Dawn French was "genuinely terrified" a hippopotamus was going to try to mate with her.
Dawn French was 'genuinely terrified' a hippopotamus was going to try to mate with her
The 66-year-old actress - who rose to fame after she wrote and starred in the BBC comedy sketch show 'The Vicar of Dibley' - feared that a hippopotamus would try to mount her when she had to get on all fours and hide behind one during her role as The Fat Lady in 'Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban'.
During an appearance on the 'Off Menu' podcast, Dawn revealed she was told by the handler that the animal might "want to sniff your privates" and that it could start to "foam at the mouth with excitement".
The handler also warned "this hippo may want to mate with you", which left her "genuinely terrified".
She said: "I was asked if I was happy to work with animals, and then I was told by the director that there was a hippo. I just said yes because I wanted to be in the film. Didn’t think about it until the day… when I was left in a pen with sawdust.
"He said that they were going to be bringing in a live creature. ‘Pay it some respect, stand still, do not run, did I understand?’ He then explained that the script called for a female hippo, but this was a male hippo.
"Then he said, ‘This hippo may want to sniff your privates. Do not run.’ I was wavering then, because I thought, I don’t think that’s part of the contract. When you said, ‘Do you like working with animals, I wasn’t imagining this.’ This is too much.”
"Then he said, ‘This hippo may want to mate with you, and if he does, his skin will start to foam. Be on alert, look out for that, tell me, but do not run.’ Then I thought, 'Oh God, I’d like to run now.'”
However, once Dawn saw the size of the animal, all of her fears disappeared, because of the hippopotamus's size.
She quipped: "It was the size of a Labrador! The word they had all neglected to use concerning the hippo was pygmy. It was a pygmy hippo.”
Tagged in Dawn French