Rita Tushingham, actor

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

Rita Tushingham first won international acclaim as a teenager, playing Jo in the film A Taste of Honey. Her performance in this 1961 kitchen sink drama earned her a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival. She starting shooting the film on her 19th birthday. She went on to play roles in the Leather Boys, the Knack… and How to Get it and Doctor Zhivago. Now 80, she continues to perform and recently appeared in two BBC television drama series - Ridley Road and The Responder - and in the film Last Night in Soho. Rita was born in Liverpool and at 16 joined the Liverpool Repertory Company as a student assistant stage manager. Her first role was as the back legs of a horse in Toad of Toad Hall. In 1960 she responded to a newspaper article which invited ‘ugly’ unknown girls to apply for the part of Jo in a film adaptation of Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of Honey, to be directed by Tony Richardson. The film challenged many taboos of the time, including teenage pregnancy and interracial relationships. After the British film industry went into decline in the 1970s Rita started working in Europe. In 1988 she went back to her roots and played Celia Higgins in Carla Lane’s Liverpool sitcom, Bread. Rita lives in London and is a passionate supporter of Liverpool Football Club. DISC ONE: You’ll Never Walk Alone by Gerry & the Pacemakers DISC TWO: Tutti Frutti by Little Richard DISC THREE: Penny Lane by The Beatles DISC FOUR: Every Time We Say Goodbye by Ella Fitzgerald DISC FIVE: The pas de deux from the second act of Giselle, performed by The Pro Arte Orchestra, conducted by Marcus Dods DISC SIX: Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel DISC SEVEN: An extract from I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue - Potted Plots, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 22nd May 2006 DISC EIGHT: Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley BOOK CHOICE: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable LUXURY ITEM: A photograph album CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts
0:04.9	Hello, I'm Lauren LeVern and this is the Deser Island Disks Podcast.
0:08.6	Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them
0:13.9	if they were cast away to a desert island.
0:16.5	And for right reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.
0:21.2	I hope you enjoy listening.
0:43.8	My cast away this week is the actress Rita Tushingham.
0:47.0	She celebrated her eight-year birthday this year and continues to tackle challenging roles in film and on television.
0:53.9	She made her debut and her name in the groundbreaking Kitchen St drama A Taste of Honey in 1961,
1:00.5	both critically acclaimed and controversial in its day.
1:03.7	Her spellbinding performance won her a BAFTA Golden Globe and the best actress award at the
1:09.0	Cannes Film Festival at just 19 years old.
1:12.3	She went on to play roles in films which epitomised Swinging London in the 1960s,
1:17.5	including Cult Classic, The Leather Boys and Sex Comedy, The Knack and How to Get It.
1:22.4	By 1965, she was sharing the screen with Julie Christie and Alec Guinness in David Lane's epic love story,
1:29.2	Dr. Shivago. She says, I don't think I was ever that ambitious, but I love film.
1:34.2	I need it like most people need air.
1:36.9	Rita Tushingham, welcome to Deser Island Disks.
1:39.2	Oh, thank you for asking me. I'm thrilled to be here. You've recently played a range of characters
1:44.2	in some very hard-hitting dramas. You were Martin Freeman's term Leo Mother in the responder,
1:49.5	a watchful grandmother in the Edgar Wright film Last Night in Soho.
1:53.6	Do you enjoy working with younger actors and talking to them about their lives and experiences and yours?
	...

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