Sid Owen has revealed Al Pacino thought about adopting him.
Sid Owen
The former 'EastEnders' star - who is best known for playing Ricky Butcher in BBC One soap - was 13 years old when he worked with the 'Scarface' legend on 'Revolution' in 1985, and he formed a close bond with the actor.
In an extract from his new book 'From Rags To Ricky' - serialised in The Sun newspaper - he wrote: "When I started on Revolution, there was a lot for us to work through together to make our father-and-son relationship convincing, so we got into a routine where every day I’d go to his trailer and we’d run lines, whatever we were doing that day.
"He knew I had no parents and was from a difficult background, though we didn’t really talk about it.
"He didn’t have kids of his own then and I found out later he had considered adopting me. One time he said, 'Come out to New York when this is finished.'
"We kept in touch and years later, I took my first serious girlfriend, Amanda, to New York where he invited us to stay with him and his partner at the time, Diane Keaton.
"We still catch up every now and then."
Sid also revealed how Nick Berry - who played Simon 'Wicksy' Wicks in 'EastEnders' - helped him adjust when he landed a role in the show in 1988.
The 49-year-old star - who has opened up in the book about his tough childhood in London due to his violent, bank robber father - wrote: "[He] was such a lovely, modest guy.
"Right from the start he made me feel so welcome and sort of protected me.
"As soon as he discovered I was living in a squat in Islington, quite close to the posher bit where he’d bought a flat, he offered to drive me up to work and back again.
"Nick used to be really into classic cars and I’ll never forget the first time he turned up outside the squat in a gleaming Jaguar E-Type, ready to drive me to work."