By Mark Anstead Published: 6:48AM GMT 29 Oct 2009  Fame & Fortune: Robert Lindsay Photo: MARTIN POPE  I'm not saying – people might try to find me. I had my card cloned last year when I was in Mauritius and it's made me wary.  They used a condom – I was told they inserted carbon paper into it and then stuffed it into the ATM to capture an impression of the card.  I had a call from my bank saying £6,000 had been removed from my account by someone in China. The bank was brilliant, but there's a bit of me that doesn't trust technology.  I had a Platinum American Express card when it first came out and then a Black one. I was terribly impressed by all that initially – it was me feeling I could flaunt my money, having had a relatively impoverished childhood.  But now I only use one, a NatWest MasterCard; although I have a couple of others on standby. And I always pay my balance.  My parents never had much. My father was a bus conductor and I was brought up in Derbyshire in a series of council houses with outside lavatories. I had one younger brother and a sister and we never seemed to go wanting, but I'm sure my parents struggled.  I am strict with my kids. I realise I am capable of giving them almost anything they want, but I want them to earn it and not just expect it.  My childhood taught me to appreciate that what's truly important in life is giving. I vividly remember my mother teaching me to smile – she said smiling is a gift for other people and makes them feel better.  No – and that's the one thing I tell my children constantly. I have just written my autobiography because I want them to understand my life and how happy I was. It was a different world then.  I get a lot of begging letters, particularly from people who need help with drama schools. It's difficult because there's no way of choosing who to help. I have decided to say I am supporting a drama student already – my daughter, Syd.  But fame also brings a lot of hangers-on. In the Eighties I had a big success on Broadway with Me and My Girl and it was amazing how many lawyers and accountants suddenly wanted to pitch their business to me. One of them told me I needed to be offshore.  He said if I was non-domiciled I wouldn't have to pay tax, but it also meant I couldn't live in England for 90 days of the year. I was nearly persuaded, but I decided it was cheating and I find it hard to cheat.  I've recently started investing in a venture capital fund run by accompany called Ingenious. It started a fund that invests in British films for tax concessions, but also puts money into American movies for a return.  No, not directly – I'm a low-risk investor and I'm not brave enough for shares. I admire my business partner who buys whole businesses at a time.  We run a production company together called Treasure Island Productions and I was having tea with him once in Suffolk when he decided to pop across the road into a shop. The next thing I knew, he'd bought it. I have to remind myself my expertise is entertainment.  Rosie and I both have Isas. We have set up a portfolio with a financial adviser for our Isas and our pension and we meet him to discuss it at least once a year.  We bought our house 14 years ago and it is very special to us. It used to be two houses that were joined together during the war and it has six bedrooms. My family came down to help us do it up – they are all builders, carpenters, joiners, plumbers and electricians so they lived and worked with us for a while.  The house is probably worth three times what we paid for it because we're in a prime area that doesn't seem to have suffered much in the recession. But we don't think of it as an investment, it's just a wonderful home.  I once had an original hand-bound Hans Christian Andersen book that cost me £7,500. I was very proud of it and I used to put it out on the coffee table to show off. Then one day the dog ate it.  I haven't had a mortgage since the Eighties. After doing Me and My Girl I was offered various movies and miniseries in America. Most of it was rubbish, but it gave me the opportunity to make lots of money and pay off my mortgage and all my debts.  I'm cautious. I have my splurging moments, but I often feel terrible guilt afterwards. I bought a Porsche three years ago and that cost a lot.  The dream car I wanted was an Aston Martin, but when I went to look at one I made the mistake of asking how many miles it did to the gallon. The salesman looked at me and said: ''Mr Lindsay – if you are concerned about the petrol consumption of this car I wouldn't bother buying one.''  Rosie is also quite strict about money and she tends to be more cautious than me. She wasn't cross when I bought the Porsche because she could see I'd worked hard for it, but she would never do something like that.  We only married three years ago, so we still have separate bank accounts, but we have a joint household account and some joint cards. Rosemary is into conservation so she makes sure we drive a Prius, but we battle over the house lights.  I've got a condition called seasonal affective disorder. It means I can't bear dark mornings. I come downstairs and put the lights on to brighten everything up. Then I go for a shower, only to come down later and find them all switched off.  Cash, like my father. I remember in 1988 when my father wanted to see me on Broadway I told him he wouldn't survive in America without a credit card. He said, ''Well I'm not bloody coming then.'' In the end I had to supply him with cash for all his trips.  I tip well – the American 20pc wherever I am. I used to work as a waiter while I) was at drama school so I've got no embarrassment about it.  My pension fund seems to be OK. I keep a regular check on it and top it up from time to time.  Robert Lindsay's autobiography, 'Letting Go', is out now
Robert Lindsay, 59, stars in BBC One's 'My Family'. He lives near Denham with    his wife, Rosemarie, and their children Samuel, nine, and James, six.