Danny Dyer says Harold Pinter helped him stay proud of his "working-class roots".
The ‘EastEnders’ actor has opened up on the impact the legendary playwright – who sadly died in 2008 – had on his life, and how he was something of a father figure for him.
He said: "Harold never wanted me to change or hide my working-class roots, even though he did when he was younger.
"It was the notion of not letting where you come from define where you’re going… Harold had given me the confidence that a lot of people had knocked out of me.
"When I was in a room of middle-upper-class people, I felt that it was OK just to be me and Harold installed that in me."
The 43-year-old star recalled the first time they met at an audition for ‘Celebration’ 21 years ago.
He admitted: "I walked in the audition room and, me being like I am and not really treating people any differently, I just walked in and went up to Harold and said, ‘Hello son. How you doing?’
"I felt the whole room just go, ‘Ooh, oh dear.’ "
However, Danny thinks his relaxed introduction endeared him to Pinter, who cast him in the production.
Speaking on new Sky Arts and NOW TV show ‘Danny Dyer on Harold Pinter’, he added: "[I don’t think] anyone’s approached him that way and I think he sort of respected that."
Danny recently revealed he has become "obsessed" with Lego over lockdown, but he was left "in tears" when his six-year-old son Arty took "great pleasure" in smashing up his 6,020-piece Hogwarts Castle replica.
He said: "Lego. I’ve been obsessed with Lego during lockdown. I had a sad moment because I had to smash it up the other day. Because there was no room. My boy – who took great pleasure in it by the way, my little Arty – smashed up my Hogwarts castle with his aeroplane. I was in tears.
"Then he attacked Big Ben, smashed up my Big Ben. I wouldn’t let him touch my retro Batman 1989 car but he did smash up Trafalgar Square as well. So it was carnage in my gaff, actually. Now I’ve got 20,000 pieces of Lego and I don’t know what to do with them."