‘Acting was certainly in the blood’
Jeffrey Davies looks back on the time he chatted over morning coffee with the much-loved star of the British stage and screen, Timothy West
TIMOTHY West is a versatile and much-celebrated stage, radio, television and film actor. He is also a favourite TV presenter. Noted for his power and command on the classical stage, Yorkshire-born Timothy has appeared in King Lear, Henry IV and Uncle Vanya among many others. On radio he has taken part in more than 500 broadcasts and recorded many talking books.
Born in Bradford in 1934, his most impressive TV credits range from Brass, Last Tango in Halifax, Poirot and New Tricks to Miss Marple, Midsomer Murders, Coronation Street and Eastenders.
On the big screen his credits include Nicholas and Alexandra, The Day of the Jackal, The Thirty Nine Steps and Cry Freedom.
From 2014 to 2019, Timothy and his wife Prunella Scales enchanted us all as they travelled together on British and overseas canals in TV’S much-acclaimed and much-loved Great Canal Journeys.
He spent his ‘formative years’ in Bristol and was in the same class at Bristol Grammar School as fellow actors Dave Prowse and Julian Glover. In 2017 he received an honorary degree from the University of Bristol for his services to acting.
I interviewed Timothy on a couple of occasions, the last time in 2001, soon after the publication of his autobiography A Moment Towards the End of the Play...
A MOST impressive CV of acting credits if I may say so, I remarked to a most friendly and welcoming Timothy West over morning coffee at the Hotel Du Vin in Bristol.
When did he realise that a life in acting was beckoning?
“I was always keen on it but didn’t admit so much. My father and mother were both actors and, indeed, two grandparents were actors too. So acting is certainly in the blood,” Timothy accepted, readily.
“However, my parents said they would rather that I’d done what they called a proper job and for a time I pretended I’d do that. I worked for a little while as an office furniture salesman and then as a recording engineer for EMI which I did enjoy because I’m fond of music. At the same time I was a member of so many amateur dramatic societies that in the end I thought I ought to get paid for the thing I was spending most of my time on.
“My first professional employment was as an acting assistant stage manager at the Wimbledon Theatre. It was weekly repertory and I worked very slowly on from there,” he smiled.
A much-loved British actor, celebrated in all genres, does he
have a favourite medium?
“I like it all. I think the reason that I tend to spend most time working in the theatre is because on the whole the quality of the plays that are being written and produced has not changed very dramatically in the time I’ve been working. In television I think it’s undeniable that less good things are being done. Therefore I try not to work in things that I don’t value very highly,” he replied honestly.
A favourite medium’s been established. Does he have a favourite role?
“No because it’s horses for courses. One enjoys things sometimes not because you think you’ve made a great success of them, but because they were happy memories. Maybe that’s because of the people you’ve worked with, the places you went to, or what you felt about the production or what you felt about the value of the play, irrespective of how much you got on top of it,” he said.
“I’ve enjoyed many things for different reasons. I enjoyed playing Sir Thomas Beecham the conductor. That was enormous fun to do. I enjoyed playing King Lear which I’m about to do again for the third time. And there are also many television parts that I particularly enjoyed for an amalgam of reasons which I’ve just mentioned.”
Although Timothy has played many formidable and gripping roles on stage and on the small and big screen, I told him that one I particularly remember now (some two decades later) is a Tales of the Unexpected short story by Roald Dahl. It was called Royal Jelly and Timothy’s alterego in it turned into a bee!
“People do remember me for that. It was very interesting to do. They repeated it quite a lot because it was such a very popular series. I actually got quite keen on bees after that and wanted to keep them but I was advised my garden wasn’t suitable for bee-keeping!” he laughed.
Are there any roles that Timothy would still like to play given the chance?
“They don’t spring to mind immediately because I’ve not got that kind of ambition. Most of the parts that I’d still like to play and haven’t, I’m probably too old for now. But I would like to play Pelonious in Hamlet and Emelios in Coriolanus. And probably lots of parts that haven’t been written yet in modern plays,” he replied.
What does Timothy put his own constantly busy acting schedule down to?
“I think I made one quite sensible decision; it’s a piece of advice that I try to give to young people going into the theatre. It is to spread yourself over a wide area. Some people leave drama school and they’re determined that what they’re going to do is to get into a popular TV soap and make their name. It will make their name of course but it doesn’t necessarily lead to anything very different or very interesting afterwards. If, however, you accept jobs in as wide a variety of fields that you possibly can, you are enlarging your own field. You are stretching your own muscles and devoting you’re own intelligence, versatility and skill. You’re also making a whole lot of new contacts which will be useful to you. And it’s more fun that way which is important,” he said.
Theatres, TV and film studios. Is it easy to move from one work place to another?
“It’s a skill you learn.
Fortunately I was in a position to have to learn it very quickly because I worked for a long time with Prospect Theatre Company which was the major classical touring company of its time. We would find ourselves, as you say, one minute in a 250-seater private theatre and the next minute in the Empire in Liverpool or the Bristol Hippodrome with 2,300 seats. So you had to be able to expand and contract in the same way as you do between working to a live audience in a theatre and an invisible audience through the television or film camera. As I said it’s just a skill that you learn. And you learn it partly through early mistakes,” he stated.
Learning pages and pages of lines. Actors have their own methods. Does Timothy have a favoured method?
“I find the only way to do it is to constantly read and re-read the play. I’m no good at trying to learn them parrot-fashion. And I’m not very good even at trying to get on top of the words before rehearsals start because so much changes during the rehearsal period. When you meet the people that you’re playing the scene with, the lines can have a different significance. You owe it to yourself and to your colleagues to have a pretty good idea before you start. But I’m afraid as you get older it becomes more important to do that,” he laughed.
An actor of Timothy’s calibre receives many scripts to consider. Has he ever rejected a role on moral grounds?
“Oh many times. Yes, yes,” he replied immediately. “I don’t think I’ve ever appeared in a play or a film or anything else where I disagreed with what the author was saying. I’ve often played unsympathetic characters who clearly are villainous or discreditable in some way. You have to play them honestly and as long as the writer is saying the thing that you agree with and believe is right, then it doesn’t matter if you go against that.
“But if the tone of the play is saying something which you disapprove of politically or socially or whatever, I couldn’t do that.”
One of the greatest actors of his generation, Timothy West must be, I suggested, one of those instantly recognisable thespians. Does that level of fame pose a problem for him?
“It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other. I mean if I was in what was supposed to be an extremely popular television programme and the next day everyone avoided my eye, I would feel very worried. Very worried indeed,” he laughed.
A fine actor and a joy to interview. That’s Timothy West.
My parents said they would rather that I’d had what they called a proper job and for a time I pretended I’d do that. I worked for a little while as an office furniture salesman and then as a recording engineer for EMI Timothy West