Sir Michael Gambon had to keep his 'Dad's Army' script notes in his pocket because he kept forgetting his lines.
Michael Gambon
The 75-year-old actor - who announced last year he was quitting stage work because of forgetfulness - found a way to overcome the difficulties he had in remembering his character Private Godfrey's dialogue when shooting the movie.
He said: "I can't remember lines, 'I couldn't remember the lines in... what we've just done...'Dad's Army'...
"There were never more than two lines at a time. You can have a piece of paper in your pocket, look at that and keep reciting it in your head, so you don't have to read. Anyway, it was all right."
The veteran actor was urged to use the memory aids by his co-star Sir Tom Courtenay, whose character Corporal Jones has to go over the edge of the 400ft- high Flamborough Head in Yorkshire during one scene he shares with Gambon, as he didn't want to have to keep repeating the moment.
He told Event magazine: "When I fall off the cliff he has to go on talking. I didn't fancy my chances of not injuring myself if I had to do it lots of times.
"I told him, 'Don't give a s**t about not remembering [your lines], get them to write it up somewhere.'
"The first time I fell, there wasn't a mattress and a bit of corn stubble nearly took my eye out. They put down a mattress but I didn't want to keep doing it, I thought I'd hurt my neck, so I said it out of self-interest."
But the 78-year-old actor insists his friend and co-star isn't the only one to have problems with his memory.
He reassured him in the joint interview: "You are not alone in forgetting names, even of people you know well."
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