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INTERVIEW ONE (back..)
Stewart: Hi, ah, you join us here on Billy's official website in the first of hopefully many interviews with Billy just having a chat with the big things with Billy's career and certain movies that he's done certain stage plays that he's done. How are you Billy? Welcome.
Billy: Ah I'm very well thank you Stewart.
Stewart: Good good, eh I think for this interview what I'd like to talk about is what you did and how you started and all the rest of it take you back to your childhood days.
Billy: Aah
Stewart: Running about barefoot
Billy: [Laughing softly]Halcyon days
Stewart: On the streets of Glasgow, um did you always know that you were gonna be an actor I mean was that your dream and your ambition?
Billy: Em from, from very early on actually it was. I can't think of a actual moment that I thought I'm definitely gonna be an actor from now on but I remember being in eh guidance meetings which you used to have a school when they'd ask you what do you wanna be and I said an actor and the guidance teacher said well I- I- I wouldn't tell anyone else that. [both laugh] Honestly that's eh growing up in Glasgow maybe it wasn't the best thing to be but em yeah so from, from quite en early age
Stewart: Did you do any acting at school or…?
Billy: Yeah in fact that's probably the moment if I really thought about it that we did a play em.. at primary school when I was around 10 or 11 I would think, we did Oliver the musical and I played the artful dodger and eh from that moment on I was, I was pretty sure I wanted to be an actor you know
Stewart: What age were you then?
Billy: I- I would think about ten…
Stewart: Ten, the artful dodger..
Billy: Yeah it was great, in fact I remember, eh… to show the, em, kind of support my parents gave me at that point we had a holiday booked in Butlins in Eyre and eh it clashed with the show and my dad drove me back up to Glasgow do the show from the holiday [Stewart laughs like the doctor from The Simpsons!] So that's kind of that was quite nice maybe not a lot of parents would do that..
Stewart: So you kinda so you had your kinda fist bite at your acting cherry
Billy: Yes! [both laugh]
Stewart: You did all that and so did you just carry on did you do any professional work when you were at school were you signed up to any agencies when you were young?
Billy: No, there was no sort of em you know doing adverts or being picked from obscurity to be some sort of film star, eh although I did do, em, amateur productions while I was at school in fact all through secondary school I was at a place called The Dolphin Arts Centre in Bridgeton in Glasgow and we used to do kind of small shows and Christmas shows and I was always sorta involved in that and the secondary school I went to there wasn't a huge kind of eh drama department or anything so there was no shows, eh during that time.
Stewart: So nothing at school sorta just amateur groups
Billy: Yeah just this eh, Dolphin Arts Centre.
Stewart: Is this where you found out you could sing? Your famed singing voice.
Billy: [Laughing]Well, yeah, yeah we used to do some… some singing there yeah and I think it's more kinda singing at parties in the house or at new year ya know when all the grown ups would be… [Stewarts laughing throughout]
Stewart: C'mon Billy give us a song.
Billy: [In a Childlike voice] Aww God do I have to? I'm watching the telly
Stewart: You can stay up late if you sing..
Billy: [Laughing] Yeah..
Stewart: So you were doin that when did you leave school?
Billy: Eh I left school, um I stayed on for one extra year so I left when I was, just before I was 17 in fact. I remember because I started a job I started working in a printers as a book binder I used to bind books and I remember my 17th birthday because all the men in the factory took me round to the pub and got the barman to wind me you know, kind of pretend to throw me out because I wasn't 18 and stuff so I remember it was just before my 17th
Stewart: So all the time you were there you were still hankering to do some acting. Were you doing any acting while you were… ?
Billy: Strangely enough Stewart I didn't do any when I was at work for some reason it just sorta got forgotten about in that period in my life, eh, although I probably still thought about it but it was a kinda busy time and you know….
Stewart: Did the guidance teacher actually dishearten you? Did you go out the room and go 'oh well' ?
Billy: 'Oh well' I think they did actually yeah I think that's quite of a dangerous thing you know, to someone kinda of that sort of age when you're, when you're choosing what you wanna to do I think its quite dangerous to em, to do something that's gonna put them off -
Stewart: Mmmm
Billy: -you know in such an obvious way so I suppose he did, yeah
Stewart: Go get him
Billy: I will, what was his name again? Stewart something? [Both laugh]
Stewart: So you did the bookbinding and that was for a number of years.
Billy: That was um, 6 years
Stewart: : Right
Billy: That was um, 4 years of apprenticeship and then once my apprenticeship was finished I stayed at it for another 2 years and then I just got really sick of it. I knew it wasn't what I wanted to do and I did know at that point that I wanted to do some acting so I went to drama school. An' I applied for drama school kind of by accident actually because I'd planned to go to America eh to… just spend a year there after I finished work so I phoned up the drama school to find out about applying when I came back from America but they said they still had some spaces for that year, I thought 'oh God' they said do you want to apply for this year and I though 'well yeah' and I knew nothing about it hadn't done any actor for, you know, six years and even when I did, it was Christmas shows and you had to do one piece from Shakespeare ah, and one other piece and I had no idea so I went back to the woman who used to teach me at the Dolphin Arts Centre who was now working at the Scottish Youth Theatre and asked her if she could pick two pieces for me and help me out with them and she did and I applied and went to America and I was in America about a month an' I got a letter through saying that I'd been accepted so I came back again and started studying.
Stewart: So what theatre did you see when you were growing up? Did you see any, was it Panto's or was it more than that?
Billy: Yeah, when I was growing up before I went to drama school I basically saw no theatre except for Christmas shows, em, just seeing the pantomime at Christmas which, I don't know if that's a British thing, I don't know if they have that….
Stewart: I don't think, no, I think that's a British thing..
Billy: I don't think they do, you know, an Italian theatre or French theatre they have kind of similar thing 'Comedie Late' and stuff like that but I don't think they have it in The States or that but it's a very big family outing at Christmas as you would know, when the whole family go and watch the pantomime which is great, but we didn't really go and see any other theatre it was films that really kind of erm turned me onto acting. You know, watching things like Star Wars that was what made me think, well after I thought I can't actually be a Jedi Knight then maybe I'll be an actor. [Both laughing]
Stewart: : The guidance counsellor woulda laughed at ya "I like to be a Jedi Knight"
Billy: Yes exactly, "I wouldn't tell anybody else that'…… Same Answer!
Stewart: : Suddenly an actors not such a bad career path [Laughing harder]
Billy: Yes exactly.
Stewart: : [Still laughing] A Jedi Knight!…… So you kinda, so you had this dream then suddenly you were at college,
Billy: :Yeah
Stewart: :Well I think we'll have a wee chat about college in our next interview Billy but for now thanks very much.
Billy: : Hey that was great thank you very much Stewart.
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