So I put the kettle on and Gary brought Oscar home
Gary Oldman put his 98-year- old mother in the global spotlight when he praised her during his academy award acceptance speech and asked her to ‘ Put the kettle on: I’m bringing Oscar home.’
now she has told me how her son has made her ‘very proud’.
Kathleen Oldman, known as Kay to her friends, lives with Gary and his wife, art curator and photographer Gisele Schmidt, who took this world exclusive picture of the two of them.
The 59-year-old actor moved his mum from Bermondsey to la 20 years ago, shortly after his fictionalised, semi-autobiographical film nil By mouth was filmed. Originally, mrs Oldman lived in an apartment close to her son’s estate, but about 18 months ago she moved into his home. He told me ‘she can’t see very well and her hearing’s poor’.
She has not spoken about the Oscar that appeared on the kitchen table in the early hours of last monday morning; but she did give me an exclusive statement: ‘I used to tell Gary stories about living in london during World War II and listening to Churchill on the wireless. So to have him win for portraying this great man made me very proud.’
Oldman has often spoken to me about his mother: her upbringing, her abusive marriage to Oldman’s father, and how she coped during the War.
The actor and douglas Urbanski, his manager and producer, had hoped to be filming Smiley’s People for Working Title; with Oldman returning as master spy George Smiley; following on from his Oscar- nominated performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Oldman would have directed the film as well. But it has fallen through (for now) because of various rights issues. He and Urbanski are developing several other screen projects instead.