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Letters about Roger Livesey

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Dear Lynn Jones,

In response to your request regarding Roger Livesey:

Curiously, my first meeting with Roger and his wife was not in the theatre, but on a war-time flight to Cairo on which we were both passengers. I was in the Intelligence Corps at the time and Roger and Ursula were, I believe, on an ENSA tour.

Although we were both in the cast of Green Grows The Rushes, I was low down in the pecking order and cannot recall that this occasion led to any intimacy. My major connection with Roger was when we made in a film for which I wrote the screenplay - The Lague of Gentlemen - in which he gave a most engaging performance. We acted alongside each other and it was then that I got to know him really well and certainly enjoyed his company, for he was devoid of conceit and actor-ish posing, very down to earth. I had no scenes with him in remake of Of Human Bond, which was shot in Bray Studios, Dublin, but my wife, Nanette Newman, played his daughter and said he was sweet to her.

Roger was in many ways an under-estimated actor, more deserving of honours than some of his contempories, but they did not come his way. He was brilliant in Colonel Blimp but, in a sense, this performance overshadowed the rest of his career - unfairly in my opinion, for he had a distinctive delivery, great range and a flair for comedy. I only wish I had worked with him more often.

Kindest Regards,

    Bryan Forbes CBE

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