Man who became Poirot...
ONE EXTRAORDINARY figure looms large in David Suchet’s new autobiography Behind The Lens, but it isn’t Hercule Poirot. It’s his maternal grandfather Jimmy Jarché, the man he calls his “surrogate father”.
The memoir, packed with David’s unseen pictures, is a love letter to the Cockney photographer who became a Fleet Street legend. As well as shooting the 1911 Siege of Sidney Street (the East End gunfight between police and army and two Latvian revolutionaries), Rotherhithe-born Jimmy was the first to photograph Edwardviii and the then unknown Mrs Simpson. He was also a world champion catchweight wrestler.
“He was an amazing human being,” says
David. “He could speak to royalty but he would also sit on the kerb with the homeless because he was interested in them.
“Grandad was the greatest influence on my life. He taught me the important things. He was cherishing; he gave me hugs and made me appreciate warmth in a relationship.
“He gave me strong core values and a solid grounding in life.and he taught me how to take pictures when I was eight.”
Jimmy’s warmth was a stark contrast to David’s father’s coldness. South African-born Jack Suchet was a gynaecologist and obstetrician who had worked with Alexander Fleming in his discovery of penicillin.
“Dad was a workaholic.we hardly saw him, and when we did, he didn’t talk much,” says David. “He wasn’t an emotional man, he wasn’t affectionate or physical.”
Suchet was seven when he was sent away to Greenham House boarding school in Kent shortly hi-hat and other cymbals. He must have thought I’d learnt it well because out of the blue he said, ‘I’m going for a beer, David will sit in with you!’ So I played with Terry and I had to improvise a 30 second drum solo...
“I played with Kenny and Acker Bilk too. I can still do everything. I’m always hearing the drums when I listen to music.”
In his teens his English master atwellington School encouraged him to audition for the Nationalyouththeatre.at 18 he was offered a place at drama school LAMDA – “Dad was horrified” but his mother supported him.
He met his actress wife Sheila at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre in 1972 – “love at first sight!” They married in 1976 and have two grown-up children. In 1977 David joined the RSC where his reputation blossomed. Early TV roles included playing Edward Teller in Oppenheimer. But his big break was as Blott in 1985 TV comedy Blott On The Landscape. It impressed the Agatha Christie estate who backed him to play Poirot.
In half a century of consummate acting, Suchet has sparkled as everyone from Lady Bracknell to Sigmund Freud via Robert Maxwell and George Carmen. But it was the fussy little Belgian detective who made him a global star.
David, 73, played Agatha Christie’s infallible if somewhat irritating master sleuth in 70 film-length episodes and is “still grieving” for the series ITV terminated after 24 years in 2013.
David’s interest in photography grew during the Poirot years. He says “I don’t take pictures to be seen, photography is my way of painting with light”. Many fine shots will be on show at an exhibition at Leica’s Mayfair gallery this week, Wednesday to Saturday.
JIMMY’S picture will greet all-comers. “Jimmy will be there,” he beams. “And he’d be thrilled that I use a Leica camera. He was a very humble man and, like him, I’ve never been a show-off.
“I’ve never been an actor people grab. I came to fame as a by-product of acting.there was no Love Island in my day and if there was I would have fled in every direction anyway.
“One paper once asked, ‘Who is the real David Suchet?’well this book is the closest you’ll get.”
As I leave he points to the Thames. “Who can’t love London?” he asks. “Everyone who comes here becomes a Londoner. It’s a major modern city, not a museum piece. London is the cultural capital of the world and I love it!
“We’re right to celebrate our country and what we produce.we’re very lucky!” ● Behind the Lens: My Life by David Suchet (Constable, £25). David is raising awareness for UK charity the Tuberous Sclerosis Association (tuberous-sclerosis.org) which funds research into Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, a rare genetic condition that affects a million people worldwide