I let parents down by not becoming a doctor says Benedict
SHERLOCK star Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed he disappointed his parents by becoming an actor – because they hoped he would be a lawyer or doctor.
The 43-year-old Hollywood star said they spent thousands of pounds sending him to top public school Harrow in the hope it would land him a “steady job... anything but an actor”.
Cumberbatch admitted: “And I took that education and threw it all in their face and became an actor anyway.”
In an interview with The Lady magazine, he said that, unlike many of his peers at the £12,000-a-term boarding school, his parents were “not moneyed people”.
But despite being actors, Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham were very keen their boy did not follow them on to the stage.
“They scrimped and saved to get their only son the very best education possible.
“They pulled out all the stops to send me to Harrow to get a good education and find a more steady sort of job than acting,” he said.
“This was not because they thought acting was a bad rap but because they knew what the pitfalls of the profession were and they wanted better for their child. They were not moneyed people themselves, as a lot of the other parents at school were.
“But they worked very hard as actors, with mum doing an awful lot of commercial theatre and farces to make sure the school bills were paid and I could turn my hand to being a doctor or a lawyer or anything but an actor.”
Ever since embarking on an acting career, he added, he has been desperate not to let them down.
“To this day, one of the reasons I get out bed in the morning is to make them proud of me,” he said.