Possessed of a natural gravitas, dastardly streak of white hair and a voice richer and fruitier than a chocolate-dipped kumquat, Steven Toast (with his uncanny resemblance to comedian Matt Berry) first came to wider acclaim in the Channel 4 series Toast Of London last year. As at home in the world of corporate voiceover as unpopular fringe theatre, he’s done it all. As he returns to TV next week, we caught up with the old-school thespian to ask him about the performances that inspired him.
Omar Sharif – Doctor Zhivago
“He wasn’t even a trained doctor, but you’d trust him with your rheumatoid arthritis any day of the week. Dreamy eyes ... confident smile ... defiant moustache. Outstanding.”
Laurence Olivier – Marathon Man
“Olivier plays a bungling Nazi dentist in a role that was first offered to Jerry Lewis. Sir Larry made it his own and won affection and plaudits from Nazis and non-Nazis alike.”
Laurence Olivier – Henry V
“It’s that man again! Although written as a comedy, Olivier decided at the last moment not to play it for laughs, and instead clanked his way into the hearts of the British public as a patriotic king on a pony. Early CGI effects, used to portray the battle scenes (due to a wartime horse shortage), don’t take away from the majesty of this terrific movie.”
Peter O’Toole – Lawrence of Arabia
“Shouldn’t it be Lawrence from Arabia?” O’Toole asked David Lean on his first day on set. It was the start of an ongoing battle between the two that lasted for the entire nine years of filming. Was it worth it? Seventy-three Academy Award nominations indicate a resounding ‘Yes’!”
Celia Johnson – Brief Encounter
“Despite the prohibition on nudity that badly damaged the British film industry from the 1940s right until the 1970s, this is the sexiest performance I’ve ever seen on screen. Although she murders Trevor Howard at the end, when he refuses to leave his wife for her, Johnson still elicits the viewer’s sympathy. A superb performance.”
Diana Rigg – Macbeth
“In her autobiography, Rigg – My Roles, Diana says she based her stage performance as Lady Macbeth on Nobby Stiles, the diminutive, half-blind Manchester United midfielder of the 1960s. I couldn’t see any ‘Nobby-ness’ myself, but her Lady M was described by Kenneth Tynan as ‘subliminal’.”
Joan Collins – The Bitch
“A stage version of Joan’s hit film, it was unfairly slammed by ‘the critics’ when it ran in the West End for two days, and is mostly forgotten in Britain. However, in New York, they just loved it, and she picked up six Tonys (not including her ex-husband, Tony Newley).”
Richard Burton – Hamlet/ Camelot/ Coriolanus
“Only Burton could have tackled these three major roles on stage at the same time and pulled it off. It was worth it; he garnered fantastic reviews and was able to afford another million-pound bracelet for Elizabeth Taylor.”
Nick Clegg – Privates On Parade
“An unusual choice, as we don’t normally think of the Lib Dem leader as an actor, but his performance in Peter Nichols’s wartime musical was simply terrific. I first saw him take on the role at the party conference in Blackpool in 2007 – one could watch it at lunchtime while eating chicken and chips in a bar – and was literally bowled over. If he ever becomes not leader of the Liberal Democrats, he could make a fine living from the theatre.”
• Toast of London starts on Monday 3 November at 10.35pm, Channel 4
• This article was amended on 29 October 2014. An earlier version misspelled the first name of the character Steven Toast as Stephen.
