Highlights from Miss Beckinsale's interview are as follows. For more, be sure to visit Angeleno!
On her father Richard Beckinsale's death when she was just 5 years old:
“I remember distinctly seeing people crying in the streets, at bus stops, really everywhere. I remember many people, many strangers, telling me what he meant to them, how he had cheered them and made them laugh, and I did appreciate that every time. I really did.”
On winning the W.H. Smith Young Writers’ Competition twice:
“It was incredibly meaningful for me that Ted Hughes [the British poet laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998, not to mention the husband of famed American poet Sylvia Plath] sat on the judging panel and, apparently, didn’t laugh outright at what I’d written."
On landing her first major lead as Flora Poste in "Cold Comfort Farm":
“My audition went very well; I heard I was the favorite. But then my agent called and said they were looking for somebody older. I went through the book, found all the points supporting that I was the correct age, wrote what was essentially a research paper in the form of a ‘Dear John, You’re Making a Terrible Mistake and I’m Going to Save You From It’ letter, and delivered it to his door. Luckily he found it very amusing, phoned and told me the part was mine.”
On the future:
“Really, I’m a late bloomer. My best work is to come.”
