Kenneth Cranham
Kenneth Cranham
Kenneth Cranhamis a Scottish-born film, television, radio and stage actor...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionActor
Date of Birth12 December 1944
great stage time
The great thing about stage is that you have more control. The stage is yours. The time is yours. Film is really the editor's medium.
across edinburgh festival forth home played scotland whenever
I feel at home in Scotland and go back whenever I can. I've played the Edinburgh Festival twice, and I get the train across the Forth Bridge to Lochgelly, just to see it.
act hear jump lines lucky till
When you act for a living, you are lucky enough to get to say things you really want to say. You get lines that you look forward to, lines that jump out like a jack-in-the-box; you're thinking: 'Wait till you hear this.'
babies boy came double knew lives people
The only acting I knew when I was a boy came from Lochgelly. With a double bill, people would live their lives in the cinema. You would even see babies being breastfed in the audience.
dad
You have to succeed as a young actor, then as a dad actor, those would be my 'Harvey Moon' years, then as an old actor.
employed pen problem seen surprising
If you swap it about, do television, theatre, film, you can go on surprising yourself. The problem is you get employed to do something you've already done. They want something from that sheep pen of performances they've seen you do.
caught cinema dominated lived love mind mum style
Cinema dominated the Fife coalfield towns. We lived in Lochgelly, but my mum was caught up in Hollywood. She was in love with the style and glamour. Sometimes she would come with me to the cinema in the afternoons, and she would say things like, 'I wouldn't mind a peck with Gregory.'
becomes best blueprint create happen happiest piece surpass time
You create a blueprint of your best performance, and you're happiest the night you surpass that blueprint. That won't happen that often, but it will happen. It's like sculpting: you keep refining. When you have a piece that is yours, that is just you, that becomes obsessive; you think about it all the time.
clarity edward harold joe liked love six speak suppose texts thrill using words
I've always liked texts that you immediately understand. I suppose the playwrights who really speak to me are Edward Bond, Joe Orton and Harold Pinter. I've been in six different Pinter productions - I love the clarity of his language. He has this way of using words - there's a thrill to them.
case loves orders second
Christopher Plummer once told me that he never orders a wine without first confirming that the restaurant has a second bottle in case he loves it.
buying caught either match mature particular placing race run thrill tips until
Buying a particular vintage because everyone tips it and then waiting for it to mature is like gambling. The thrill is in placing the bet. Once the race is run or the match is played, you'll either win or lose. Until that happens, you're caught in this wonderful, agonising sense of expectation.
grandmother grandparent cooking
My grandfather, Harry Ferguson, was a butcher in Hill of Beath; so even though my grandparents lived in some poverty, we got loads of beef. My grandmother, Meg, was a fine Scottish cook who did slow cooking.
cinema night
When I was in Lochgelly as a boy, I went to the cinema every night - and on Sundays, I used to go to Cowdenbeath and see something there.
absolutely
The thing about theatre is that when it is actually occurring, when you have the audience on your side, you absolutely think you can will them to do anything. It's exhilarating.