As many of you now know, Anton Rodgers died at the beginning of December 2007. He will be greatly missed.
I met Anton many years ago when he and Pat Coombes had the onerous task of being the examiners for London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art’s diploma exams.
Being a young and very green actress, the mere thought of performing for these two legends was enough to make me reconsider the wisdom of wanting to become an actor. But, nervous as I was, I ploughed through the exam and came through with flying colours.
Sitting with them both in the theatre and discussing my performance and my future ambitions was one of the most encouraging experiences I think I have ever had. They both had the most reassuring and comforting way about them. You could tell immediately that they were genuinely nice people. I have never had to revise that opinion.
Many, many years later when I asked Anton if he would become a patron for Mad Dogs & Englishmen he accepted straight away.
His energy has been a real inspiration. A life full of the most exciting projects, singing, dancing, Shakespeare, Dickens, film and television. When he became 70 he wrote to me about his birthday;
“I had the most wonderful birthday and I can strongly recommend being seventy if it is anywhere near as exciting as mine!”
We will miss him but we will still find his memory an inspiration.
Written by Ann Courtney
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