Rush’s ‘yummy’ co-star
Actor admits he may have used term in rehearsals
HOLLYWOOD star Geoffrey Rush admitted he may have called an actor in King Lear “scrumptious” and “yummy” during rehearsals for the play, a court heard yesterday.
Later in the day his wife Jane Menelaus broke down in tears saying her husband “doesn’t wish to act again” after Sydney’s The Daily Tele- graph reported Mr Rush’s costar had lodged a complaint with the Sydney Theatre Company over his “inappropriate behaviour”.
The actor was later named as Eryn Jean Norvill and is expected to give evidence in the 67-year-old’s defamation trial against the newspaper.
The paper’s barrister Tom Blackburn SC asked Mr Rush if he told Ms Norvill “you’re looking very scrumptious today” during rehearsals in late 2015.
“I don’t recall saying that, but I may have said that,” Mr Rush told the Federal Court.
“I was always in a very chirpy mood.”
The Pirates of the Caribbean star said he might have called her “yummy”, saying the word “has a spirit to it”.
Ms Norvill played Cordelia, the daughter of Mr Rush’s character King Lear, whose “lifeless” body he carried on to the stage before caressing her in grief.
Mr Rush denied deliberately tracing his fingers across Ms Norvill’s breast, saying he had wanted to feel the silhouette of her character’s life- less torso, adding it was “the interior of my palms wanting to feel the loss of her soul”.
“Did a thumb accidentally touch the lower part of her chest? Possibly. I wasn’t monitoring this with detachment,” Mr Rush said.
The Oscar winner said he had lived “a hermit-like existence” since the articles were published on November 30 and December 1 last year.
His solicitor, Nick Pullen, filed a sworn affidavit with the court in April claiming Mr Rush was “virtually housebound” as a result of the publications. Under crossexamination the Melbournebased actor agreed that since the start of the year he had travelled to the US, Italy, the UK, and South Australia.
Mr Rush denies any wrongdoing and claims two front page articles in the newspaper painted him as a “pervert” and “sexual predator”.
Ms Menelaus said she found her weeping, sleepless husband in the foetal position in bed some nights after the paper’s front page articles first hit the stands.
“I saw a man so altered and changed. His eyes sunk into his head, he retreated very much from the world,” she said. “We were losing him.” In its defence The Daily Telegraph submits that the articles are based on allegations made by Ms Norvill to the STC and are true. King Lear director Neil Armfield is expected to give evidence today.