Categories Damian Lewis Events Personal and Family Life Video
Tag: Damian Lewis
Categories Interviews Print Media We'll Take Manhattan
Helen McCrory: The talented actress revels in her new role
Go-to Girl for Playing Spirited Characters
by Maureen Paton | January 3, 2012 | Daily Mail
Helen McCrory is the go-to girl for playing spirited characters. So who better to immortalise fearsome Vogue fashion editor Lady Clare Rendlesham in a BBC drama about her clash with photographer David Bailey in the 1960s? Here she talks to Maureen Paton about kinky boots, kohl eyes and tantrums with typewriters
‘The great thing about acting is that you can learn from other people’s mistakes,’ says Helen
She was the fire-breathing fashion editor who once staged a rock-starry tantrum by hurling her typewriter – eek! – out of the window. A dragon crossed with a diva, Lady Clare Rendlesham reigned over British Vogue and then Queen in the swinging 60s and championed all the style setters, from Mary Quant to Susan Small and Jean Muir. In 1964 she tore up the glossy-magazine rulebook by edging Queen’s front page with a funereal black border and running the provocative headline ‘Paris is Dead’, to proclaim the overtaking of French couture by London street style. And when she later opened an Yves Saint Laurent boutique in London’s Bond Street (with one of her beloved dogs invariably kipping on a designer frock in the window), some customers were too scared to enter if Lady R was on the premises.
They don’t make fashion queens as fearsome as that any more. And now this sacred monster is about to be immortalised on screen in a piece of casting made in heaven. Husky drawl that could seduce a man at 30 paces? Check. Tongue as sharp as tailor’s scissors? Check. Dramatic dark looks, dimples to die for and a highly individual sense of chic? Check, check, check. Who better to play the legendary Lady R than maverick Helen McCrory? The multi-award-winning stage and screen actress is the go-to girl when it comes to portraying life’s more vivid characters (such as Cherie Blair – twice, in The Queen and The Special Relationship).
Continue reading Helen McCrory: The talented actress revels in her new role
Categories Interviews Personal and Family Life Print Media
It’s All About Family Ties for Helen McCrory
Helen Talks Family Life
December 1, 2011 | The Wall Street Journal Europe
How does your weekend start?
There is never a habitual regime, but there is delight in the household because my children, Manon (5) and Gulliver (4), understand that there’s no school. This means that their horrible mother allows them to watch television because they are not allowed during the week. The first thing they want to do is glue themselves in front of the TV. We also have cinema night and we all make our own popcorn and we make pizza. It’s a real treat. They both love seafood like octopus and calamari. We all sit down and watch a film or something.
Do you ever go out just with your husband?
Yes. [Actor] Damian [Lewis] and I go out a lot. I like the theater a lot. I like anything if it’s live… from Country and Western [to] Chinese opera. The last piece of theater I went to see was “Anna Christie” at the Donmar Warehouse with Jude [Law], Ruth [Wilson] and David Hayman. They are friends of ours. After the theater, we would then go to a restaurant.
Do you have a favorite restaurant?
I really love the Salt Yard. It’s got very good tapas and a great wine list. If you don’t have much time, you can just get some cheese, ham and a bottle of red wine. Or, if you want to go there earlier, you can have a big, long meal.
Will you sometimes cook at home on a Friday night?
A lot of the time we would actually just cook. The kids are in bed and I will come downstairs and cook. We have a record player in the kitchen and we always find a new vinyl. We would put it on and listen to new records. And to actually listen to a whole album is great. I got the [reggae band] Burning Spear and we listened to that. We had a glass of wine and Damian made some fish cakes. We sit and chat and just hang out.
What’s your Saturday routine like?We usually go out to the Heath [in Hampstead]. We live quite near there. We are outdoorsy and we would often go out with other gangs of children.
In the area we live, there’s a large show of children who run from one house to another house to another house. That’s lovely because it means all the children play together, and all the adults get to sit around and have coffees and read the papers or go to the park. We can all sit and chat, and they can all run riot.
Do you have some time for yourself?
The only time I ever spend alone is when I am working or when my husband is away filming. I put the kids to bed and have an hour and a half in the evening for myself. I listen to Radio 4 all the time. I didn’t go to university, so that’s my further education.
What would you do more of if you had time?It’s nice to sit down and read the whole of whatever magazine I am reading with a cup of coffee. Then you are like: Wow! I actually read the whole magazine.
But to be honest, my husband and my children are my best friends. I am just aware that these are the golden years. There’s a time in your life when you are incredibly happy and then are times that are s—. And the s— will come again, because that’s life. I am aware that this is a good time. So I am celebrating that. I am the happiest I have ever been.
Categories Damian Lewis Personal and Family Life Video
VIDEO: McCrory-Lewis Family at Disney Princess Royal Court Celebration
Visiting Rapunzel at Kensington Palace
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | October 2, 2011
Sixty Second Therapist: Helen McCrory
Harry Potter star Helen McCrory
Lisa Merrick- Lawless | July 11, 2011 | Stylist
The BAFTA-winning actress, 42, on marriage, the spotlight and being a role model to her children.
You’ve starred in commercially successful films like Harry Potter and The Queen but seem to keep your private life out of the public eye. Is that a conscious decision?
It’s the way I like it. You don’t have to be in the public eye if you don’t want to be, and both my husband Damian [Lewis, star of Life and Band Of Brothers] and I get the best of both worlds. When we make films we go out and do the red carpet thing – you know, put on frocks and suits and have our photos taken, but we also have a life in north London where we walk the kids to school in flip-flops and go to the local pub with friends.
How did you know Damian was the man you wanted to settle down with?
When I met Damian I felt very calm with him, and like I belonged. I still do. Although we’re very different, our impulses are the same. I’ve never looked at him and not understood why he’s done something, and while I may not like what he’s done, I understand where it comes from.