Even the famous have secret dreams

Press, 19 September 1985, Page 13

Even the famous have secret dreams

Being rich and famous has not stopped the stars having secret dreams about the careers they might have had. Gene Hackman, for example, still yearns to be a lawyer.

By

PAUL WALLACE

Features International The top British quiz host, Leslie Crowther, is not complaining that 16 million viewers watch his antics on “The Price is Right.” It is just that, as a youngster in Nottingham, he dreamed that fame would be rather different—sitting in white tie and tails at a grand piano playing the classics to a rapt audience! Crowther actually planned to become a concert pianist, and even won a scholarship to London’s Royal Academy of Music.

“I would practise for up to six hours a day, every day of the week, and I still enjoy playing the piano for my own pleasure,” he says.

“Yet I still dream of what I might have become. Now it’s the impossible dream of playing Beethoven’s ‘Emperor Concerto,’ with a sym-

phony orchestra, at the Royal Albert Hall.” Crowther is not the only top entertainer who once thought that fame, if it ever came, would be in some very different sphere. Les Dawson always cher-

Crowther is not the only top entertainer who once thought that fame, if it ever came, would be in some very different sphere. Les Dawson always cherished an ambitition to become a famous writer.

“I’ve already tried to do so the hard way by starving in a garret,” says the 52-year-old Manchester-born comedian.

‘‘l’ve wanted to become a writer ever since I was a schoolkid, so when I left school I went to Paris seeking inspiration for the Great English Novel. “I ended up playing the piano in a seedy nightclub. “Since I’ve become famous as a comedian I’ve managed to do some writing for newspapers and magazines—l’ve also had several books published,” says Dawson.

“My books have sold well enough, but I’ll never know whether or not they would have sold if I hadn’t been who I am today.”

Richard O’Sullivan has proved himself to be a top comedy actor with television series like “Man About the House,” “Robin’s Nest” and “Me and My Girl.”

But when one knows that he has written the theme tunes for some of his own TV series, it is not surprising to learn that for years he had secret dreams of becoming a pop musician, or a professional footballer.

“I would definitely have liked to become a pop star,” O’Sullivan admits. “I love music and I’ve always had a piano. There’s nothing I like better than having some time alone, playing to myself and composing.

“But I’m football crazy too and I’ve always had this

day-dream in which I’m watching my favourite team playing at Wembley. One of the players is injured and I’m invited on as substitute.

“Of course, I score the winning goal!” The actress Gayle Hunnicut also has a surprising secret dream. If she had not become an actress she would have taken up in-

terior design. “I’ve always loved decorating my own homes, but it’s an expensive hobby,” she says. “It would be wonderful to spend other people’s money for a change. But I’d make sure that my clients’ houses would be designed to be exactly what they should be—homes! Liza Goddard’s, dream

career would certainly have taken her to strange and wonderful faraway places, as well as distant times. “There’s nothing I would have liked better than becoming an archaeologist, if I hadn’t become an actress,” she says.

“It’s always seemed such a romantic and mysterious occupation—going off on all those expeditions and trying

to fathom what people did in long-forgotten days.” Even Hollywood’s superstars often look back and think about what they might have become. Harrison Ford has no complaints about his showbusiness success, but at one time he almost became a builder. “I started doing odd jobs for friends, between acting

jobs, when I first came to Hollywood,” he says. “I was pretty good at putting up shelves, making furniture and even adding on to houses.

“At one time I even quit acting,- because I had so much work on hand and I made more money from construction than I did from TV or movies.

“But there was no way I could shake off that acting bug.” Gene Hackman almost became a lawyer. “I’d have specialised in helping the underdogs,” he says. “Maybe there’s not a lot of dough in doing good, but there’s a helluva lot of satisfaction.”

As Kojak, Telly Savalas was a tough, streetwise, big city cop. Yet Savalas has a master’s degree in psychology and originally planned to go on and qualify in psychiatry. “I’d have been a pretty good psychiatrist,” he believes. “I’d have wasted no time with slushy assurances. I’d have given my clients advice straight from the shoulder. The truth never hurts.”