Readers Digest UK - December 2021

With Jan Francis
(Below); With
actress Cyd
Charisse

32 • DECEMBER 2021

when it came to the

really tricky stuff I’d go

into the audience and sit

on their laps.

...WHEN I FIRST GOT THE SCRIPT

FOR JUST GOOD FRIENDS IN 1983

I read it and thought, This is gold

dust. This is clever. It’s romantic and

it’s real and I really want to get the

job. I auditioned with Jan [Francis],

we did a pilot show and it caught on

with the public very quickly. Jan was

fabulous to work with, with a great

sense of humour, and we had such

fun filming it.

...MEETING CYD CHARISSE

WAS A DREAM COME TRUE. We did

Charlie Girl in the mid-

1980s and having grown

up with those old

Hollywood movies, then

suddenly dancing and singing

with this wonderful, gracious

woman was magic. I also met

another Hollywood icon, Douglas

Fairbanks Jr, when as a friend of the

producer he came along to help

promote The Pirates of Penzance.

There’s a great photo of us doing

a mock sword fight together.

...MICHAEL ASPEL SURPRISED

ME WITH HIS BIG RED BOOK

when I was doing Barnum at Bristol

Hippodrome. That was in 1991 and

doing This is Your Life was a lovely