Words matter. These are the best Martin Clunes Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I live on a farm in Dorset. The nearest neighbour is a quarter of a mile away. It’s really quiet, with an amazing view – can’t see a pylon, can’t see a road. Blockbuster’s an event in our house, when the little blue envelope comes in.
My dad was a different bloke to me and not very nice to my mum, although I never judge him. If you did, you’d become one of those people who is all-consumed by a fault in their past. And I haven’t got the time for it.
As first and foremost a character actor, I’ve always resisted the temptation to cure any of the people I’ve played or make them lovable in any way; you’ve just got to celebrate them for what they are.
My earliest memory is a picnic in the park near our house, which was next to Wimbledon Common. Why on earth we went to a park when we lived so near the common is a mystery, but it had formal gardens and lawns – perhaps it was that very difference that took my parents there.
I found out when I was 18 that Dad had left my mother and the family before he realised he was ill and then died. When I asked Mum about it, she just sort of shrugged it off and said she’d thought I knew about it all along. Of course I hadn’t, though I’m sure she must have been desperately unhappy at the time.
Unlike my mother, who was unashamedly delighted when I decided to become an actor, I always feel that my father, had he lived longer, might have been a touch disapproving of some of my career – I think he might have tutted a bit at ‘Men Behaving Badly.’
In a way, making Martin Ellingham the way he is was a corrective exercise for my acting – to keep a bit still and show a little control. I do like it – it’s like having an instrument that you can play and that you can pick up and enjoy playing.
When people asked me, ‘What are you going to do?’ I’d say, ‘I’m going to be an actor,’ without really thinking about it. And I started acting without really thinking about it. I only thought about it properly a bit later.
For years, I was either referred to as a ‘rubber-faced funny man’ or ‘the ‘Men Behaving Badly’ star.’
I tell you, I’ve always been quite physical about acting. I’ve always felt about for the shape of someone or the deportment, for better or worse. Sometimes I think I’ve done it disastrously, and other times, when I’m not thinking about it so much, less disastrously, but I can’t seem to control it much.
Really, for an actor, it’s all about remembering a lot of stuff – and keeping the moustache on.
It’s so fantastic that Prince William has championed African wildlife. He’s putting his back into it – and one thing the royal family is brilliant at is getting people to cough up.
What I do know is that I love the whole idea of family, even the word itself.
For me, family feels like a web of love and care, and instinctively, too, I do just like nurturing things.
We have a fair on our farm every year – a gymkhana and a dog show and a funfair and a heavy-horse show. It was my idea. Be careful what you wish for – it’s a monster.
They’re so generous, the American fans. They send money to the various charities I support. I tried to raise a little bit of money to send to Nepal, and they were straight in with thousands of dollars.
The idea of being a young 50 sounds like you’re trying to kid yourself, like a Harley-Davidson or something. I’ve bought a dressage horse instead.
