"I used to play football, but with twenty-one other people running around you it can get quite dangerous at times," he joked.
From the age of nine, actor Richard Beckinsale, star of "Rising Damp," in which he plays Alan, the amiable long-haired student, wanted to be an actor Ever since he played the part of Dopey in a school production of "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs" in fact. But when he left school at the age of fifteen, he first of all worked as a upholsterer and a clerk in a pipes factory.
"But I took an acting course in my spare time and then applied for a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. And no-one was more surprised than I was to learn that I'd got in!" says Richard.
Born in Nottingham, Richard plays a variety of musical instruments including guitar, various string instruments and mouth organ.
"I'd like to think that one day I might make a record," he says. "I used to sing at the Folk Clubs in Nottingham until I was eighteen. And I really enjoyed that."
Richard's home is a large Victorian house in Twickenham, Middlesex, where he lives with his actress wife Judy Loe and their four-year-old daughter Katie. And when he isn't acting, Richard's favourite occupations are listening to music, going to the theatre and cinema, or playing squash.
"I used to play football, but with twenty-one other people running around you it can get quite dangerous at times," he joked.
The large garden attatched to his house is managed by Richard except he says when it's cold and windy and then his dog Humphrey obligingly goes and digs over the garden for him!
"Why do I call him Humphrey?" Richard looked surprised at my question. "Well he LOOKS like a Humphrey. He just wouldn't answer to anything else!"
When I asked Richard about clothes he said, "I'm not a dressy person. I just put on whatever comes to hand in the mornings. I am really happiest in a sweater and jeans."
But on occasions when he takes Judy out to dinner or has to make an effort at a social function, he says he does sometimes get all dressed up.
"But I don't really like dressing up. I'm a very shy person and I don't like big occasions."
With his romantic dark looks Richard's post-bag is full and he admits that he loves getting letters from people.
"A lot of young girls write to me, but only a couple of lines, usually asking me to send a photograph to them," he says. "I like recieving long chatty letters so I can build up a picture in my mind of what the writer looks like and how their minds work."
So why not drop Richard a line sometime? But don't be disappointed if you don't get a letter back in return because he says, "I'm basically a lazy person, and although I like recieving them, I never write letters!"
