Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2011 | Page 34

INTERVIEW

Celia shapes up
as a shining star
Exclusive interview by Peter White
It must come as a blessing to her many
thousands of adoring fans that when
Celia Imrie was just 11 years of age she
was told she was the wrong shape.
Had she been the right shape,
she would almost certainly have
pursued a career as a ballet dancer.
Instead audiences worldwide have
subsequently been treated to the
delights and sheer brilliance of one of
our greatest acting talents.
Whether it’s on stage, silver screen
or television Celia is synonymous
with some of the best comedy series
and films ever made –
everything from ‘Acorn
Antiques’ to ‘Darling Buds
of May’ and of course
Calendar Girls.
But she is equally
at home with drama,
appearing in countless
films and stage
productions, the names of
which could easily fill twice the space
she allowed for her autobiography
‘The Happy Hoofer’ which is due out
shortly in paperback following a highly
successful hardback launch last year.
Celia has a long association with the
Isle of Wight, buying her first house
here more than 20 years ago to help
escape the pressures of working in
London and beyond constantly in the
public gaze. She returns to Cowes as
often as she can, and has become an

integral part of the town’s community.
She is a passionate supporter of the
Cowes RNLI, and is patron of the
new Lifeboat Station appeal. She is
also a regular visitor to the Island
Sailing Club, an enthusiastic cyclist to
Watersedge café at Gurnard and always
likes to marvel her favourite ‘That
Shop’ owned by Nigel Bruce, a close
friend for many years.
Celia said: “Coming to the Island
is a wonderful escape. I don’t call it a
holiday home, because I don’t go in
for holidays too much. My house here

long while ago when I visited my
best friend’s mother in Bonchurch.
Everyone has a childhood memory of
the Island, and I vividly remember
when I was about five making a very
hurried ferry trip with my mother,
that turned out quite shambolic but
extremely exciting.
“I always wanted to live by the sea,
but if I had gone to Brighton, which
was nearer, it would have been like
living in an Equity meeting because
so many actors live there, and that
wasn’t quite the escape I was looking
for. There is something
marvellous about that
stretch of water between
the Island and the
mainland, the wonderful
moment when the
‘bing-bong’ goes on the
ferry and you immediately
relax. I never get back
here enough, you only
have to look around to realise it is
breathtaking.”
Celia was born and brought up in
Guildford, but is fiercely proud of
her Scottish connections. Her father
David came from Glasgow. She is
renowned for her silky-smooth voice,
flirtatious smile – off camera as well as
on it – and her ability to slot into any
role as if it was tailor-made for her.
But in fact becoming an actor never
really entered her head as a youngster

'I fell in love with the Island a long
while ago when I visited my best
friend's mother in Bonchurch'

34

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was the first time I had ever bought, a
little workman’s cottage, I was terribly
proud of it. I am not a great DIY
person, but I slept on the bare floor
boards while I took the old fireplace
out, did all the wallpapering, painted
the garden, and bought items at the
wonderfully tempting Island Auction
Rooms at Shanklin to furnish it.”
Since then Celia has moved to
another house in Cowes, and revealed:
“I fell in love with the Island a