Former EastEnders star Sid Owen has said that Hollywood star Al Pacino “considered adopting” him.
Owen, who played Ricky Butcher in the BBC soap, starred as Pacino’s son in 1985 historical drama Revolution, where he developed a “close bond” with the Godfather actor.
The 49-year-old actor’s father, David, left home when Owen was six. Two years later, his mother, Joan, died from cervical cancer aged 35. Owen was raised by his aunt, Carol, and her husband, Michael.
In an extract from his new book Rags To Ricky published in The Sun, Owen said: ‘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.”
The actor continued: “He knew I had no parents and was from a difficult background, though we didn’t really talk about it.”
Owen said that he “found out later” that Pacino, who “didn’t have kids of his own then”, had “considered adopting” him.
“One time he said: ‘Come out to New York when this is finished,’” Owen recalled.
Owen, who joined EastEnders in 1988 when he was 16, said that he stayed in touch with Pacino and that they still catch up “every now and then”.
Rags to Ricky (Macmillan), in which Owen opens up about his challenging childhood, is published on Thursday (5 August).
Pacino, 81, will next be seen Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci alongside Lady Gaga, Adam Driver and Jared Leto. It will be released on 26 November.
