Video: Mrs Brown's Boys star Gary Hollywood speaks to Bev Lyons on his well-loved comedy role
The Scot is Dino Doyle in Brendan O’Carroll’s comedy, which plays to a sell-out crowd on a five-night run at Glasgow’s SECC.
He's been tripped up on stage before a theatre audience
of thousands and been slapped with a tea towel by his co-star but Gary
Hollywood wouldn’t swap his role in Mrs Brown’s Boys for anything.
The
Scot is Dino Doyle in Brendan O’Carroll’s comedy, which plays to a
sell-out crowd on a five-night run at Glasgow’s SECC. And the
33-year-old revealed there is never a dull moment.
As he prepared
to go on stage for the first time at the Glasgow venue last night, he
laughed: “With TV there’s a lot of stoppie starties and with theatre
it’s a loose cannon.
“Brendan goes off on a rant or a tangent and there are a lot of ad libs involved.
“The show is always completely different no matter how many times you’ve seen it.
“You
don’t know what is coming and how many times you will be slapped with a
tea towel, have your nipples tweaked or be tripped up.
“Just last
week Brendan decided he’d trip me up as I was exiting the stage and I
ended up tumbling and banging my head off the door. I was thinking, ‘He
won’t do that again.’ How wrong I was.”
Read more, and watch the video interview, at Daily Record
Game of throwin's no fantasy - it's frisbee fun
Scots actor Gary Hollywood took the first shot at the official opening of Scotland's only public Disc-Golf course.
The star of Mrs Brown's Boys joined British Disc- Golf champion Derek
Robins and local children for a preview of the course at Rosshall Park
and Gardens, Glasgow.
Anyone can try the sport, which, like traditional golf, sees
competitors try to complete each hole in as few shots as possible. But,
rather than hitting a ball, players throw a disc or frisbee.
Read more at Evening Times
Mrs Brown's Boys star Gary Hollywood: My agent told me NOT to do the show
The Scot says being in the hit show has changed his life, but admits that, despite the sitcom attracting millions of fans, the critics hate it and his former agent told him not take the role.
Gary and Brendan in TV show
It's the show millions of telly viewers love – and the critics love to hate.
But for Gary Hollywood, Mrs Brown’s Boys has given him a role that changed his life.
The
popular Scot had just seen a theatre job fall through when he took a
role in a panto alongside jobbing actor Brendan O’Carroll.
Gary struck up a firm friendship with Brendan, who was just starting to write a show for theatre starring Agnes Brown.
Twelve
years, 11million viewers and five major TV awards – including a Bafta
last year– later, the pair have conquered the showbiz world with a
project many critics insisted would never work.
The success of Mrs Brown’s Boys has taken it from stage to small screen and now to LA.
With
a Universal Studios movie and a cartoon series on the way, their bid
for world domination – the show is also a hit in Australia, Canada and
Iceland – is nearly complete.
Gary first appeared in the stage show in 2001 but even his then agent wasn’t convinced.
The
33-year-old actor said: “It’s true. My agent said I should be
concentrating on film roles, not touring theatres with Mrs Brown.
“Needless to say, not long after she uttered those words, that particular lady was no longer my agent.”
She
was not the only critic who has failed to understand the massive
popularity of the foul-mouthed Irish matriarch and her boys.
Gary said: “It’s hard to believe now, given the global success of the show.
“But along the way, we’ve been continually panned by critics who hated poor old Agnes.
“In the early days, we’d get upset about what the critics said.
“But
Brendan sat us down and told us, ‘Listen, it’s not the feckin’ critics
who pay your wages, it’s the audience.’ Our overnight success has taken
13 years of hard graft, touring theatres across the country, doing two
shows a day, away from home for months at a time.
Gary, Fiona Gibney and Brendan at the Baftas
“On paper, the Mrs Brown concept really shouldn’t have
worked. We have a man dressed as a woman, slapstick, old-fashioned jokes
and a lot of swearing. But the fans loved us.
“So many of them turn up at the stage door, we spend at least an hour signing autographs after every show.”
Fate brought Gary love – meeting his wife Sharon, 40 – and the biggest break of his career all on the same day.
Gary said: “The luckiest day of my life very nearly didn’t happen.
“Another theatre job fell through so I said yes to panto at Glasgow’s Pavilion Theatre in 2000.
“I played Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island and the dame, Mrs Birdseye, was being played by Brendan.
“Sharon
was at a loose end for a few weeks while touring in the Andrew Lloyd
Webber show Starlight Express so she pitched up as one of the panto
dancers and we immediately fell in love.
“By the end of the show, I’d got myself a wife, a life-long friend and mentor and the best job I’ve ever had.”
Gary with his wife Sharon and their sons Jack and CharlieDavid McNie
Gary didn’t hesitate when Brendan asked him to join Mrs
Brown’s Boys as Dino Doyle, the hairdresser boyfriend of Agnes’s gay son
Rory.
With several Mrs Brown books based around his own Dublin
childhood already under his belt, Brendan’s fearsome character was a
theatre natural.
By the time television producer Stephen McCrum
bought a ticket for the show at the Pavilion four years ago, Mrs Brown’s
Boys already had millions of fans.
McCrum got it commissioned and now it is one of the BBC’s biggest ratings successes.
The
show has sold out at the 6000-seater O2 Arena in London later this
year, with tour dates for Canada, America and New Zealand lined up.
Brendan
is writing the movie, which will be shot in Dublin and Pinewood Studios
in Buckinghamshire later this year, and a fourth TV series is expected
after 2014.
For Gary, the show is the pinnacle of an acting career
which has seen him rewarded for decades of hard graft since starting as
a kid. At the age of 12, Gary was plucked from Bellarmine School in
Pollok, Glasgow, to play a role in Taggart with Mark McManus and James
Macpherson.
By 14, he was on Scotland’s biggest soap, High Road, playing glue-sniffing teenager Dominic Ramsay.
Now
Mrs Brown has boosted his career into red-carpet territory, and he has
become a regular on the awards circuit, hobnobbing with stars such as
Peter Kay, Hugh Bonneville and Keith Lemon as well as the X Factor
judges.
Gary said: “It’s weird going on the red carpet, hearing people screaming your name.
“I’m still taken aback when stars such as Keith Lemon come up and want their picture taken with me.
“When we won our first Bafta, we were surrounded by the biggest stars cheering us on.
“It took several seconds for it to sink in that we had actually won.
“We all rushed on to the stage and the place went wild.
“But, thanks to my mum, my feet stay firmly on the ground.
“She’s still got an application form for me to collect Tesco trollies if it all goes horribly wrong. That’s mums for you.”
Actor Gary Hollywood is aiming to raise £20,000 at a Glasgow charity ball in memory of a cancer campaigner.
Gary, who plays Dino Doyle in BBC comedy Mrs Brown's Boys, joined
his wife, Sharon, and Radio Clyde DJ Romeo for a Halloween Ball to raise
money for the Donna Mortimer Ballantyne Charitable Trust.
Last night's event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel included
entertainment by singers Mary Mac and Nina Nesbitt, as well as live
dance music.
The Trust is raising cash to build the Kilbryde Hospice, East Kilbride.
Donna died of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, in June last year. She was 39.
She had raised more than £1million for cancer charities after her diagnosis in 2002.
Read more atEvening Times
Mrs Brown's Boys star Gary Hollywood is on the hunt to find Glasgow's most talented young acts.
The next generation of singers and dancers are preparing for the
final stage of city competition G-Stars, which will see 15 acts compete
in a live showcase.
The final of the contest organised by award-winning youth initiative
Swayed (South West Area Youth Engagement and Diversion) will take place
at the city's O2 Academy on Sunday.
The judging panel includes Glasgow-born Gary, who plays Dino Doyle in
the BBC sitcom, actor Atta Yaqub, River City's Keira Lucchesi and
singer Jade McGuire. Last year's winners Double S – Selena Johnson and Sophie Ambler – are also judges.
The winning act will record their own single and music video.
Swayed patron Gary said: "When I was growing up in Pollok, we didn't have any programmes like this.
"To offer a free programme, which is dedicated to music and
performing, in difficult financial times like this, really is
exceptional.
"Swayed and G-Stars are great springboards for young people, they can
really showcase themselves and Sund-ay's event will give them a real
confidence boost.
"This is an opport-unity for the people of Glasgow to come out and
support local young people, and see how much talent is out there.
"We want to give young people a place where they can channel their energy into something positive.
"I'm very proud to be involved in such an amazing initiative."
Organisers of G-Stars, now in its ninth year, are promising Sunday's
event will be the biggest and best yet. The project is funded by Glasgow
City Council and Glas-gow Housing Assoc-iation, and is supported by
Glasgow Life staff. Last year more than 1000 people turned out for the final.
In a first for the competition, six young people have been chosen from scores of applicants to host the event.
Gary, added: "Everyone involved is so excited about playing at the O2 Academy.
"It can take years for performers to make it on that stage, but our young people are getting that amazing opportunity already.
"As well as being a great opportunity for the participants, G-Stars final is always a great night for the audience."
The G-Stars contest is the highlight of a week-long programme for singers and dancers aged 12 to 16.
The free programme includes vocal and dance tuition from industry experts.
Swayed picked up an Evening Times-backed Community Champion Award in 2011 for its youth performance group Swayed By The Beat.
For free tickets for G-Stars, call 0141 276 8770 or email gstarstickets@ymail.com
