Celebrity Big Brother 2017 finalist James Cosmo – 5 things you didn’t know about the Game of Thrones and Trainspotting actor
HE’S one of the best-loved British actors from bit parts on television to lead Hollywood roles.
James, 68, who was born in Clydebank, entered the Celebrity Big Brother house as one of the ‘New Stars’ and was quickly ‘edited out’.
It didn't affect his chances as he finished in fourth place in Celebrity Big Brother 2017.
He is best known in recent years for playing Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, in the award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones.
He also stars as Mark ‘Rent Boy’ Renton’s father in Trainspotting, a role he had reprised for the upcoming sequel.
And he starred alongside Mel Gibson in Braveheart, Christopher Lambert in Highlander and Brad Pitt in Troy.
But here are some facts you may not know about one of Scotland’s finest actors.
Not now, Hollywood
James could have missed out on starring in Braveheart as he very nearly didn’t take Mel Gibson’s phone call.
Speaking to Surrey Life, he recalled the time in his life when he was going through a bad work period and was brooding at home one evening when the phone rang and he told his wife Annie if it was for him, he wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone.
He said: “So Annie answered and she said: ‘It’s for you.’ I said: ‘Didn’t you hear me?’ But she said: ‘It’s Mel Gibson.’ And it was. He said: ‘Will you come and play Campbell with me in Braveheart?’”
Susan's first kiss
Well, first on-screen kiss anyway.
He starred with Britain’s Got Talent and world-famous singer Susan Boyle in the film The Christmas Carol and played her husband.
And while Susan said kissing him was lovely, he played it down as “a chaste kiss on the cheek”.
Traveller’s life
When he was eight years old, his father, actor James Copeland, moved to London after he got work in the West End.
He, his mother and his sister Laura left Scotland to join him, but in a rather unconventional form of transport – a horse-drawn Romany Gypsy wagon.
His mother paid for the caravan and horse with the money his father sent her and it took the three of them two months to travel down to the capital.
Spare parts
James was 15 when he left school “by mutual agreement” and went to work at Arnott Young ship-breakers in Clydebank which he said was “an eye opener”.
The company would decommission war ships and he told Radio Scotland it was “a horrible and tough old job, a baptism of fire for a 15-year-old”.
Famous friends
With his father being an actor, James grew up hanging out with well-known stars.
He once recalled how he used to play cricket on Hampstead Heath with Sean Connery and his father was always in the pub with Peter O’Toole.
James is also good pals with broadcaster James Whale – who was in Celebrity Big Brother in 2016.
READ MORE
Who is James Cosmo? Celebrity Big Brother 2017 housemate and Game of Thrones star
Who won Celebrity Big Brother 2017?
When is Trainspotting 2 out, who’s in the cast, what’s the storyline and is there a new trailer?
