Nigel Havers has enjoyed a colourful love life and been married three times, but he says he wouldn’t know where to start if he was back on the market today.
The star of The Charmer, Chariots Of Fire and Coronation Street finds the idea of online dating completely baffling. ‘Whatever happened to going to a party and saying, “Hello, what are you doing next week?”’ he murmurs in that familiar silky voice.
‘That’s so much nicer. I don’t think I could cope with swiping left and right. I wouldn’t know how to do it, for a start. It must be so complicated. In that respect, I’m very glad I’m in my early 70s.’
On second thoughts, Nigel, 73, thinks that if he were single, he’d somehow make a go of it. ‘Someone would obviously teach me. But if I was 30 now, I’d know exactly how to do it!’
Nigel came of age in the Swinging Sixties and says he didn’t hold back. ‘I swung as much as I could!’ he chuckles.
When he was a drama student in London, his father Sir Michael Havers was a distinguished lawyer and future Attorney General, and had a flat at the Inns of Court. When his dad wasn’t there, the flat became party central for Nigel and friends.
Coronation Street legend Nigel Havers has recalled the time he was caught in his father’s bed with two girls
‘The next thing I knew my father walked in. I was in his bedroom, in his bed, which was not a good place to be, with a couple of girls. I had to make them disappear quickly’
‘One Saturday night I had a few people over for an evening; some cocktails and food. And then we all bunked down, as they say. About nine or ten o’clock the next morning, I heard a key turning and I thought, “Oh my God! Who’s that?”
‘The next thing I knew my father walked in. I was in his bedroom, in his bed, which was not a good place to be, with a couple of girls. I had to make them disappear quickly. And my father said, “I’ll be back in an hour and you’ll face the music!”
So we quickly got the place together and everyone disappeared and I sat there. An hour went by, then two – and he never came back. Dad never mentioned it. But I never did that again.’
Nigel is about to embark on a one-man show, telling stories about his life – and loves – and career. It’s unscripted, which is a novelty for him. He says he rarely loses his place when he’s on stage.
‘It’s my job to know my lines. But we’ve all done it. Judi Dench did it one night when we were in The Importance Of Being Earnest at the National Theatre. She cut the lines that included the best-known one in the play: “A handbag?” She just jumped a whole page.’ Nigel laughs.
‘What could we do? We just carried on. Judi was mortified. I kept saying to her, “Don’t worry, darling, it’ll be fine!”’
One of his best friends in the business is Sir Michael Caine. The pair were cast in a 1986 spy movie called The Whistle Blower. ‘I was going to play his son,’ recalls Nigel.
‘He said, “Before we start, are you going to talk like me in this movie or am I going to posh up?” And I said, “I think it would be good if you poshed up.” And he said, “Not a problem.”
Nigel has enjoyed a colourful love life and been married three times, but he says he wouldn’t know where to start if he was back on the market today
The star of The Charmer and Coronation Street finds the idea of online dating completely baffling. ‘Whatever happened to going to a party and saying, “Hello, what are you doing next week?’ [pictured on Coronation Street]
‘And then in the first shot on the first day of filming he comes off a train and says to me [Nigel slips into an impersonation of Caine], “Allo, son!” But he was magnificent to work with and we’re great friends. I see a lot of him.
He still likes to pretend he’s my father. If I’m in a restaurant and he’s there, he’ll say at the top of his voice, “I bought you a flat, son, what more do you want?”’
Nigel has had a glittering career but he takes nothing for granted. He starred in Chariots Of Fire which was nominated for several Oscars, so Nigel found himself at the awards ceremony in LA.
‘David Puttnam, the producer, said to us, “We won’t win, so just have a good night, enjoy the beer, have fun.” So we did, we had a few bevvies. Then to our astonishment we started winning.’
The film ended up with four Oscars. ‘We were invited to all these parties but I couldn’t stay, I was booked on a flight back the next day. Because we never expected to do well, I’d agreed to read a story on Jackanory for the BBC.’
Was he ever in the running to play James Bond? ‘I think we all auditioned at one stage. Barbara Broccoli, the Bond films’ producer, is a friend.
Years ago, I put it around that I was going to be the villain in a Bond film and she rang me to say, “That’s news to me.”’ The makers already had a clear idea of what Bond’s next adversary would look like and Nigel didn’t fit the bill.
‘Barbara said, “Unless you have plastic surgery, you’re not getting the job!”’
The next best thing to playing Bond was being 007’s pal. ‘Roger Moore was a dear friend. I used to hang out with him every summer. We’d go down to France. There was a pack of us: the composer Leslie Bricusse, comedy writer Jeremy Lloyd, Joan Collins, and my then-wife, and we’d be there together every year.
‘They all had birthdays within the same three days so we had an annual three-day celebration. We used to have dinner and lunches. Those lunches that start at one o’clock and then… well, they lay out dinner around you and you continue into the evening! I like those ones. All-day dining!
‘Roger had given up Bond by then but we’d say to him, “Go on, Rog, just say it, please!” So he’d go, “Oh all right then… the name’s Bond, James Bond.” Poor Rog, we made him do it!’
He’s still good friends with Dame Joan. ‘I wanted to see her one-woman show at the Palladium but I was filming. She’s brilliant at it. I wanted to learn how to do it from her. She just said, “Get on and do it!” She’s a real character. She looks amazing, no different to how she was 35 years ago.
Nigel has had a glittering career but he takes nothing for granted. He starred in Chariots Of Fire which was nominated for several Oscars, so Nigel found himself at the awards ceremony in LA
The film ended up with four Oscars. ‘We were invited to all these parties but I couldn’t stay, I was booked on a flight back the next day’
’She’s been married five times – could Nigel have imagined himself as Mr Joan Collins? ‘Oh I was far too old for Joan,’ he laughs.
If things had turned out differently, he may have been a pop star instead of an actor. He once cut a record that troubled the lower reaches of the charts. ‘Me and my brother had a band called Crinkle, though we changed our name to January. I played bass. That song, It Sings For Me, sold a few thousand copies.’
Nigel had seen pop stars up close in the wake of a drugs squad raid at the Sussex home of Keith Richards. ‘I was watching TV with my father when the news story broke. He said, “I hope to God they don’t ask me to represent them.” Within an hour the phone went and Dad came back saying, “I shall be defending the Rolling Stones.”
Mick Jagger came to our house. We were sworn to secrecy. ’Sir Michael duly represented Jagger and Richards in court. They were found guilty of drugs offences and received prison sentences, but their convictions were overturned on appeal.
‘I adored them,’ says Nigel. ‘I loved the Beatles too, but the trouble was that my parents also liked them. You can’t really root for a band that your mum and dad tap their toes to. So that put me off a bit. But when I discovered the Stones, I thought, “There is a God: He brought us the Stones!” We went mad for them. They looked like rebels.’
Nigel has played aristocratic characters to the manor born for good reason: because his father was a lord, the actor is entitled to be known as ‘The Honourable Nigel Havers’. He’s friends with royalty too.
He got to know Queen Camilla through her late brother, conservationist Mark Shand. And Princess Diana was a frequent visitor to his flat. ‘I met her at various dos and she was utterly charming. We corresponded on and off. She liked the theatre. She’d come round for tea.
This was during her marriage. I think she found it quite hard, but it must have been hard marrying into the Royal Family because you’re just not left alone. She said it was just horrible, she hated it, the paparazzi running after her and all that.’
He’s soon to be seen in Ruth Ellis drama A Cruel Love, but his most recent TV appearance was on the news, complaining about potholes near his London home earlier this year.
If things had turned out differently, he may have been a pop star instead of an actor. He once cut a record that troubled the lower reaches of the charts [pictured in The Charmer in 1986]
Nigel has played aristocratic characters to the manor born for good reason: because his father was a lord, the actor is entitled to be known as ‘The Honourable Nigel Havers’
He says, ‘I’m not crazy about the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. I don’t think he bothers with things that affect people day to day. I nearly get run over every day by a cyclist on the pavement.’
Nigel takes a dim view of politicians in general. ‘My father was an MP and I asked him, “Why can’t politicians tell the truth?” He said, “If we told the truth, they’d never vote for us.” Dad did it for the love of it, because they weren’t paid properly then. They had to do a day job. Now it’s a proper career, and look where that’s got us!
Politicians seem so inept. I wish they’d be better at their jobs. It’s the waste of money I can’t bear – our money.’
He’s been surprised by some decisions of the Starmer government. ‘I thought it was strange the first thing they did was cancel winter fuel allowance. But I do see there are some people who don’t need it. And yet you can’t give it back. We tried to give it back and they said you can’t. I think we gave it to charity.’
Despite the grumbles, Nigel considers himself lucky. He says he was very fortunate to meet his third wife, Georgiana. ‘She sort of rescued me. I was in a state.’ His second wife, Polly, had died of ovarian cancer in 2004.
‘You enter the last stages of your life, and pray and hope everything’s going to be loving and comfortable and cosy, and I’ve got all those things which is wonderful, really. I’m blessed.’
He says he seldom looks back. ‘I don’t have any regrets. I’m sure there were parts I didn’t get: I allow myself 24 hours of sulking and then you must move on, otherwise it becomes awful. I didn’t really turn anything down. I’m known as a letterbox actor: a script comes through the door, I have a look at it and off we go. Michael Caine taught me that: don’t hang around.’
He keeps fit by running and going to the gym. ‘Exercise is the best cure for anything. Even in the winter when it’s nasty and raining; it’s even more rewarding because you think, “I’ve done it!” All I’d say is don’t overdo anything. And stay happy. Happiness will get you through anything. Relish the fact you’re still alive!’
Nigel’s Talking B*ll*cks tour begins at the Theatre Royal, Norwich, on 15 March. For tour dates and tickets visit: fane.co.uk/nigel-havers.
Read the full article here
