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Interview: David Suchet

I never wanted the fame playing Poirot has brought

May 21, 2010 13:24
David Suchet says he would love to film all the Poirot novels.

By

John Nathan,

John Nathan

5 min read

'I don't really want people to see me. I'm not into stardom," says David Suchet. What Suchet wants people to see is the character he is playing in the new production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons, not the actor who is playing him.

We are sitting in a south London studio where Suchet and the production's other star, Zoe Wanamaker, have been rehearsing the play that in 1947 confirmed Arthur Miller as a great playwright. And the character that Suchet plays in the West End revival of the tragedy is patriarch and industrialist Joe Keller, whose business partner took the rap for supplying dodgy engine parts to America's air force, resulting in the deaths of pilots - men like Keller's missing-presumed-dead son. "The whole reason I became an actor was to serve my writers," continues Suchet.

"My writers". It is not, as it may sound, a phrase that implies ownership, but one that reflects a duty of care the best actors feel towards those who supply their material.

"I became fascinated by the fact that people write to give away rather than write to be read. It's the difference between playwrights and novelists." Suchet is tucking into a carefully prepared high-protein lunch of roast chicken, nuts and ignored lettuce. "Help yourself," he says convivially.