From Gayle: Dear Alan, I have been enjoying seeing you doing the intros for Mystery on PBS. I wanted to know if you will be starring in any of the Poirot or Miss Marple in the future. Would love to see you in something like that. Wouldn't that be funny? Me introducing myself? I have no plans to be in Poirot or Miss Marple, but never say never! I did feel a bit Miss Marpleish recently when I did the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are? which airs on BBC1 in the UK on September 6th. I was investigating the life of my grandfather and I was channeling her.
hey alan did you know i am your number 1 fan and i friended you on myspace I did not know that cos it's not me on myspace or facebook, sorry about that. This site is my only online presence. Do not let the impostors trick you!!
Katarzyna-Anna from Poland writes: Aren't people confused because of your fame? I'm wondering if it's hard to find real friends when you're famous? Have you ever met any people whose kindness was fake because of your prestige? Yes, I suppose is the answer. But as you get older you are more able to see people's real motivations and reasons for wanting to be your friend. Also people seem to forget that I have a role in any friendship. People don't just become my friend, whether I want it or not! So I am very good at making sure people who come into my life, and into the private parts of it, are true and kind. Sometimes I have made mistakes, but I think now I have a really great bunch of friends who are kind and protective, and at the same time I have not closed myself off from the possibility of having new people join that happy band. Also, the people who really want to be your friends just for the glory and the celeby rub-off are usually not very good at hiding their true desires.
Gloria writes: any plans to bring I Bought a Blue Car Today to Vancouver? That's Vancouver in Canada not Washington. Oh my goodness I would love to take the show to the Couv, but right now there are no plans. I know I have a flurry of dates at the beginning of next year, but none for a while apart from a few benefit things. I have come to Vancouver many times to shoot films so mayeb the enxt time I do I will arrange to do the show somewhere there!
What's been your favourite song you've ever sung in a role?.....if that makes sense I really liked singing I Don't Care Much from Cabaret. Right now I love singing Almost There, the Tom Baxter song in my show, but that isn't really a role from a show, cos it's just me singing it.
From Ryan: how did you get your start as an actor and has there ever been a time where you doubted yourself or capability in any way? I went to drama school. Whilst there, in my final year, I was asked to be in a professional production of Macbeth and then in a movie, so I had a little head start before I graduated. But that's how I did it, quite a traditional route. And it all sort of blossomed from there. And yes, of course I have had doubts, and still do sometmes. I think it's healthy, cos in some ways it galvanises you to work harder and having doubts reminds you that you are not invincible and your vulnerability is a part of who you are as a performer.
Tess asks: have you ever experienced any Paranormal activity in the Edinburgh Castle, or in your life? No, not in Edinburgh Castle! But I sometimes feel the energy of people in places. Last year I stayed in a hotel (also in Edinburgh incidentally) which had once been a mental hospital and I definitely felt some tormented souls around me. I had to give them a little talking to, telling them I understood and that I was a bit mad myself, so to please chill out and let me have a good night's sleep. It worked!
Rowda sent this poem by Kahlil Gibran. I think it's great:
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Finally Lindsay sent me this video, which I think deserves a viewing from us all...