Actor Robert Hardy, 83, starred as vet Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small from 1978 to 1990. He is famous for his portrayals of Winston Churchill and, more recently, Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter films. Divorced with three grown-up children, he lives alone in the Cotswolds.
You are appearing in a new BBC drama about Margaret Thatcher called Margaret. Have you met the former prime minister?
I’ve actually had lunch with Margaret Thatcher, but it wasn’t in the happiest of circumstances. We were both guests of a famous portrait painter, who occasionally gets together all the people he paints for a luncheon. When I sat down at the large table, I found myself next to her, but it was not long after her husband, Denis, had died - I think it was the first occasion she had gone out alone, and she was so distressed.
No matter what we talked about, the subject kept coming back to him, and I remember her saying, ’I’m so lonely,’ which I found absolutely heartbreaking.
She was beautifully dressed and her hair was immaculate, but it was as if the gas had gone out of a balloon. In the end, I took a deep breath and said, ’What should we do about Europe?’
All of a sudden, her eyes blazed and she started telling me, in no uncertain terms, about what we should do.
For a few moments, she turned from a grieving widow into an opinionated and forceful MP. I have felt very sad ever since that meeting. It’s hard to see anyone in distress, particularly someone who was so powerful and energised in their prime. But since then, she has picked up remarkably and makes sense again.
I’ve seen this sort of grief over and over again, when a loss is fresh. Time does heal, and people do slowly get back to being themselves.
You play Willie Whitelaw, deputy leader in the Thatcher government. What made you want to take on the role?
When I first heard that the BBC was making a drama about Margaret Thatcher and the men around her, I didn’t bite the bait at all. But it’s always the script which sells something to me - this one was so grown-up, sensitive and very good, and that’s why I said yes.
When I turned up for the first read-through with John Sessions, who plays Geoffrey Howe, who held many senior Cabinet positions, I howled with laughter for about ten minutes, because he launched effortlessly into Howe’s voice, and he was so convincing. In fact, we were all in stitches.
You’ve been married twice - ever considered third time lucky?
There’s no point in getting married again - I didn’t want to put anyone else through it. Now, I’m just a sheep compared to what I used to be like. My second wife, Sally (the daughter of 1920s film actress Gladys Cooper), and I split up in the mid-1980s - she finally had enough of me - but it was perfectly amicable, and we divorced on our silver wedding anniversary, which I thought was very civilised.
I left my first wife, Elizabeth - who was a wardrobe mistress - when our son, Paul, was just a toddler, after meeting Sally and falling head over heels in love. Sally and I went on to have two daughters - Emma, who is a mother of three and a photographer, and Justine, an author and foreign correspondent.
I’m terribly proud of all my children, but, on the whole, although I spent much of my adult life married, I don’t think I did it that well. Perhaps I never found the right person.
There are couples who do fall in love and remain devoted all their lives. The real Siegfried Farnon, whose character I played in All Creatures Great And Small, was like that with his wife. In their 80s, they were still totally in love. He died the week after she did.
Are you still recognised as Siegfried?
Lots of people all over the world still watch reruns of All Creatures, which is nice. I’m getting a mass of fan mail from Germany at the moment, which obviously means it is being repeated over there.
Are you still working as hard as ever?
I did three films between April and the end of July last year, and that was quite hard work. The last two involved smaller parts, which are not physically demanding as such, but mentally you have to be on the ball all the time. But I do still enjoy working, and I still have plenty of energy.
As my birthdays tick by, I’m more selective about what I do. I was offered work in New Zealand recently, but then they said, ’Sorry, but the budget only extends to business class tickets,’ so I said no. In the past, I might have flown and had a dreadful journey. That’s the kind of difference that age and past infirmity bring.
Every time I do something now, I have to jump the medical hurdle. The doctors usually say, ’Good God, is that how old you are?’ then they report to the insurers, who immediately cry, ’Help!’
The insurers for the Harry Potter films were insuring me for a massive amount of money and being extra reluctant about it. I could almost hear them saying, ’Is he worth it? He’s broken most of his bones, he’s had cancer and he might drop dead at any moment!’
You mentioned Harry Potter...
I loved my time as Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, but my character has now been erased! I knew it would happen, because he’s quite a good part in the book, but there was no way they were ever going to fit everything into one film.
All three producers rang me up, separately, on the same day to give me the news - so I was told three times. They said, ’We’re so sorry, we’re having to cut the book by half,’ so that was the end of that. I was very sad, because of the amusing and wicked people I worked with, like Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon and Maggie Smith, who is an old friend. It was such fun to film, and there were so many laughs on set that it was hard to come up with a sober face just before they shouted, ’Action!’
Did working with children remind you of your own schooldays?
I was the youngest of five, and sent away to board at a prep school when I was eight. When I begged to leave because I was so utterly miserable, my father refused, saying that I had to prove myself. It was a very destructive experience, and I look back on it with loathing.
When it came to my own children’s education, I was very careful. When one of my daughters was unhappy at school, I did not hesitate - I whisked her straight out. I didn’t want her to experience the same trauma that I had.
Margaret will be shown on BBC2 at the end of February.
