LIFE OF O’BRIEN
ACTOR GRAY ON STAGE RETURN AFTER CANCER HELL
AS GRAY O’Brien prepares to take to the stage in Glasgow, he knows it will be an emotional homecoming. It’s been three years since the former Coronation Street star went to his GP with what he thought were swollen glands and was later diagnosed with throat cancer.
Gray, who has played leading roles in everything from Peak Practice to Doctor Who, didn’t know if he would live – let alone if his distinctive voice would survive the gruelling cancer treatment he faced for the stage-four disease.
Now, as he heads to Scotland for what will be the end of a six-month theatre tour starring alongside former Dallas star Patrick Duffy and Happy Days’ Linda Purl, Gray feels deeply grateful.
The 53-year-old said: “What I’ve been through has made me stronger.
“When I was first diagnosed, I spoke to my surgeon, told him that I was an actor and I asked if the treatment I needed was going to affect my voice.
“He said he just didn’t know. I was devastated.
“At the time, I don’t think I’d initially grasped how serious things were.
“I was about to do a lovely play in Pitlochry and wanted to go ahead with it.
“But the surgeon said, ‘You’re very ill. We’re going to have to get you in.’
“Now I look back and know how incredibly lucky I have been.” Gray first fell ill in July 2019. Speaking for the first time in detail about his diagnosis, he said: “I found this lump. It really felt like swollen glands but it turned out actually I had tumours on both tonsils.
“You find yourself looking down the barrel of a gun.
“You can’t help but think that you’re not going to be lucky – and I know a lot of people around me didn’t think I was going to be lucky.
“But I remember my doctor saying at the beginning, ‘Please don’t listen to anyone else who has had your cancer, because it’s completely different for everyone and everyone has completely different treatments and outcomes.’”
Gray, who played baddie businessman Tony Gordon in Coronation Street, underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment.
In November 2019, he posted a picture of himself on social media proudly ringing the bell at Glasgow’s Beatson Cancer Centre, marking the end of his active treatment.
But his recovery was far from over, and he continues to live with the aftermath of his diagnosis.
He said: “I had radiotherapy every day for six weeks and three bouts of heavy dose chemo which made me feel so unwell.
“Then there were all the burns from the radiotherapy but you just have to get on with it and get through it.
“I don’t even really remember Christmas and New Year that year.
“I’m so grateful for the wonderful people at the Beatson and the treatment I received. One day I walked in and I’d
lost so much weight, they said. ‘Right. We are hospitalising you. You’re getting fed through your stomach.’
“You don’t even argue about it. You just say ‘OK’, because it’s the best thing for you.
“Since then no one has said actually said the words I’m cured, or told me, ‘Your cancer is clear. It’s in remission’ – but my doctors aren’t knocking down my door to have me back in and you learn to live like that.
“My voice is good – vocally I’m strong, which is so important as an actor.
“But I’ve been left with some collateral damage.
“I don’t taste anything now. Everything just tastes of salt.
“I don’t swallow as well as I did and I’ve had to cancel a lot of foods because the muscles in my throat don’t work properly.
“I’ve become vegetarian – not by choice, by necessity, eating wise.
“And I don’t produce a lot of saliva in my mouth because my saliva glands were affected.”
Three years on from his diagnosis, Gray, who grew up in Kilmarnock and now lives in Stirlingshire, is thrilled to be performing in Glasgow next week on the final leg of a six-month tour of Catch Me If You Can.
The Broadway thriller – written by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, and directed by Bob Tomson – is set in the US in the 60s and sees Gray play a police inspector investigating the disappearance of a missing wife. He shares the stage with soap legend Duffy and his real-life partner Purl – who is best known as playing Fonzie’s girlfriend in Happy Days.
Gray said: “This show is my first job back since I was ill and I’ve loved it.
“Patrick and Linda are great. I really adore working with them.
“We’re trying to bring populist theatre to the public, which is quite a responsibility.
“Some people have only come along because they remember Bobby Ewing from the 80s and it’s our job to open their horizons so they love what they see and realise they want to go to the theatre more often.
“Dallas was such a big part of everyone’s lives.
“Patrick is a very sweet guy and still talks about the late Larry Hagman – who played JR – as his best friend.
“We’ve spent quite a bit of time too talking about when he shot Man From Atlantis, which was another big hit, before Dallas.
“He was a very young guy at the time. He was one of the first superheroes.
“He’s had a blessed career. Now he’s enjoying doing this show and he’s very good at it.”
Ex-Corrie star tells Jenny Morrison how tumours almost ended career as he prepares for theatre show beside Dallas legend Duffy
I look back and know incredibly lucky I have been GRAY O' BRIEN ON HIS DEVASTATING PROGNOSIS
Gray has about 90 family and friends who will be among the audience when he takes to the Theatre Royal in Glasgow, where the show runs from today to Saturday, July 2.
He hopes his recovery will inspire others and, while he enjoys being on the stage, also wants to return to television.
Gray said: “Being in such a big soap as Coronation Street kind of killed my career.
“It’s happened to many others too. I was actually shooting Doctor Who at the time I took the role, and I’d be in make-up every morning with Kylie (Minogue) and David (Tennant) – that’s two big name drops – and they would say, ‘Are you going to do it?’ because I’d been offered it and we were in negotiations.
“I’d said no twice, because I’d heard being in such a big soap could really be a kiss of death career-wise but you kind of go along with the rollercoaster.
“For three years I was part of this massive populist culture, then it finishes and the work stops.
“I thought after six months the work would pick back up again but it’s like people are scared to get you in because you’re ‘the guy from Corrie’.
“People are always telling me they’d love to see me back on television, and I’d love to be there too – so we’ll just have to see what happens.”
He added with a laugh: “I’m hoping Netflix is going to phone me with a series. Who knows?”