Professional involvement a family affair for actor

Press, 5 September 1989, Page 11

Professional involvement a family affair for actor

Life with the Croft family has been good for Simon Cadell, who plays Larry Wade in “Life Without George” (tonight at 8 on One). David Croft wrote the “Hi-de-Hi!” comedy series which launched Cadell to fame, Penny Croft continued the scriptwriting in another successful comedy featuring Cadell, and then Cadell married Becky Croft. Cadeii rose rapidly to prominence in his role as camp manager Jeffrey Fairbrother in “Hi-de-Hi,” a comedy written by David Croft and Jimmy Perry. One of David Croft’s daughters, Penny, is now one of the scriptwriters for “Life Without George.” During the filming of “Hi-de-Hi!” Cadell met another of David Croft’s daughters, Becky, a model who was 12 years his junior. They married in

1986 and now have two boys. Cadell likes to keep his personal life private but he reveals he enjoys cigars, restaurants, wine and southern France. “I like southern France because of the weather, the people, and the food and wine.” Cadell describes the character, Larry, he portrays in “Life Without George,” as very much a man of the 80s. "He’s a distillation of a certain sort of person who is about my age and was conditioned by the Labour Party in the 1960 s and was then thrown by the obvious successes of Thatcherism in the 1980 s. He’s the one who has not become a yuppie.” Cadell says Larry is concerned about the way he leads his life. “I’m very sympathetic towards Larry but I do think he’s probably more balanced than I am,” he says.