More Rumpole in the pipeline

Press, 24 March 1988, Page 15

More Rumpole in the pipeline

By

CLIFFORD DAVIS

Leo! McKern, dged : 67. h is decided to miake' anp tier . Rumpole .series after' all. It will be his fifth — and will go into f reduction in the (northfn> autumn. ' , ' | ! McKern will again! be liat crusty, often! pugna:lc.is. character who delights! audiences ihroughjui the world, I He!has had a restaurant n London's Fettar’ Lane named after thp legal character he has' been portraying since and there are many j more in the United States. |There's also a Rumpofe’s ;Restau•rant in Brisbane and one jin Singapore. !'| [i Hollywood has’jla Rum-' [pole Society, open to lawyers by invitation only.- . There have been four nooks and 25 TV episodes. Rumpojte’s creator. John Mortimer Q.C., is! a man ■cf many talents ■— novellit, screen writer, playivyrightta" translator. A former; I criminal]! lawyer Himself, he claims: to have! created .Rumpole to -help maintain him ini!his old age... "to be my Sherlock Holmesi; rriy if'aigret." ...■:!! i Rumpole was first featured in a .8.8. C. radio play, but 8.8.C.T.V. turned it down as a 1 TV Series and it was snapped up by Thames Television for the Commercial network. I For the first! three., series, the role jqf RumIpole’s wife was taken by [Peggy Thorpe Bates. In the'- Rumpole' scripts she was always"";'‘Stie who must be obeyed."! ! 11l health has! forced her to relinquish the part and she has n!ow been Replaced . by . | : Marion Mathie — though no explanation for the!.,change, has been given viewers. i McKern-has neyer, considered himself a leading •man, though the; role of IRu'mpole has certainly established him as! one on t!he world's TV screens. . i The fact that he has a glass eye — the! result of Sri industrial accident when he was 15, working as an engineering apprenjtfce — is not apparent to his! audiences. ll' "My wife, who 1 was an ■ actress, tried to (persuade her agent, when we ! first fame to London.'to take' me on his books. !He : was hideously i embarrassed . and finally he said he was fiorry. but with, only; one eye it was absolutely hopeless. In the privacy of jqur home with ; my 'Wife ■that hurt but When you fare young you; '.raise; a couple of fingers and,.say,. ■(I'll show them. What does |a- glass eye have to do with it?’ So. I got! on and tad it. ! : j ; . ' I I "But I always knew; that II wasn't the material from (which leading meh are made. Rumpole has made rne famous round the world. But that is: a character part, . although a leading one." | J I' When the actor returns to the screen, viewers will observe a slightly (slimmer . Rumpole. He has cut his 'weight from 108k£ to ; B9kg 'after being diagnosed-] a

IE i ' ■ /- q ’ . 'diabetic. He used (to drink a' bottle of vintage red wine a night and smoke 35 small cigars a day. . Now both smoking and . dr nking are banned. | j|‘l. never drank during the day." he says; "but at night it. 'was splendid. It .keeps you astonishingly regular, as Rumpole says. I told John Mortimer that, so [he put it in the script." It’s' .not just Leo MiKern's rugged ■ face which is so fascinating — "like a motorway in the early stages of repair”, is ho,w he describes.it .. — but his fruity, robust voice is immediately recognisable. He never regarded, it as much of an asset, until the great director Tony (Guthrie'said of him when MCKern was doing Peer Gynt at the Old Vic, "He’ll never make a young girl’s heart throb — but what a voice , he has.” ■ | ij’T'd .never - thought about 1 my voice until then.” says McKern.. "I never thought that the voice in any way compensated for the, face ...” [He hadn’t, intended appearing in a new Rumpole series.- In fact he asked Thames Television for a £IOO,OOO fee: fot; (six episodes and he was quite Surprised When; they agreed. ... I . Hi | T.’l thought I'd shake them this time.”! he says. Hl’d asked for, so much money I expected them to refuse.” .. j J McKern says the char-acter-of Rumpole is very (similar to his own. But (there is a major difference — his! relationship With his wife is far more harmonious. | Th'ey have been married for' 40 years and have two [daughters. | l "I:- spotted Jane at a .party JacrOssi a crowded room. It was a! totally lihexpected' JI physical shock. She had the loveliest face I’d ever seen. She was laughing. [[ ■| ’’Suddenly jit - was difficult for me-to breathe. My joelly and knees were like paper and my palms were damp. I know ((nobody ever; believes! these things happen —■ but it happened to me.. It was love at first sight but it took Jane a little longer to fall in love with me.” i : j| - • .

Jane was a successful (actress and when! she left (Australia to try and further her career in London, Leo fallowed her. jta'T couldl only afford a one-way ticket. Bait I had . ,tp be witli her. l[ didn't come to England to act. I came, to i marryj Jane. Whenl I finally pprsuadeld her to become my [wife, I think it was betause Of mv’ singlel-minded . devotion.” : ' '(Jane quit actiig when her daughter Ab gail was born. Younger' daughter Harriet was adopted. | [McKern is plagued with feelings of remorse about his native Australia and his family I there. He has one brother still alive, but does not; even I know where he lives. His: father, ■■ ah engineer of Irish ancestry, was very proud of his actor Ison and kept [ scrapbooks of his (achievements. 11 I!'.' i , [When he died, his brothers burned hem. • “I was the black of the family,” he, says. “My brothers and. I had nothing in common. We have always been strangers.’’! [ 1j- | When he came to England' he del berately set about, [losing his Sydney accent. "How many parts for Australian actors do you know 'in English literature?!'' he enquires! He even char ged his name. . j [ “I was christened Reg and it was! my first wife who began .calling me Leo because she didn’t like the name Re?. She thought Ii resembled [a character ( called Leo whom she'd seen in a play,” .. I ' I; ■ ■' I . McKern [ still regards Australia as his home. “I want to go back there jo die,” he says with a surprising intensity. "I must die in my own ountry.’’ There is certainly no chance of 'actor Led ending his days in the! United States. No] money: jn the world would entice him to work in Hollywood. I “One hasn’t worked for 40-odd yealrs in tl is industry to end up being [a guest starjin ‘Dy iasty’.”| j i DUO copyright I I ! ' !■