Ned Beatty, who passed away overnight.....

In 1985 I was posted to Rosyth Naval Base for a few months, albeit as a civilian. I used to take buses on the weekends to visit various football grounds, to attend Highland Games events and discover a few parts of Scotland. On one particular weekend I arrived in Fort William, the wettest place in the UK, and where it was......raining heavily. Not being well off, I had already espied my sleeping place for the night i.e. a local haystack where there was a load of bubble wrap to keep me warm. However, I found a pub in the town and decided to have a few bevvies before retiring. Although not really a pool player, two of the locals invited me to join them. A portly chap entered the bar and we got chatting, the pool table being next to the bar. He was also duly invited to play and we teamed up against the locals. It dawned on me that it was Ned Beatty, the actor whose face everyone now knows but without necessarily knowing his name. As it must be hugely tiresome being treated like a celeb (although the locals didn't realise who he was) he and I just chatted about everyday things and his life back in Kentucky. Apparently, he was in Scotland to film Restless Natives. Modest chap though. At the end of the evening we said our goodbyes. He returned to some warm hotel after knocking back a few drams and I retired to my haystack.

And before anyone asks...... no, there was no piggy-play as in the film Deliverance that he appeared in.

Deliverance was his film debut. Incredible stuff. Love that film, watched it many times over the years. All of the performances are great, including Beatty's. I saw him recently in a 2011 film called Rampart alongside Woody Harrelson. He was good in that too.

I watched Restless Natives because Big Country did the soundtrack, and I was mad keen on them at the time. Good film as I remember. Nice that you spoke to Ned 'on the level'; there's a story of a comedian who met George Best in a hotel bar once and they were having a nice chat but then the comic said "I just have to say, I'm a really big fan of yours" and the whole dynamic changed. Best looked crestfallen; he thought he'd escaped the pedestal for a moment.

Anyway, Beatty sounds like a good bloke who lived well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

In 1985 I was posted to Rosyth Naval Base for a few months, albeit as a civilian. I used to take buses on the weekends to visit various football grounds, to attend Highland Games events and discover a few parts of Scotland. On one particular weekend I arrived in Fort William, the wettest place in the UK, and where it was......raining heavily. Not being well off, I had already espied my sleeping place for the night i.e. a local haystack where there was a load of bubble wrap to keep me warm. However, I found a pub in the town and decided to have a few bevvies before retiring. Although not really a pool player, two of the locals invited me to join them. A portly chap entered the bar and we got chatting, the pool table being next to the bar. He was also duly invited to play and we teamed up against the locals. It dawned on me that it was Ned Beatty, the actor whose face everyone now knows but without necessarily knowing his name. As it must be hugely tiresome being treated like a celeb (although the locals didn't realise who he was) he and I just chatted about everyday things and his life back in Kentucky. Apparently, he was in Scotland to film Restless Natives. Modest chap though. At the end of the evening we said our goodbyes. He returned to some warm hotel after knocking back a few drams and I retired to my haystack.

And before anyone asks...... no, there was no piggy-play as in the film Deliverance that he appeared in.

---

Nice story, he must have somehow found out you were going to be there that night :-)

Great story TBG! He was brilliant in Deliverance and very funny as Lex Luther’s idiot gang member in the Superman films. RIP

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mario Miethig

Great story TBG! He was brilliant in Deliverance and very funny as Lex Luther’s idiot gang member in the Superman films. RIP

---

Cheers. My ex's daughter, who was a very sharp cookie and ascending to the upper echelons of a certain company who were one on Man Utd's sponsors was on a plane to Manchester from London as she had a VIP invitation to attend the game. She has no interest in football whatsoever but felt obliged to make the effort. She told me about this unassuming grey-haired Scandinavian she sat next to on the plane and who offered her a lift in the car that awaited him as he was attending the game too. She politely declined as she had a taxi laid on and didn't twig that it was Sven-Göran Eriksson, who was England manager at the time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

Cheers. My ex's daughter, who was a very sharp cookie and ascending to the upper echelons of a certain company who were one on Man Utd's sponsors was on a plane to Manchester from London as she had a VIP invitation to attend the game. She has no interest in football whatsoever but felt obliged to make the effort. She told me about this unassuming grey-haired Scandinavian she sat next to on the plane and who offered her a lift in the car that awaited him as he was attending the game too. She politely declined as she had a taxi laid on and didn't twig that it was Sven-Göran Eriksson, who was England manager at the time.

---

He probably did it, as he seems a genuinely nice fella, but after hearing about him and Ullrika Jonsson, maybe it’s just as well she didn’t accept lol