Enjoying life with the acid Shelley

Press, 18 June 1980, Page 23

Enjoying life with the acid Shelley

His fans, growing in number every week, insist that as the liekable layabout, hero of the television series, “Shelley,” Hywel Bennett has brought a new dimension to television comedy. To the star of such contrasting series as “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and “Malice ‘ Aforethought,” the abrup' switch to comedy was daunting. He almost turned it down.

“I had never done a television situation comedy series before, and I was very worried at the idea of recording it in front of a live audience,” he said. “In the theatre it’s different. There is more rapport with the people out front, because you can sense the kind of mood they 7 are in right from the start, and if you are playing comedy, go along with it.

“But with television, everything has to be timed to the second, and there are so many technicalities to think about that it’s pretty well impossible to ad lib or do anything which hasn’t already been rehearsed to the letter.

“Surprisingly, though, I found I loved it right from the start. And, thank heavens, so did the audience, it seems.” The character of Shelley is. near. Hywel’s own. He

is amiable, attractive, and highly intelligent. But unlike Shelley, he is by no means a layabout. “I confess I might well be, if I could afford it in terms of both time and money,” he said. “But I do have to earn my living, and the work has piled up incredibly over the last 18 months or so'.” After a lot of televisionwork, he went back to the theatre last (northern) autumn and winter to star as the two main characters in Anthony Shaffer’s play, “The Case of the Oily Levantine,” both on tour and in the West End of London.

Then came more episodes of “Shelley,” and now he is rehearsing for his role as Scott of the Antarctic in a new play.

There was a time at the end of t’.j 1960 - when Bennett looked all set for international stardom, with such films as “The Family Wav,” “The Virgin Soldiers,” and “Percy.” Then suddenly it all stopped.

“I made a couple of other pictures,” he said, “but from hen on the film industry 7 s'emed to slump in Britain. Quite a number of actors made for Hollywood. But, apart from the fact that I hated the idea of that, my face didn’t fit the American ideal.

.‘T’ve always had these incredibly babyish-looking

features — I inherited them from my mother, and she still looks amazingly youthful. -

“Unlike most actors, who drad dread the ageing process, I’ve actually been waiting for the lines to form around my face to give it a bit of character

“It’s taken 35 years but, thank heavens, at last I think it’s begun to happen.” He says life has not always been easy — “There was a long period when 1 became very disorientated and fed up with the whole business. I had no idea what the future was going to bring, and there was a lot of upset in my personal life, too.”

He i s much-publicised marriage to the former “Ready Steady Go” girl, Cathy McGowan, ended in divorce in 1978. Then came a turningpoint, when he was offered a major role in the Dennis Potter TV series, “Pennies from Heaven.” This led to an upsurge in his career.

As far as his personal life is concerned, there has been good news there, too. After" a brief romance with Tessa Dahl, daughter of the author, Roald Dahl, and the Oscar-w-in-ning actress, Patricia Neal, he went back last (northern) autumn to his exwife, Cathy.