Interview: Shirley Anne Field

Lancashire-born Shirley Anne Field became an adopted Nottingham girl when she starred in classic movie Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – a role she remembers well in a new interview...

Saturday Night And Sunday Morning will be 50 years old next year.

Don't tell me that! It makes me feel 109! Thank goodness I've done lots of things since then and am still doing things. But it's nice to know it's still pertinent today.

How did you get the role of Doreen, Albert Finney's girlfriend in the film?

I had done The Entertainer with much of the same team. Tony Richardson directed that, and he produced Saturday Night..., along with Harry Saltzman. Harry took a backseat on Saturday Night... because he didn't think it was his sort of thing, but I've since heard he used the money he made from the film to buy the rights to the James Bond books.

How important was Tony Richardson to your career?

Tony was a very smart man. He found me. I was what you called "the special girl" in movies, which meant you never got to do anything special. You just had to look good, and if you were lucky, you got one line. Then an audition for The Entertainer came along and that changed my life. I think he put myself and Albert Finney in The Entertainer as a way of checking how we would be on film. He told me about Doreen, my part in Saturday Night..., early on in filming for The Entertainer.

Did you get a sense of being at the forefront of something exciting, which turned out to be the British New Wave, when you were filming?

Yes, we knew it, absolutely. How we knew is that there was a revolution in how people spoke. When you think about it, British working-class people were always portrayed in a rather patronising way. You can't get a job now if you've got a non-regional accent!

So did you enjoy being a star for the first time?

Because I was very young, all I could think about was the job and getting it right. I couldn't relax and enjoy it, because it was too important to me, and I never felt completely sure of myself, which of course helped me on screen, because you could see that insecurity that I had.

What about your career since then?

I wasn't just in big films in the 1960s. I was in a big film in the 1980s and a big film in the 1990s. I was in My Beautiful Laundrette, and then Hear My Song – and now I'm looking for a big film for the noughties, as I believe they're called.

Did you enjoy your appearance in Last Of The Summer Wine last year?

First of all, it's a great series and secondly, it was very nice to be on television again. I would like a regular television role.

What kind of part would you like?

What we need to do is make movies for all sexes and all ages. I loved Mamma Mia! and the fact it appealed to that market over 40. It was just wonderful seeing them all laughing and joking. That's the kind of joyful film I'd like to make now.