Tony Slattery impressed me with his funny Spanish improv – and his loyalty | Letter

Wed, 22 Jan 2025, 18:13
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In 1985, while looking for an actor who could speak Spanish to be in a new play, Hotel Dorado by

Peter Terson

, which Newcastle Playhouse was to put on, I rang the agent Kate Feast. She didn’t have an actor who spoke Spanish on her books, but she had met one who did, Tony Slattery (

Comedian Tony Slattery dies aged 65 after heart attack, 14 January

). At the time, he was 25 and already making a name for himself. I asked if he would come and see me. Very quickly he made me laugh, improvising in a Spanish accent, and I knew he would be fine.

Between that day and starting at the Playhouse, he was offered a lucrative television job, but turned it down because he had accepted the Newcastle one. That doesn’t happen often, and I didn’t forget it.

At the time, he had a gloomily romantic nature which came out in him saying he would be dead by 30. Sixty-five is still way too young.

Peter Rankin


London

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