Mark Gatiss says the false teeth was the hardest part of playing Larry Grayson.
Mark Gatiss loved playing Larry Grayson
The 56-year-old actor stars as late comedian Larry in the upcoming drama series ‘Nolly’ got into character in lots of different ways for the new series created by Russell T Davies - due out in the new year - but the costume was a huge factor in embodying the 80s legend and host of ‘The Generation Game’.
He told Daily Star newspaper’s Hot TV column: “The teeth! I had a set of false teeth. And then I got a wig and then the rest is the speech.
“Oh, and the glasses on the chain are imperative.”
Mark - who consumed hours of footage as prep - loved his “absolutely filthy” rountines and playing an icon
He said: “I watched so many videos and kept putting in little bits that I learned.
“Some of his bits were just brilliant and absolutely filthy, but Saturday night audiences just totally lapped it up. It’s an honour to play a gay icon like Larry and also someone who was so much part of our TV growing up.”
The ITVX drama will also star Helena Bonham Carter in the title role of the actress Noele Goodman - one of Larry’s best pals - after her sacking from the soap ‘Crossroads’ in 1981.
Recently, the former ‘Doctor Who’ star admitted that he “loved” Larry “as a kid”, calling him - and figures like 'Are You Being Served' star John Inman - “just part of a TV culture. I didn’t ever remember feeling ‘pansy shame’ or anything like that. I just thought they were funny.”
Mark spilled that a showbiz pal of his “who was very active in early gay politics” loathed the Larry and his silence about his sexuality - during a time when it was controversial to be gay - and how “he said: ‘I could only ever think of him as the enemy.
The ‘Sherlock’ star confessed to being “struck” by this and how Russell saw Larry as a “trailblazer” despite his silence.
Mark said: I was very struck by that. Russell thinks that, on the contrary, these people were trailblazers. I think the truth is something somewhere in between. You could argue that they were, for all their outrageousness, sort of neutered. If actually they’d said: ‘Yes, I have a boyfriend’, maybe the general public would have reacted in horror.”
He continued: “But it can be both – both a stereotype and empowering. Larry takes this stuff into the living room, and some of it is unbelievable.”
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