Culture That Made Me: Tony Tormey of Fair City picks his touchstones
Tony Tormey of Fair City.
Tony Tormey, 61, grew up between Baggot Street, Finglas and Drumcondra, Dublin.
He has starred in the TV soap opera since it was first broadcast on RTÉ One in 1989, as well as several other TV shows and film.
As a stage actor, he has performed in numerous productions. is on four nights a week on RTÉ One.
I'm a child of the ’60s. TV that comes to mind straight away is Sergeant Bilko and Phil Silvers. Me and my dad used to watch it, but it was only when I got older, I realised how good it was. I remember my dad sitting down and laughing. It was a big thing to see an American show over here on TV – black and white, fast-talking, a smartass, not like the Irish at all. He was like somebody from a different planet – from Mars – in our little world, us living on Baggot Street.
Everything stopped for Columbo in our house. Peter Falk made it. They offered it to Bing Crosby first. He turned it down, thankfully. Peter Falk heard about it. He chased after it. It was the first thing he ever chased, and it was a big thing for someone like Peter Falk to go to TV in the early ’70s because he was a big movie star; he was involved with John Cassavetes’ films. The premise of the show was that you saw the murder happen at the start of the show, which was unusual for the detective genre. The thing was to see how he would arrive at a conclusion. He went every roundabout way to get there.
I loved Telly Savalas in Kojak. He was another man from a different place, a real tough guy with a heart of gold. He took no crap. When you're a teenager, that resonates with you. He had the bald head. Nobody wanted to have a bald head in those days; nobody wants to have one now, I suppose, me included. But he was a hero. He had the lollipop: “Who loves you, baby?”
I remember not being able to understand The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan – it was weird – but being fascinated by it. I didn't know why I liked it; I was too young to appreciate it. I always thought Patrick McGoohan was a fantastic actor. He wrote, directed and starred in it. He was something special – that man. He was a big star in Columbo. He was such a good actor – he had that intense thing.
I met Patrick McGoohan one time before he died. It was in Neary’s pub in Dublin. I was on my own, having a drink. He came in. He was doing at the time. He was standing at the bar. What do you say to these people? I got up the courage. I said, “I just want to say I've always been a big fan. I love you being the baddie in Columbo.”
He started to laugh. He was drinking a sherry in a small glass. He didn't look at me. He just looked down to the ground and he went, “Peter Falk, my dear, dear friend. What fun we had.”
The 7 Up series has come to an end. I remember first watching it in the 1980s. It began in 1964 [on ITV]. They went back to these people every seven years to see how they got on, some were suffering from mental illness and depression, some people got on, some people had no work. I like that realism in a documentary. I find as I get older, I get more emotional. I’ll cry at an ad. The kids are laughing at me. A series like 7 Up hits you hard.
I love short stories. Guy de Maupassant was a French guy. If I can't sleep at nighttime, I’ll dip into old de Maupassant. He was from Paris. He was a Jack the Lad. He was one of these people who objected to the Eiffel Tower being built. People thought it was going to be an eyesore and bring the wrong type of people to Paris. He was writing in the 1870s. His stories are still relevant today.
Montgomery Clift in from 1951 is a fantastic movie. George Stevens directed it. Elizabeth Taylor is stunning in it. It was one of her first adult roles. Montgomery Clift looks amazing. He’s one of my favourite actors, someone who can be doing nothing but doing everything. His character is born on the wrong side of the tracks. His mother pleads with his wealthy uncle who owns a factory to give him a job. He falls in love with this guy's daughter, played by Elizabeth Taylor. While he’s wooing her, he gets married to Shelley Winters. She’s holding him back, so he kills her. He throws her off a boat. It goes on from there. It’s brilliant.
The hardest thing in the world as an actor on screen is to do nothing but do everything by a look, by a flick of an eye to the left or to right, indicating what you want it to indicate. Spencer Tracy was the master of it. When he was speaking on camera, it was like he was sitting in your front room, talking to you. He was so natural whether it was rubbing his nose or putting his hand in a pocket. He's real. As a screen actor, you try to be believable and not do too much. Don't be caught acting.
I remember seeing Gabriel Byrne playing Johnny-Boy Mulally in walking out on stage with a white suit and a black shirt, frightening the shit out of us all in Dublin’s Peacock Theatre in 1978. He was so intense. He was only on stage for about 15 minutes. He had a saw in his hand. He carried this threat. When he walked on stage, everything went quiet. It was really intimidating. Even the audience were terrified.
A theatre production that still lives with me is seeing the late Donal McCann starring in with John Kavanagh. I was only starting to act. It was like they were just living up there on stage. That stuck with me.
Seeing Steven Berkoff on stage blew me away, that madness – that absolute out there but still being real. It was in Dublin’s Gate Theatre. He was doing a one-man show. There was something about him. The way he talks. He demands your attention. He was special.
I used to hate Gyles Brandreth; I couldn't stand him, but I’m getting into his podcast – He wears jumpers. He wouldn't be my cup of tea at all, but for some reason I started to click into him. He does good interviews with big names, people like Judi Dench and Derek Jacobi. He goes at them from a different angle. He’s quirky. He knows everybody. He has a story about everybody. There's always something that catches your ear.
