Liz Smith: All This and Johnny Depp Too

I've never considered a facelift because I earn my living by looking old. ~Liz Smith

There's a Liz Smith who calls herself "the 2000-year-old gossip columnist." She's often a skilled and entertaining writer.

We won't be talking about her. We will, however, be talking about Hollywood.

I've written elsewhere about the foibles of living in Hollywood.

On the one hand, my 50-something self still looks pretty darn good. Or so says my British Hubby (BH), who's eight years younger.

On the other, everyone in this town over age 35 is invisible, so it doesn't matter (except to BH, who's the only one who really counts).

In my official status as a scribe of the Great Unseen, I'd like to pay homage to the other Liz Smith. (Like Buster Merryfield, BH introduced me to this UK treasure. I owe him so much. What was my life before Dr. Who? Black Adder? Red Dwarf? 10/14/10 addendum: As of last weekend -- Mr. Bean!)

Our Liz Smith is a British character actress born Betty Gleadle in 1921. She's one of those faces you've probably seen but never noticed.

ABANDONMENT MULTIPLIED

Smith's mother died in childbirth when she was two. Her baby sister died a few months later. When she was seven, her father walked out on her, promising he'd write. The letter never came.

In her own words, "My father was a bit of a sod really... he just went off with loads of women and then married one who said he had to cut off completely from his prior life and that meant me." Her beloved maternal grandmother, who raised her, died when Smith was 20.

During World War II, Smith served in the Women's Royal Navy. Right after discharge, she married sailor Jack Thomas, whom she met while serving in India. Thomas walked out on her when their children were two and six -- with a good friend.

After my divorce was a terribly bitter time. For about 18 months I walked the streets openly crying, I didn't care. I used to go to jumble sales and spend three old pennies on a whole pile of old china; cups, saucers, plates, anything, and then go home and throw them at the wall. When I look back I think that was healthy.

Smith worked odd jobs, mostly in shops and offices, to support her children. She felt the stigma of single motherhood in the '50s: "As a woman with two kids and the husband gone, nobody wants to know you. Neighbours would cross to the other side of the street in case they had to say good morning."

But when did she know she wanted to be an actor?

As a girl, her grandmother sent her to after-school elocution class so she could make friends. The class often toured village halls, putting on shows. She says, "The warmth and lights and laughter was magic, just magic."

FLOGGING TOYS ONE CHRISTMAS

When her children got older, Smith took acting classes at night and worked summers at Butlins, a family resort chain that also provided entertainment. She could spend all day with her kids, Sarah and Robert, and appear in the evening shows. Her big break came in 1971:

The moment that my life transformed was when I was standing in Hamleys one Christmas, flogging toys, and I got a message from this young director named Mike Leigh. I was nearly 50 at the time, but he wanted a middle-aged woman to do improvisations. I went to an audition and I got the job of the mother in this improvised film – Bleak Moments, his first film – and it changed my life.

Since then, she's worked non-stop and has become the UK's favorite fictional granny. Some shows you may have seen her in (and not even realized):

• The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
• The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
• The Vicar of Dibley (BBC Series)
• A Christmas Carol (with Patrick Stewart)
• Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist
• City of Ember (with Tim Robbins and Bill Murray)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Family (with Johnny Depp -- now do you recognize her? Sleepy Grandma Georgina)

FINALLY A ROCKSTAR

In 2007, Smith published a short story collection entitled Jottings: Flights of Fancy, appeared in a music video by Little Man Tate, and won the "Best Television Comedy Actress" at the British Comedy Awards for her role as the tippling Nana in The Royle Family.

(The Royle Family, a BBC show that ran from 1998 to 2000 with subsequent yearly specials, centered on a telly-obsessed Manchester family. Although it never made it to the States, you can pick up the first few series on Netflix.)

In July 2009, she received an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for services to Drama.

Smith has never forgotten where she came from or what matters. In 2002, she said, "I have four grandchildren, aged from 12 to 27, and next year I'll have had 30 years without working in a shop. Not everyone has a nice slice of life like that."

She retired from acting recently, at age 87, after having a stroke. She's still having trouble walking and reading, but plans to write more short stories.

I can't even imagine what kept her going -- abandoned by her father and her husband, spurned by her neighbors for the awful crime of not having a husband, having to work in toy store during Christmas (that's really paying your dues). I adore her even more because she's no Pollyanna. She admits to very natural feelings of envy for her child co-stars because she didn't have their opportunities.

Yet she kept the spark in her soul alive, the warmth and lights and laughter that was magic, and at 50 carved out a whole new career that lasted almost four decades.

I’m very proud because I had rejection for so many years, and it seemed as though I’d never get anywhere, but I was determined to keep on trying. And I’m thrilled I did get somewhere in the end.

WHAT LATER BLOOMERS CAN LEARN FROM LIZ SMITH

• Like her contemporary, P.D. James, Liz Smith shows you can take care of your people and pursue your dream. They needed to persevere over the long haul to do both, but they kept going.
• Excavate that magic memory. Let it lead you on a new adventure or help keep you going.

SOURCES

It happened to me: actress Liz Smith. Legion Magazine.
Liz Smith: I'm a little off-centred. The Independent: 19 June 2002
Her Royle Highness. The Daily Mail: 28 September 2007
This much I know. The Guardian: 21 October 2007
Liz Smith cruises into her retirement. The Telegraph: 09 July 2009
Liz Smith's Wikipedia entry
Liz Smith's IMDB entry

Buster Merryfield Had A Pension For Acting

I can thank my British hubby (BH) for widening my vocabulary. The Brits have degrees of expressing disdain that we Americans can’t touch.

Over here, for instance, an idiot is pretty much an idiot.

Over there, an idiot can be a git, a twat, a tosser, an eejit, a knob-end, a wanker, a plonker or a half-dozen more words I’ve forgotten.

(Really, I’m not making an analogy to Eskimos and their words for snow here. )

BH tells me that a sitcom called Only Fools and Horses made plonker (my personal favorite) a household word in the UK and that its beloved star, Buster Merryfield, didn't act professionally until he was 58.
Since I live in Hollywood, the entertainment (aka youth) industry capital, I had to check.

Harry “Buster” Merryfield, Jr. (1920-1999) came from a typical pre-WWII working-class English background. His mother was a part-time waitress and his father a packer.

Merryfield's grandfather gave him the nickname Buster when he was born, since he weighed nine pounds, and the name suited him when he became a child boxing star in the 1930s.

Merryfield took a fascinating road into professional acting . . .

FIRST STOP: JUNGLE WARFARE INSTRUCTOR

Merryfield was drafted in 1939 at age 19 and served with the Royal Artillery.

In 1942, he was given the chance to train as an officer, and took it. He became a physical training and jungle warfare instructor, serving in India and South Africa.

In 1944, Merryfield returned to England, where he led a squadron shooting down flying bombs known as V1 doodle bugs.

SECOND STOP: BANK MANAGER / AMATEUR THEATRICAL PRODUCER

Just before being drafted, Merryfield had entered a management training program with National Westminster Bank. After the war, he returned to his desk job and rose through the ranks. (He'd gotten married in 1942 and had a baby on the way.)

But he loved amateur theatre, and had been in charge of providing entertainment for the troops. He continued acting in local productions.

While in his 40s, Merryfield produced John Osborne’s The Entertainer, Ruth Dixon’s The World-My Canvas and Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge for the Woking Drama Festival.

The productions won best play prizes in 1966, 1968 and 1969, respectively. Merryfield himself took best actor honors in two of those plays.

(The festival, held in Surrey, is one of England’s largest drama competitions.)

THIRD STOP: FAMOUS CHARACTER ACTOR

At age 58, Merryfield retired from NatWest Bank to pursue acting professionally. He convinced a London repertory company to take him on, performed in several plays at the Connaught Theatre, and won a few small television parts.

His big break came in 1985, at age 65, when a BBC producer saw him perform mime. He was asked to audition for the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

Merryfield became Uncle Albert, the crusty seafaring relation of two thick, but likeable, second-hand traders.

The series ended in 1996 when one of the nephews discovers that an old watch they've owned for years is an antique worth millions.

You know, I’ve figured it out. I always said I wanted to do 40 years in a bank. A few years in the war. About 20 years as an actor. Five years to write a book and then another 10 years as a painter. By the time that’s all done I will be about 102.

Merryfield didn’t quite get his time as a painter.

He passed away in 1999 at age 79 from a brain tumor. Merryfield was survived by Iris, his wife of 57 years, his daughter Karen and two grandchildren.

Buster Merryfield's humor, his zest for life and his devotion to his family still inspire Later Bloomers through his autobiography, During the War and Other Encounters, and his work on Only Fools and Horses. I've included a video clip for you below.

WHAT LATER BLOOMERS CAN LEARN FROM BUSTER MERRYFIELD

• “I’m in the enviable position of being an actor with a pension.”
• Start doing now what you dream of doing later.

MERRYFIELD AS UNCLE ALBERT


SOURCES

• Buster Merryfields's Obituary in The IndependentBuster
• Merryfield in Wikipedia
• Photo credits: BBC