Dyer: Pinter said be proud of your roots
DANNY DYER has thanked an unlikely friendship with legendary playwright Harold Pinter for teaching him to be proud of his working-class roots.
The cockney EastEnders star said Pinter became like a surrogate father to him after he auditioned for his play Celebration aged 22.
Dyer recalled: ‘I walked in the audition room and, me being like I am and not really treating people any differently, I just walked in and went up to Harold and said, “Hello son. How you doing?” I felt the whole room just go, “Ooh, oh dear”.’
The actor, now 43, said he did not think ‘anyone’s approached him that way and I think he sort of respected that’. He got the part and later bonded with Pinter over their love of West Ham.
Dyer, who has now dedicated a programme to him, said: ‘ Harold never wanted me to change or hide my working-class roots, even though he did when he was younger.
‘It was the notion of not letting where you come from define where you’re going... Harold had given me the confi
Night out: Dyer (in flat cap) with pals including Pinter (right) in 2008 dence that a lot of people had knocked out of me. When I was in a room of middle-upper-class people, I felt that it was OK just to be me and Harold installed that in me.’
Dyer revealed ‘my dad wasn’t much of a father figure’ but Pinter, who died in 2008, filled that role. He said: ‘It was a beautiful thing what we had, and it filled some sort of void in me.’
Danny Dyer on Harold Pinter will air on Sky Arts and NOW TV tomorrow.