Rupert Graves has said his “ridiculous” first name helped him get ahead in an industry “populated by a lot of posh people”.
The actor, who rose to fame in 1980s period dramas such as Maurice and A Room with a View, revealed that not only did his roles mean people made incorrect assumptions about his background – but so did his name.
“Do you know what? Genuinely, it helps in this business being called Rupert,” he told The Guardian.
“I’ve sniffed that attitude in acting: the Oxbridge thing. Making movies isn’t a cheap exercise,” said Graves. “You need money and the knock-on from that is the industry is populated by a lot of posh people. It’s very hard to break into if you’re not middle class and privately educated.”
The actor, who attended at a comprehensive school in Somerset, also admitted he “hated” the name Rupert as a child, adding: “Rupert is a ridiculous name in 1970s Weston-super-Mare. Ridiculous! It’s like being called Basil.”
In the 1987 costume drama Maurice, a gay love story in which there is a good deal of nudity, Graves played a gamekeeper who has a romance with the eponymous lead.
Recently, the actor’s eldest son got a bit of a shock when he went on a school trip to see the EM Forster adaptation. “He didn’t know I was in it,” said Graves. “He went, ‘Argh! No way!’ and ran out.”
He said that his son was thinking: “I can’t watch my dad naked on screen in front of all my mates. Can’t do it.”
Graves can next be seen inHorrible Histories the Movie: Rotten Romanswhich will be released on 26 July.
