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Richard Griffiths

Sue Lawley's castaway is actor Richard Griffiths.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is one of this country's leading character actors - Richard Griffiths. Most recently, he won three Best Actor awards for playing the English master in Alan Bennett's play 'The History Boys' but he has cross-generational appeal - perpetual adolescents revere his performance as gay Uncle Monty in the film Withnail and I while the younger generation know him as beastly Uncle Vernon from the Harry Potter films.

He's had to work hard for his achievements: both his parents were profoundly deaf and, from a young age, he was their ears and their translator. He studied drama against his father's wishes - he had hoped his son would go to art college. However, he says his father was an expert in reading body language and he learned from him how people's physical behaviour reveals their inner thoughts. He is currently in the West End in Tom Stoppard's play Heroes; he's working on a film version of The History Boys, directed by Nicholas Hytner and is preparing to tour with The History Boys around the world.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: 罢谤盲耻尘别谤别颈 by Vladimir Horowitz
Book: Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Luxury: Velasquez's Las Meninas

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 13 Jan 2006 09:00
91热爆 Radio 4

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Music Played

  • The Beatles

    Please Please Me

    • The Beatles / 1962-1966.
    • Apple.

  • Lenny Preston

    Friends

    • 91热爆 鈥� Private recording.

  • Bedrich Smetana

    Vltava (The Moldau) (from M谩 vlast)

    Orchestra: Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra Conductor: Vaclav Neumann

    • Mein Vaterland.
    • Decca.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major - 3rd movement

    Soloist: Walter Carlos

    • Switched on Bach.
    • CBS.

  • Guy Woolfenden

    Come unto these yellow sands from the RSC production of The Tempest

    Soloist: Ian Charleson Orchestra: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre Wind Ensemble

    • The Songs of Ariel.
    • Ariel.

  • Gerry Rafferty

    Baker Street

    • 25 Years of Rock 'n' Roll 1978.
    • Connoisseur Collection.

  • Al Bowlly

    Hang Out the Stars in Indiana

    Artist: Ray Noble and his Orchestra

    • The Dance Band Years.
    • Pulse.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Vladimir Horowitz

      罢谤盲耻尘别谤别颈

      • Horowitz in Moscow.
      • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Book Choice

    • Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

  • Luxury Choice

    • Velasquez's Las Meninas

Credits

Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Richard Griffiths

Broadcasts

  • Sun 8 Jan 2006 11:15
    91热爆 Radio 4
  • Fri 13 Jan 2006 09:00
    91热爆 Radio 4

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