Robert Hardy

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2011

⏱️ 39 minutes

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Summary

Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor Robert Hardy. He became a household name as the vet Siegfried Farnon in the hit TV series All Creatures Great and Small and, to a younger generation, he is the Minister of Magic in the Harry Potter films. But the role he is best known for is Winston Churchill - he won a Bafta for his performance in Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years. He believes actors are born rather than made and his own ambitions crystallised when, as a very young boy, he was a page boy at a wedding: "I walked down the aisle with my head held high and as I went, every eye was turned towards me and something inside me said, "That's it, get every eye on you". Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Kirstie Young.
0:02.0	Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Discs from BBC Radio 4.
0:06.5	For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the Radio broadcast.
0:11.0	For more information about the program, please visit bbc.co.uk-radio4.
0:30.0	My cast away this week is the actor Robert Hardy.
0:37.0	His career on stage, TV and film has spanned 60 years.
0:42.0	How many more?
0:44.0	Well, it started in January 1949.
0:47.0	It started, so my mathematics are not good.
0:51.0	So you can work it out for more.
0:53.0	60 old years, shall we say?
0:55.0	The requirements for such enduring success, a certain amount of talent,
0:59.0	luck, a spine of steel, he says, and a ruthlessness of mind that does not jib at murder.
1:06.0	He studied under CS Lewis and Tolkien at Oxford.
1:09.0	But after National Service left the university with a shabby degree, his words again,
1:14.0	along with an ambition to act and a lasting friendship with Richard Burton.
1:18.0	He's taken on the great stage roles, including Henry Vs and Hamlet,
1:22.0	and his film credits range from Jane Austen to John LeCarrie.
1:25.0	To the younger audience, he's the Minister of Magic in the Harry Potter films,
1:29.0	whilst those of us who are slightly longer in the tooth remember his BAFTA winning Winston Churchill.
1:34.0	But the role that made him a household name was Seatfried Feynman,
1:38.0	in the hugely popular TV series, or Creature's Great and Small.
	...

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