 |
 |
| Fame In The Family 2 |
| Continued |
| (boxing scene shown – Ronnie punches Reggie) DO: Let him know who is boss right from the start! MK: Oh that hurt, I tell you. DO: Have you always competed, like maybe film part or even ladies, I don’t know, in those rock n roll days? MK: Yeah. I don’t think we have to be honest, you know. I think our personalities are that much different. Even like after The Krays when we were going after the same films, we knew that if one of us got the part like when Gary got the Bodyguard, the part was for him because it was his personality. It wasn’t mine. And so we have always been like that, and it has been kinda nice in our careers because both of us work hard but our profiles do this. (moves hands to show different levels) So at times Gary’s is up there and mine is down here and we kind of take turns. GK: I mean, we saw ourselves differently in the group as well, you know. I was writing the songs and Martin was you know, much more sort of about what the band looked like, the visuals of the group. So we sort of had two different departments, but the most insecure time for me ever, was when I stopped working with Martin. I mean, I had spent 10 years in the band and then we went off and did The Krays movie together. Then suddenly I was on my own and I found that very scary, because working with him was a great way of releasing pressure because we could argue and not worry about the end result. But also it was great support. It was my family on the road. DO: That’s what we are talking about here. I think that film in a way helped cement even more the family thing, because you were helping each other weren’t you? This was a major movie and you were probably saying, ‘What if you did this, or maybe if you did that’. MK: Oh it was incredible, yeah. GK: Yeah, on set it was very strong. We were playing big British icons. A lot of people thought it a bit of strange casting, but no one could take away the fact that we were brothers, and that made us very strong on set because that was undeniable. And no matter what people were whispering, you know, because everyone wanted that job, a lot of big actors. We could really support each other and hold each other up and stop each other from being insecure. DO: You two though, reading about you, one thing is really extraordinary. I think it was you first of all, about sixteen years of age, was doubled up with pains and went to hospital. GK: Yeah, I had some back pains when I was about twenty, and was diagnosed actually having only one working kidney. One kidney. I was born like that, and so that’s perfectly okay. I can live with that, thats fine. But then we got another side of the story... MK: Well, I went to hospital. I had some back pains as well, round about the same age and I was expecting to go and find that I had one kidney as well. And what I found on the X-ray was that on the side that Gary doesn’t have any, I had two. So I’ve got three, but we are two years apart. DO: That really is bizarre. MK: It’s very strange, yeah. GK: It sort of hung around and waited. MK: I always say to Gary I’ll keep it warm for him, you know. DO: There are serious illnesses that have got at you a couple of times. The tumour situation. That must have been really scary! MK: Yeah, really scary. DO: Did you think you were gonna die at that time? MK: Yeah, several times.I mean you do. Yeah, to be honest with you, dying never scared me at the time. What scared me was leaving behind my kids and letting me them face the world without me. And also seeing my parents and seeing my brother’s face and seeing the anguish that they were going through was a lot harder. DO: At a time like that fame is not that important, is it? MK: Oh it doesnt come into it. Doesn’t come into it. DO: You need a family to turn to, don’t you in this business? If you are famous or whether you are not, you need the family to turn to, and your parents have always been there for you and you have been there for each other. So who better guests on the show tonight than these two guys. Gary and Martin, the Kemp brothers. |