Saturday, September 15, 2012

Downton Abbey: Will Downton's cold fish hook Lady Edith? He says he always plays 'emotional retards'...But is Robert Bathurst about to bring wedding bells to the Abbey? By NICOLE LAMPERT (MAIL)


Unlike many actors, Robert Bathurst has never been one for therapy, so he can't say exactly what made him turn his back on law for a life treading the boards.

He was not a show-off as a child, and at boarding school he did his best to hide and stay out of trouble.

'If I had said what I was thinking, I would have got a whack in the gob every five minutes, so I didn't,' he says.




But he thinks it may have been his shyness that started off his love for the stage. 'Most actors aren't as confident as you would assume,' he says.

'They only do it because they feel more comfortable on stage than they do in real life.'

At 55, Robert has become famous for the many arrogant 'emotional retards' — his words — he has played. But when you meet him, his insecurities are surprisingly open.

He's 6ft 3in, with a stoop and incredible bright blue eyes.


He's nervy, stutters a little, offers a joke with an apologetic expression, and is much gentler than any role he has played since finding fame as the confident David Marsden in Cold Feet. 

'I'm not sure why I get offered so many of these types of parts,' he says. 'The characters don't feed into each other, but there is a similarity there.




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