Latest news with #WhenHarryMetDanny
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Danny Dyer plunged into a 'spiral of madness' after Harold Pinter's death
Danny Dyer plunged into a "spiral of madness" following the death of his mentor Harold Pinter. The 'Human Traffic' star struck up a close relationship with the legendary playwright when he was cast in his play 'Celebration' - which debuted in London in 2000 - and Danny went on to appear in two more Pinter plays over the years but he was left totally devastated when his pal passed away aged 78 in 2008. Danny has now confessed he hit rock bottom after the loss after reading about it in a newspaper. During an appearance on BBC Radio 4's 'Desert Island Discs', he explained: "I hadn't spoke to him in a while. I did go off the rails for many years and I found out by looking on the front of a newspaper. "Again, I'd been on a bender and I was coming home and I was going, I think I was going to buy cigarettes at the petrol garage, and I see it in the paper: 'Pinter dead'. "This really sent me on a spiral of madness, really. The guilt of not being around him any more and just being lost, I was a bit of a lost soul, and again, angry at the world." It comes after Danny revealed he's working on a play based on his friendship with Pinter with the working title 'When Harry Met Danny' . Danny told "I really like it [the play idea] and am excited about it. I'd love to explore it more. I'm grateful for the years I spent with Harold and he was a real mentor to me." The actor previously hosted a 2020 documentary about his friendship with the late writer called 'Danny Dyer on Pinter'. Speaking to the Guardian in 2013, Danny said his late pal taught him a lot about being an actor and set him up for a successful career in showbusiness. He said: "I miss him, you know, he was a good influence on me. He was the only person who I feared but loved. "He had faith in me, he suffered all my s*** because he knew I was a talented actor. He was a f****** tyrant, too, you know, but he could get away with it because he was so enchanting. He was a poet ... "If he didn't like [something] he'd tell me straight; there were no airs and graces about him. I learned so much from him that set me up for the rest of my career."
Perth Now
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Danny Dyer plunged into a 'spiral of madness' after Harold Pinter's death
Danny Dyer plunged into a "spiral of madness" following the death of his mentor Harold Pinter. The 'Human Traffic' star struck up a close relationship with the legendary playwright when he was cast in his play 'Celebration' - which debuted in London in 2000 - and Danny went on to appear in two more Pinter plays over the years but he was left totally devastated when his pal passed away aged 78 in 2008. Danny has now confessed he hit rock bottom after the loss after reading about it in a newspaper. During an appearance on BBC Radio 4's 'Desert Island Discs', he explained: "I hadn't spoke to him in a while. I did go off the rails for many years and I found out by looking on the front of a newspaper. "Again, I'd been on a bender and I was coming home and I was going, I think I was going to buy cigarettes at the petrol garage, and I see it in the paper: 'Pinter dead'. "This really sent me on a spiral of madness, really. The guilt of not being around him any more and just being lost, I was a bit of a lost soul, and again, angry at the world." It comes after Danny revealed he's working on a play based on his friendship with Pinter with the working title 'When Harry Met Danny' . Danny told "I really like it [the play idea] and am excited about it. I'd love to explore it more. I'm grateful for the years I spent with Harold and he was a real mentor to me." The actor previously hosted a 2020 documentary about his friendship with the late writer called 'Danny Dyer on Pinter'. Speaking to the Guardian in 2013, Danny said his late pal taught him a lot about being an actor and set him up for a successful career in showbusiness. He said: "I miss him, you know, he was a good influence on me. He was the only person who I feared but loved. "He had faith in me, he suffered all my s*** because he knew I was a talented actor. He was a f****** tyrant, too, you know, but he could get away with it because he was so enchanting. He was a poet ... "If he didn't like [something] he'd tell me straight; there were no airs and graces about him. I learned so much from him that set me up for the rest of my career."
The Independent
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Danny Dyer plans stage tribute to mentor Harold Pinter
Actor Danny Dyer has revealed that he is in the early stages of developing a play based on his close friendship with the late Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter. Currently titled When Harry Met Danny, the project is still in its infancy, with Dyer only just beginning to float the idea. If the play does go ahead, the Rivals star said that one of the biggest decisions to be made will be whether to play the role of himself or Pinter, who died in 2008 aged 78 from liver cancer. Dyer told Deadline he 'really like[s] it and [is] really excited about it.' 'I'm grateful for the years I spent with Harold and he was a real mentor to me,' he said. Dyer and Pinter's friendship began early in the actor's career when he auditioned for Pinter's play Celebration. Their relationship deepened over time, with Dyer going on to star in two more of his plays. In 2020, he presented a Sky Arts documentary titled Danny Dyer on Pinter, exploring the impact the playwright had on his life and career. Pinter directed a series of successful plays over his 50-year long career. Some of his best-known plays are The Birthday Party, The Homecoming, and Betrayal. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005, as well as receiving over 50 other prizes, awards, and honours. Dyer could also be in line for his first BAFTA TV Award next month for his turn in Ryan Sampson's comedy Mr Bigstuff, in which he plays Lee, but he's not sure Pinter would have been too pleased about the nod. 'Harold was very anti-establishment and that's why I loved him,' Dyer said. 'He was a bitter man and always wanted me to be a bitter animal. I think he'd say, 'Get back in the theatre and f*** the awards, because that's where you're best.'' It comes after the EastEnders star, 47, who was raised on a council estate in Custom House, East London, has invested money into a caravan site off the northern coast of Kent. Dyer has documented the early days of the business venture in his forthcoming Sky TV series The Dyer's Caravan Park, which sees him and his daughter Dani take on the project on the Isle of Sheppey. Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show on 21 February, Dyer told the presenter: 'I'm going to invest some dough into a caravan site. 'I went to caravans on my holiday as a kid - Canvey Island. Caravans are a thing for me, it's very much about nostalgia.' He added: 'I['ve] seen Jeremy Clarkson is cracking on with his farm so I'm going to try and run a caravan site and bring back the British holidays.' In a trailer for The Dyer's Caravan Park, Dyer jokes: 'So, Clarkson's got his farm. Richard Hammond has his workshop, f*****g about in there. If Jamie Oliver can save school dinners then I think I want to bring back the caravan holiday. Why the f**k can't I save the British holiday?'
