Don’t rely on your looks, TV icon warns Norton

WHILE War And Peace star James Norton laps up the attention from his female fans, he might need to watch out for critics within his own industry — TV actress Anne Reid has accused today’s young stars of relying too much on their looks.

‘Actors tend to have a burst of stardom when they’re in their 20s, and then it all fades away.

‘I never got the burst of stardom in my 20s, I just kept plodding on and climbing the mountain,’ says Anne, 80, who starred in Coronation Street for ten years in the Sixties and more recently in the series Last Tango In Halifax. ‘There are lots of young people now who, let’s face it, are there more because of their looks than their talent.’

Singling out Grantchester hunk Norton, pictured left, she tells me: ‘He looks like a bloomin’ god, and he’s getting every chance in the world, but if he were an ugly little man he would not have got these roles.

‘Being good-looking isn’t a bad thing — I’m saying it’s about the whole package. ‘Where these very goodlooking people will be in 50 years is another thing completely.’