Tilda: Year I went to 43 funerals and why I want to be carer for the dying
SHE is no stranger to the glitz and glamour of being a famed Oscarwinning actress.
But Scots star Tilda Swinton is considering a drastic career change. The Chronicles of Narnia and Doctor Strange actress has said she is planning to give up making films so that she can retrain to become a palliative carer. She revealed she had lost many friends to terminal illness, once attending 43 funerals in a single year. The actress, who lives in Nairn, said witnessing her parents receive loving support from professional carers at the end of their lives also deeply affected her. The 61-year-old wants to dedicate two to three years towards gaining a formal qualification in end-of-life care, when her schedule allows. She would then step into the role of being a carer. She told the
Guardian: ‘I’m thinking of retraining as a palliative carer.’
Asked if she had looked into it, she said: ‘I have a bit, because during lockdown there were all sorts of people in our village who needed looking out for, not only in the care homes but the sheltered housing and those living by themselves.
‘There’s a lady who hasn’t been over the door for two years.
‘It’s not that she’s unable to move, it’s that she’s frightened and she’s become detached from the possibility.
‘I’ve looked into retraining and I would need two to three years clear and I haven’t got that yet.’
During lockdown the star – who won her Oscar for her role in thriller Michael Clayton in 2008 – was seen handing out food boxes to residents of sheltered housing centres in Nairn.
The mother of two also spoke of film-maker and gay rights activist Derek Jarman, who became a close friend.
Miss Swinton’s screen debut was in his Caravaggio in 1986 and she went on to make nine films in nine years with him.
In 1994, Jarman died with Aids and, Miss Swinton said, she lost many friends. She said: ‘That year I went to 43 funerals, all Aids-related deaths.
‘The one person who really understood what I was going through was my grandmother, who lived through two world wars. She said “This is your generation’s war”.’
In the interview, Miss Swinton also said she fell into acting after failing to become a poet.
She attended Cambridge University with the ambition of writing poetry, but never wrote another poem once she was there. She said: ‘This is the shame of my life. I was supposed to go for one thing and dropped the ball immediately. There is a real dark shame attached to it.
‘I was embarrassed about my lack of ambition. As a child, my ambition was always about having a house by the sea, a kitchen garden, children, some dogs and lots of friends.’
‘I have looked into retraining’