20 Questions With…Adam Faith

Adam Faith is impossible to pin down. Over the past five decades, he has continually reinvented himself, making a name as pop star, record producer, entrepreneur and, of course, actor across television, film and stage.

Faith’s renaissance career started with his pop hit, “What Do You Want”, which brought him teen idol status and stayed at No 1 in the charts for 19 weeks in 1959. Other hits – including “Poor Me” and “Somebody Else’s Baby” – followed.

After a successful appearance in the 1966 TV play Cat in the Night, Faith decided to go into rep. He took drama lessons and, by 1968, was performing opposite Dame Sybil Thorndike in Night Must Fall, soon succeeded by a tour of Keith Waterhouse’s Billy Liar in 1969. Meanwhile, his television career blossomed with the title role in LWT’s Budgie, which he later recreated in musical form on stage.

Several films followed, notably 1974’s Stardust with David Essex and Foxes with Jodie Foster in 1980, as well as numerous stage roles such as City Sugar, Down an Alley Full of Cats and Alan Parker’s revival of Bill Naughton‘s 1963 play Alfie.

In the early 1990s, Faith reinvented himself yet again, this time as a financial investment advisor, writing a weekly advice column for the Mail on Sunday. Soon after, he returned to the small screen, opposite Zoe Wanamaker, in the BBC series Love Hurts, and then to the theatre and Alfie (this time directing as well as starring), on a UK tour that culminated with seasons in the West End and Los Angeles.

This month, Faith is back on stage after an absence of nearly seven years. He stars as a serial philander in a new, three-month tour of Donald Churchill’s comedy Love and Marriage.

Date & place of birth

Born 23 June 1940 in Acton, west London.

Lives now in…
Near Tunbridge Wells in Kent.

First big break

Meeting Jack Good. He was the genius that put together 6.5 Special (the first TV show for young people produced on the BBC, launched in 1957), Oh Boy (another TV rock n’ roll programme Good went on to produce in the late 1950’s) and Shin Dig in America. He’s the doyen of rock ‘n’ roll in this country – he understood it and gave it space on TV, making it mainstream.

Career highlights to date

You never get over your first record in the hit parade that goes to No 1 – “What Do You Want” was mine. Of course, Face to Face (a TV show on which Faith was interviewed in 1960 by John Freeman and caused a scandal by admitting to having had pre-marital sex) was an important moment, and Love Hurts and Budgie were both massive for me. Stardust was pretty major too. I don’t think I could pick any single event, but none of them could have happened without “What Do You Want”.

How do you describe yourself – actor, singer, entrepreneur or what?

I’d have the most pleasure putting ‘actor’ on my passport. You know, I was murdering someone this morning, for the BBC’s Murder in Mind, and it was such a laugh. I said to the film crew we’re so lucky we get to play for a living. What a joy!

Favourite stage productions you’ve ever worked
Alfie. Although I enjoyed the experience of acting and directing the British production in 1992, the one I did at the Tiffany Theatre (Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles), which my daughter (Katya Nelhams-Wright) directed, was wonderful. That was probably my single greatest experience.

Favourite co-stars

Sybil Thorndike. Did you know that after George Bernard Shaw saw her performing in the West End he went away and wrote Saint Joan for her? Jodie Foster, who I worked with on a film called Foxes – she’s brilliant. And, of course, I can’t leave out Zoe Wanamaker, who is wonderful too.

Favourite directors

The ones who immediately come to mind are my daughter Katya, Alan Parker, Adrian Lyne, who did the Jodie foster film, and Michael Lindsay-Hogg for Budgie.

Favourite playwrights

For Alfie alone, Bill Naughton will always stand high in my admiration. I think that Alfie is one of the greatest modern plays and, although I think the film version was fantastic, it undermined the play. The play is about a much older man with no hope of changing, so it’s much bleaker. As for TV writers, Keith (Waterhouse) and Willis (Hall) who wrote Budgie, and Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran who did Love Hurts are favourites of mine.

What roles would you most like to play still?

I’m not sure, but there are parts I’d like to play again. I’d love to play Frank Carver from Love Hurts just to work with Zoe again, and I’d do Alfie again in a minute.

Why do you like to return to the stage?

It’s the draw of a live audience. When you hear an audience laugh at you, or clap, or cry, the impact is addictive – more addictive than any drug. Crack is meant to be the most addictive, isn’t it? Not that I’d know, but it’s better than that. When you hear an audience laugh, it’s the most amazing thing, and it’s very exciting because they are totally unpredictable.

What was the last thing you saw on stage that you really enjoyed?
I’m not a great lover of watching theatre, I prefer to do it.

What advice would you give the government to secure the future of British theatre?

The future of the theatre is in the hands of the modern audience, and it’s up to them whether they want it. The public’s reaction constantly changes. Different generations will have different reactions – while one can’t live without it, the next will not go. Apart from the classic subsidised theatres, the rest of us have to live and fall on the results and the audience’s changing taste. Theatres are a great tourist attraction, so should be nurtured; the government needs to support subsidised theatres to the hilt because subsidies are a pittance. I would also suggest they subsidise repertory theatres more and encourage them to look for new writers.

If you could swap places with one person (living or dead), who would it be?

Neil Armstrong, the day he landed on the moon. Imagine being the first human to walk on another planet – it must have been amazing. That, for me was the most awesome event of the last century. I’d want to be the one who said “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. What a fantastic line – Shakespeare couldn’t have said it better.

Favourite books

Tender Is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald. I still remember the experience of reading that book, and it has stayed with me.

Favourite holiday destinations

East Africa – specifically Tanzania, the Serengeti.

Why did you want to accept your part in Love and Marriage?

Because I like the character. Bill is cheeky, funny and a hopelessly romantic sex fiend!

What do you like or dislike about embarking on such an extensive tour?

Learning lines is the only thing I dislike. I like touring because it’s like a 14-week holiday, staying in nice hotels, eating nice food and getting paid.

Do audiences differ in different parts of the country?

No, not on the whole. TV has standardised audiences, because we all watch it and laugh or cry at the same things.

What’s your favourite line from Love and Marriage?

I don’t have one yet, I’m still trying to learn them.

What are your plans for the future?

Just learning lines. It’s obsessing me at the moment.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Unless someone has a foolproof method of learning lines, no.

– Adam Faith was speaking to Hannah Khalil

Love and Marriage continues on tour until mid-April 2003, visiting Richmond, Bath, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Stratford, Stoke-on-Trent, Brighton, Guildford, Darlington and Malvern.