My wife Ros [Ayres] and I were in America, producing George Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple for BBC Radio 3. To set the scene for the listeners, I had adapted some of Shaw’s stage directions into a narration, and it seemed to us that we needed an icon to read it. Ros suggested Gregory Peck. Through my friend Michael York we were put in touch, and one morning I had Gregory on the phone, with that great smooth voice of his. He said he’d be happy to do it, and I asked him whether he wanted to record at home or in a studio.  “You know what, Martin – I’d like you to come to me,” he replied. He was in his 80s and lived in this beautiful house in Holmby Hills, next to Bel Air in LA. He greeted us at the door and was the most charming host.  “Martin, Ros,” he said as we began. “I don’t get my breath too well these days. May we record in short bursts?”  “We can record however you want, Mr Peck,” I replied. He had a little shortness of breath, but we didn’t know that he was already suffering from emphysema. After a while he paused and said: “I need to take a Vocalzone.” Which is a type of American lozenge.  “In England we call them Fisherman’s Friends,” I said.  He would raise one of his dark eyebrows and say: ‘I have to take a… Fisherman’s Friend’  He thought that was the funniest thing he’d heard all week. For the rest of the session whenever he paused he would raise one of his dark eyebrows under his grey hair, turn to me and say: “One moment, Martin. I have to take a… Fisherman’s Friend.”  He told us that his friend Frank Sinatra had introduced him to Vocalzones when they were both rising stars in New York in their 20s.  Ros complimented him on the Spanish tiles decorating his living room and he showed us a painting that Sinatra had done of them which was hanging in the hallway.  “He’s got the colour exactly right,” said Ros, “but the shape’s wrong – they’re not octagonal, they’re square.”  “I know,” Gregory replied. “Frank saw things very much in his own way.”  His wife Veronique Passani was there, but was busy getting ready to throw a fundraising party – occasionally we’d be interrupted by chairs and tables being delivered. What people forget about Gregory is that he was a great humanitarian as well as a movie star and did a lot of work bringing literature to Los Angeles public schools.  He couldn’t have been more charming or professional. It was an encounter Ros and I will never forget, and I think it’s true to say that I was the last person to direct him.  The Importance of being Earnest, starring Martin Jarvis, is on tour until the end of November (earnesttheplay.co.uk)
The screen idol, then in his 80s and with emphysema, had lost none of his wit or charm when actor Martin Jarvis called