‘Mum was my lifesaver!’
In celebration of Mother’s Day on March 26, actress Alison Steadman talks about her own late mum Marjorie who helped her never give up on her dreams
'I was very nervous when I started acting but my dear mum was always behind me, giving me courage’
From Abigail’s Party to Pride and Prejudice, Gavin and Stacey to most recently the sitcom Boomers, Alison Steadman’s talents have lit up the big and small screens for decades. The much-loved actress is so superb at her craft, it’s hard to imagine that she ever harboured doubts about her abilities as an actress. But when she was a drama student she most certainly did and it was her mum, Marjorie, who talked her through those difficult times. “I was very nervous when I started acting but my dear mum was always behind me, giving me courage,” she revealed at a talk she gave at London’s British Film Institute recently. “I'd say I didn't think I'd be able to do something and she'd always reply, ‘Never say can't, Alison, always say you can and you will.’ I'd keep that phrase with me all the time. I needed her to boost my confidence. “When I was at drama school and nervous about a production, I’d save my coins to ring her up and she'd talk me through it. She always encouraged me.” Right from the very beginning, Alison says her mum nurtured her talent. “She encouraged my acting. I would constantly borrow her clothes to play dress-up. We got a telly when I was seven and I’d watch people such as Hylda Baker and Beryl Reid and impersonate them. Very often my mum would say ‘Oh, turn the television off. There's nothing on. Come on, Alison, do us some Hylda Baker’.” Sadly Alison’s mum passed away in 1996. “We had a great relationship,” says Alison. “I think the whole acting thing comes from her side of the family. She was a great character with a gift for words and sayings and nicknames for everybody. My mother always looked her best. She never went to the shops without lipstick on, and would say to me: ‘Put a bit of lippy on, you'll feel better.’ I've found that to be true!” Like many of us who no longer have our parents around, Alison would sometimes love to turn back the clock so she could ask her mum questions. She says: “I loved her – and my dad – dearly but I often think back to the odd times when she‘d be telling me something and I remember being conscious of kind of brushing over it,
‘Gavin and Stacey was a lovely, warm show to do. We’d often have to take a break in filming because we were laughing so much’
being too busy and not really listening to her. I’d love to be able to go back and ask her what made her say such-andsuch a thing.” Alison (70) is a mum herself to Toby and Leo, the sons from her marriage to Mike Leigh, both of whom are now in their 30s. “I love being a mum,” she’s often revealed. “My two boys mean more to me than anything. I’d love to go back in time to when I had my sons. Just to look at them. I remember when they were born, looking at them and thinking – goodness, I just made that child! They were the two best days of my life. And then when they smile for the first time! When that happens, it’s like the world just glows a brighter colour.” Alison has played a muchloved mum on screen in the form of Pamela in the sitcom Gavin and Stacey. “Oh I loved Pam,” she says. “As soon as I read the first script I knew I wanted to play her. Gavin and Stacey was a lovely, warm show to do and we’d often have to take a break in filming because we were laughing so much. It was a show with a lot of heart and something everyone could watch – from ten-year-olds to their grandmothers – and enjoy on different levels. Although the two families argued with each other, there was never any doubt that they loved each other. “There are rumours every few months about us getting together to make a Christmas special and while I’d love that I really don’t think it’s going to happen. James Cordon, who co-wrote Gavin and Stacey with Ruth Jones, is flying high while Ruth is very busy writing and starring in her own sitcom Stella. I’ll be amazed if it happens.” We can but hope but in the meantime, there’s a film We Can Be Heroes co-starring actor Phil Davies, to look forward to, due for release later this year. “The great thing about this profession is that you don’t know what’s round the corner,” Alison says. “Every day is a new adventure and that’s what I like. I don’t think about retirement – or try not to. I just keep going. Sometimes you do get tired and think, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Some days I think, ‘This is crazy, why didn’t I say no to that, or put that off?’ But in the end an actor’s life is the work that comes up and you just grab it. Things do come up for me – I’m very lucky – but you can’t rest on your laurels and think, ‘I’ll just take a year off and then pick something up’. There’s always that little voice in your head saying, ‘You’ve been offered that – why don’t you do it?’” And thank goodness Alison often does just that.