spotted whilst he was still at school that was helped in to the the world of entertainment by the English teacher Sir the school who knew someone at the BBC he actually started as a pianist and he was on a program called auntie Kathleen's half hour I think it was which is the Scottish equivalent of children's hour a radio program and playing the piano and then gradually they got him reading poems and things like that Gordon Jackson left school at 15 and took an apprenticeship as a draftsman at the rolls-royce shipyards but within a couple of years thanks to the early exposure on radio he was chosen by Ealing film studios to star in a wartime propaganda film during the war in Glasgow my mother had a clinic shock it wasn't the Blitz and Glasgow that hadn't happened yet but she'd read in the paper that a young Hill had high school boy that was my school had got into movies and I thought that's rather nice for him but my mother not pleased at all she said that should have been you he's after us all right he's coming back again wait for it quick I think jog stopping I think that there was a need in Scotland to show that the Scots people were solidly behind the war and dad happened to be the boy that was chosen for this propaganda I come entertainment he died a lot he did die he died he died a lot of death it's no you sir this is what I get dog and he thought it was just a one-off she went back to rolls-royce and then came another call and he thought I like this I do liked it finding himself in demand as an actor Gordon quit his apprenticeship to star in a succession of movies including a rare leading role in the 1949 romance flood-tide starring young Scottish actress Rona Anderson he played a shipyard worker mum played the daughter of the shipyard owner it's extraordinary it mirrored their real-life what David I really came you to beg your pardon for being such a pig - and to tell you that I love you very much on screen courtship quickly developed into real-life romance and Gordon married Rona in 1951 after flood tide came a key role in the hit healing comedy whiskey galore she's into sin washing whiskey galore again and I was struck by how how advanced Gordon's acting was compared to many of those around him he was actually very modern way back then it was very real I asked it really to marry me what did she say she said yes he didn't do acting a lot of people were doing acting right about him but he he just talked although Gordon had become a film star in his early 20s he had a thoroughly practical approach to his profession I think his modesty was completely genuine when he's when he said he was a jobbing actor he meant it and it was the truth all the fripperies of stardom were not for him he liked to do the job did it well no tantrums no temperament just quietly got on with it but how can you be up committed a deeply committed professional act which clearly you are oh I'm not no no not to go out and cut it again but no I do it as a a job of work I'm not deeply committed Gordon's level-headed attitude to acting meant that throughout the 1950s he was rarely out of work playing solid supporting roles in over 40 films in 10 years he took almost of each others offered because he thought that if he said no then some power somewhere in the universe would say oh I guess we won't offer you any more how many films you've made I know it goes into an awful lot of them alive in the light I mean it's well over 15 7 deals on I believe so I don't know I mean I pop in and out of lot of films I mean I was New York not long ago and there was a late night movie on and I said to my wife this is the worst film I've ever seen and suddenly a door opened and I walked and I didn't even know I was in it happily married for eight years in 1959 the Jacksons came parents to first child Graham and Gordon's growing reputation as a top class Supporting Actor opened the door to Hollywood you're crazy you want to be locked up YouTube he was a oh I was in film one syllable and you think yeah he was talking about this deal the bound here he just he worked with so many huge people you know working with Marlon Brando I mean that's like working with God I was on that for 13 months that had two birthdays on there I mainly enjoyed it watching Marlon Brando working he can't remember lines he says and he has them stuck all over the place and so on you see Marlon Brando wine ah you know he does nothing looking up there that he's looking what's my next line and it's up there but rubbing shoulders with Hollywood legends had its downside and meant that Gordon wasn't present for the birth of his second child Roddy in 1961 he missed the first eight months of Rodney's life in those days she couldn't you know scoot back from Tahiti to see your wife give birth and then go back again so um he was so sad about this today people take maternity leave and it was inconceivable that you wouldn't see your child for nine months but when we were young we didn't really know that our dad was an actor he was in a film you it was away for a bit and that was it back in Britain Gordon put family first only taking work close to home including starring in the classic 1965 thriller the Ipcress file halli hypocrite have you with your car oh say yes I'm going to see redcliffe I want to try we experiment now in his late 40s Gordon was keen to prove himself on stage and was proud to take the role of Horatio in Tony Richardson's 1969 production of Hamlet at the Roundhouse Theatre in London Horatio all right do forget myself I say my lord in your poor servant sir my Hamlet was played by the temperamental Nicole Williamson who on one occasion panicked Gordon by halting the performance and starting to take off his costume yes dick Hall Williamson had this kind of fear I don't know what it was slight nervous breakdown on stage when when he doesn't stopped and and said boys jeribai now you ask for your money back look he's done to take his Kostya mop and Gordon thought you'd better start ad libbing when he said oh my leash over your face rupture okay let me retrieve it for you oh pretty my lord don't get yourself in such a state after Hamlet Corden cemented his reputation by starring in the prime of Miss Jean Brodie opposite Maggie Smith who won an Oscar for her performance I don't understand you Jean you will not marry me and let you feed me and share my bed she did why can't you say you are my lover I do not want to be your lover I want to be your husband it made his name in films but it was the role of an Edwardian Butler in a phenomenally successful television drama that was about to turn Gordon Jackson into one of the country's most popular actors by the early 1970s Gordon Jackson and his family had adopted Hampstead in North London as their home with Gordon rarely returning to his native Scotland a veteran of over 60 films Gordon still wasn't a household name but taking the central role in a new television costume drama was about to introduce him to a much wider audience the premise was that you took a London house and you know five or six claws and you took the front away and you saw what was happening on each floor so you have upstairs and downstairs I am the house phone the butler has to be somebody who has authority but also without being sort of demeaning has to know how to deal with upstairs in that sense Gordon Jackson was perfect because he had huge dignity and authority but he knew how to defer to Lady Margery we as Hudson I intend to engage this young woman she'll have her dinner in the servants Hall and collect her belongings afterwards Rose can show her what to do and the young person's name milady Sarah the public was waiting for this story it it was a costume drama but not like the classic serials of the BBC it was a costume drama with an ongoing story with characters that everybody instantly fell in love with it and the main thing was the dynamic between upstairs and downstairs he was completely the linchpin of the series because he was the coordinating element being about to her between upstairs and down as they said action you'd see him kind of morphing into Hudson his head would be held differently his configuration of his says there's something slightly unpleasant was on the wonderful thing about Hudson was first of all that he had everything that Gordon brought to any part which was a tremendous warmth honesty and also of course what he overlaid on Hudson an honorable strictness you know he was he really he ran a tight ship those you ought to instruct Sarah and her duties yes Mr Hudson with a good heart and a glad wheel if he please Rose naturally into the Hudson he brought an old-fashioned Edwardian straight-laced discipline he knew that character and that man so perfectly feet off the table in this house if you don't mind mr. Walker put that thing up with central part of it was indeed Gordon's heart and so in every way Gordon was the father of the series hello Hudson it's nice to see you again yes yes indeed my lord you too but the responsibility of being the cornerstone of the series was a heavy burden for such a consummate professional he worried about it so much he was so concerned about being inside the mail he was playing he got very nervous I used to make me feel guilty because I'm a bit of a kind of a winger in a way Gordon always made me feel that I wasn't working hard enough and I got to go and look at my script better his scripts were completely filled with little with inflections and hieroglyphics and things and I'd look on mine and I would have drawn an indifferent angel and maybe two words and that was it upstairs Downstairs ran for five years and it's huge success made it a popular target for parody everybody was watching it yes and everybody knew the characters so well rang milady yes sudden Hanson I specifically asked mrs. bridges for carry cakes and one Rock this is Rock Hudson a major role in the most popular drama series on television ensured that Gordon Jackson was now firmly in the mainstream could you please tell me where king charles ii of england of Peterborough is holding his licentiousness and not quite sure rather they're upstairs of dogs to the ITV personality for 1975 is that gentleman's gentleman Gordon Jackson thank you ladies and gentlemen for this beautiful award for my performance in the more calm and wise Christmas show and in 1979 Gordon received royal recognition when he was awarded the OBE for services to entertainment isn't that beautiful very fair we all loved dealing with the whole circus of the illness in the success of Upstairs Downstairs a lot of us did but I don't think Gordon truly did he knew it went with the job and he had to do it and he was very gracious about it but he would always be looking to see if it was if he could go now away from the cameras Gordon shunned publicity preferring to live a quiet life only socializing with a small and protective group of friends and fellow actors we moved to Hampstead as well the Conte's her The Jacksons and the older tons and we've been here a long time together it was always a very warm house you know that the atmosphere it was pleasant happy and he always looked forward to go to the Jacksons he hardly ever went out he liked the entertainment to be at home a lot to do with music and talking Kenneth Williams you know it was a huge friend of his and you think light-years apart and they had a real friendship and appreciation of each other his sense of humor was quite could be quite villainous and quite sharp and I can't tell you any of the stories that he told because we'd be put off the air it was surprising he was outrageous with the gossip he liked nothing better than getting and a different group of people together getting round a piano singing songs there was one song that Kenneth Williams did they made it up the night before the show and Gordon simply couldn't believe Kenneth was confident enough to make something up one night and then go on television live the next day Gordon Jackson great tile was to always say great one of the great musicologist suggested this charming musical setting honest work in my posture it was a mic on us all and they'll smith's hi lady very nice McClane Susie it was a joy having Kenneth come over I mean he adored children and bedtime stories from Kenneth were fantastic we had the time of our lives two years after Upstairs Downstairs ended Gordon took the role of George Cowley head of fictional law enforcement department ci5 in the action drama the professionals the show was an instant success and made stars out of its two young leads Lewis Collins and Martin Short well he was he was our boss you know he was the that the tough man who was directing this special ci5 unit and he still offered himself because he never considered himself tough in any way at all and he said I know why I'm playing it's fraud I think he had doubts early on about whether he was right for the part he expressed it to one or two actor friends but it was an opportunity to bury hard stone because otherwise I think it had been tight cast something like this with us must be death for disaster certainly less and as it's tied into an arms robbery it could be disaster we used to love shooting the guns you know that would be great for us and to put on these silly tough faces Gordon would get a hold of a gun if ever he had to shoot it he'd go like we said that God knew mustn't shut your eyes is our God did I do that again he was he was just lovely it's just a sweetest man and whatever material he was working with Gordon remained as meticulous and actor as ever every line was highlighted in the script even to the extent I once saw him learn a misprint it was something like and you Doyle will be standing boiling by at the corner here and Buddy will intercept in his can and then erectus it cut Gordon what's a can he says I was wondering about that while the success of the professionals only serve to increase Gordon Jackson's popularity there was trouble at home when Sun Roddy's drug addiction hit the headlines in 1984 an addiction he managed to overcome he was always supportive and there was never a moment where I felt I can't go home I can't say what happened there were times when people might think that perhaps I shouldn't have gone home but we were a very strong family towards the end of the 80s Gordon made only in frequent appearances in films and on television and in December 1989 he contacted rowdy with some devastating news dad said sir oh hello roadie oh I think it's the Big C and it hit do you like a slam it's like slam in the face it was so late the the diagnosis but you know in his stoic way he just accepted it that was that was I think we're done and I was going away I was doing a promotional tour of a film and Gordon came along in the car he gave me a great big hug and he said see when you get back and then I waved to him and there was a shining shining face smiling at me and waving and off he went and off I went and I never saw him again because he was dead with him mix after a short illness Gordon Jackson died of cancer on January the 15th 1998 66 Rona asked me to read of his memorial service and there were no speeches or anything she didn't want any of that but she gave me his Bible and I opened it and there were the markings there were the markings as the way he'd read it and I said to everybody listen this is going to be difficult for me to get through this Oh Thank You lungs the nice part of Gordon always came across on the screen you know the the decency of it because for you as well as happy you've just got this you know the sincerity and warmth and generosity of spirit go back the one thing that was important was that we were happy and he was always supportive and I'm very grateful that he was he was marvelous well we all know that long-lost family certainly knows how to touch our hearts and tomorrow night is no exception as the current series comes to an end Davina and Nikki are here with that at nine a world Lewis is not particularly familiar with is where he's alerting to for the sake of an investigation that's next this evening

Channel: MS greenheart

Views: 200,861

Keywords: Downstairs

Id: 6GdAt0_C27c

Length: 22min 24sec (1344 seconds)

Published: Wed May 30 2012