Peter Firth

[Simone]

I think he makes a very good Henry in NA. However, I don't like this version, at all. I've only kept the DVD because of PF. I very much prefer the recent ITV adaptation.

I think I'll watch Equus (bearing your warning in mind) and maybe Tess and Dorian Grey too since they seem like movies I'd like. These plus catching up on his YouTube interviews should get me started on catching up on his career, don't you think?

Oh, and finally my subscription to that press archive website came in handy:

Quote:In a taxi with... Peter Firth
The Mail on Sunday, October 7, 2006

The actor reveals the naked truth about Equus, and a few of Spooks' official secrets.

MAUREEN PATON

Like any spy master with good survival instincts, Peter Firth likes to keep well below the radar in his private life. So, instead of the Armani and Versace suits he wears to save the world in Spooks, the actor who plays mysterious MI5 boss Harry Pearce in the BBC thriller series turns up in a humble grey T-shirt and jeans for a taxi ride through the show's London locations. Not for Peter the fancy ankle-length mink coat favoured by his early mentor Richard 'Two Limos' Burton, who starred with him in the film Equus. 'He was the last of the great movie stars - a little bit out of touch, but then those people led such cosseted, refined existences. He was very kind to me, very paternal,' he recalls.

Over a 35-year career, 52-year-old Peter has also worked with such luminaries as Anthony Hopkins, John Gielgud, Sean Connery (who strangled him in The Hunt for Red October - 'but he was gentle with me; he's well known for it'), Franco Zeffirelli and Roman Polanski. So, by now, he has stacked up more than enough experience to be a mentor himself, should Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe require any advice on playing the troubled youth who rides a horse naked in next year's revival of Equus on stage. Peter played the part three times: in the West End, on Broadway and on film, capitalising on what this cushion-lipped actor impishly calls his 'damaged cherub look'.

Equus, which won Peter an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe, launched him internationally. 'I didn't really capitalise on that early success because I had high artistic ideals and they didn't involve commercial cinema.

That said, becoming an international film star takes its toll - there's a price to be paid for being recognised all the time, so I'm quite happy not to be,' says Peter, whose talent for accents has landed him roles in everything from Letter To Brezhnev (a Russian sailor) to Pearl Harbor (an American captain).

Like all cherubs, he has been associated with nudity in his time. 'I've taken my kit off a lot over the years, but the only occasion that was noteworthy was Equus,' he says. He shared a love scene in that film with Jenny Agutter - later to become his Spooks co-star.

'Jenny is a national institution and I did feel party to a violation of that by filming a scene naked with her,' confides Bradford-born Peter, a publican's son with no connections to those other thespian Firths, Colin and Jonathan.

'I'm the only actor in my family, and my parents were astonished at my interest.

But I knew exactly where it came from - a girl I fancied went to a drama club,' he grins. 'But I didn't get the girl - I got distracted by the acting instead.' No wonder. It certainly beats what Peter calls 'a real job'. Our cabbie, Candido from Rotherhithe, drives us round Parliament Square, which was recently closed off for a day so that the BBC could blow up a Jaguar for a story line in Spooks about an assassination attempt on the Home Secretary.

'I think they were granted permission because everyone in Westminster likes the show - in fact, David Cameron says it's his favourite programme.' It has also sent recruitment at MI5 rocketing. 'I think they all thought they were going to work with Keeley Hawes - or her replacement, Hermione Norris,' he grins, as we cruise past the grey MI5 building where, according to Peter, you enter via a paranoia-inducing pod system that you can't get out of unaided.

Although he is divorced like Harry, there all resemblance ends. 'The only thing I empathise with is his anarchy - despite his position as the guardian of the status quo, there's a real dark side to him and he's like a smouldering volcano.' Peter is much more laid-back, happy to be a hands-on dad to his three sons and a daughter, who range in age from 15 to 25 ('the eldest, Rory, has just decided that he, too, wants to be an actor'). Peter starts filming a sixth series of Spooks in the new year but, meanwhile, he's looking forward to some downtime on his boat in the Med, and on a little inflatable on the river near his home in Henley-on-Thames. 'Boats and women are the only two things that interest me,' he says jocularly. 'Yet I can't even remember the name of the girl from that first drama group I joined.

How fickle is that?' Sounds rather James Bondish to me... Spooks continues tomorrow on BBC1 at 9pm