Stephen Boyd

A young actor from Glengormley left here in the 1950's to find work somewhere else. First London where he was discovered busking outside a cinema. Next stop Hollywood. Along the way he changed his name to from Billy Millar to Stephen Boyd and made his screen debut in the film "The Man Who Never Was". But it was Ben Hur that cemented his reputation on screen, starring opposite Charlton Heston as Messala. That's him and Heston on set with the director William Wyler.

Boyd's story is being told in a BBC NI doc "Stephen Boyd - The Man Who Never Was" next week. I watched a preview of it today and it charts a remarkably shy man who lived for acting but who shunned the celebrity circuit. It's worth watching for the American tv archive of Boyd himself, an incredibly handsome man with a movie star smile whose voice is a mid Atlantic cross between Liam Neeson and a softer Van Morrison.

Staying with young actors from here who have to seek work elsewhere, I got a response on my last blog from a young actor James McAnaspey who is seriously thinking about moving to London or New York to get work. 

During the summer Kathy Kiera Clarke made similar comments in an interview in the Belfast Telegraph. While some could say actors are always having to go where the work is, it got me thinking about a comment made to me on Facebook from Karl Wallace.

Now based in Kerry with Siamsa Tire, Karl used to be artistic director of Kabosh Theatre Company. He asked why mid-career level directors like himelf and Rachel O'Riordan the theatre director (who had just announced she was taking up a post at a theatre in Perth, Scotland) had to leave in order to make their passion into a livelihood.

While the Stephen Boyd story is to be celebrated, tomorrow Rachel starts her first day at a new job outside of here. Some could say there's a vacuum being created right now that may never be filled. 

"Stephen Boyd - The Man Who Never Was" is on BBC I NI Monday 10th January 10.35pm