How I Became Friends With My Favorite Actor
The story of the remarkable coincidence that led me to meet my favorite actor, Michael Jayston.
As far as personal stories, this is my favorite story to tell.
First, I must set the stage: Michael Jayston is an English actor, well known in the U.K. — he’s one of those actors there that everyone seems to know from appearing on a show they love. He’s best remembered for his role as the Valeyard in the classic era of Doctor Who or his fantastic portrayal of Tsar Nicholas II in the very underrated film Nicholas and Alexandra (1971).
He may not be a well-known actor in the States, but I became a fan of his in college and found his acting to be mesmerizing. It started with an adaptation of Jane Eyre from 1973. The novel is one of my absolute favorites, and I was eager to see this BBC adaptation starring Sorcha Cusack as Jane and Michael as Mr. Rochester. I watched it, and I can not stress this enough — I became obsessed.
The performances were stellar, the script was close to the novel, and the emotion and integrity of the adaptation hit home for me. But Michael Jayston as Rochester was the standout. Somehow he brought to vivid life this complex, brooding, voluble, loving, and flawed character and his portrayal impressed me immensely. He became the character. To the point that I can still only hear Jayston’s voice whenever I read the novel.
It took me a while to move beyond his role as Rochester, but eventually, I sought his other work — I rented Nicholas and Alexandra, found his episodes of Doctor Who, picked up a charming film called The Public Eye (1972) and watched him in the landmark 1979 BBC miniseries Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. And so much more besides. He became my favorite actor, and I still find it funny that as a twenty-five year old college student I found my preferred performer in an understated English actor almost five decades older than me. I‘ve always found myself drawn to watching older film and television shows though, and have many favorite actors from a time before mine.
While in college, I decided to create a fan website about Michael Jayston, which I still maintain here, since there wasn’t much information about him online at the time. It was easy enough for me to document all the films and shows of his that I watched, and add in whatever biographical information I could find. It became a hobby of mine to make a record of his career.
A few years later (I had already graduated from college), I received an email from someone who knew him. She had discovered my website and told me that she would show it to him. Sometime later, I received an email from Michael Jayston himself, thanking me for the effort I had put into building the site. That meant the world to me, and of course, I quickly replied to his email. But we didn’t strike up any sort of regular correspondence.
Now, this is the actual story.
That was all the preamble. I feel like it is important to understand how much of a particular fan of his I am to see how this next event was such a crazy coincidence.
I live in California by the way, but I love England and have been to visit many times — I also did a summer internship there when I was in college.
Two years after that email, I planned a trip to visit a friend who lived in Poland. The flight there was monstrous — I had opted for a flight with two layovers — one at Heathrow Airport in the U.K., and the other in Frankfurt, Germany. There were other airports I could have picked for my layovers, but I settled on those — mostly because I wanted to step foot on English soil again, even just for a short time.
On the leg of my journey between London and Frankfurt, I spent most of the short flight updating my travel journal and reading. It was an uneventful flight, and I was more than a little eager to be at my destination. Once we landed, I had to reach across the aisle to get to the overhead compartment where I had stored my carry-on bag. With just a slight turn of my head, I noticed that a couple of rows behind me stood Michael Jayston.
Shock. Disbelief. Confusion. I mean, I could not believe it. I must have stared at him very awkwardly for a time, trying to decide if it was really him. But I definitely recognized him — and once that sunk in, I felt a little bout of hyperventilation coming on.
I’m normally pretty shy, and while living in Los Angeles has given me opportunities to see some of my favorite stars making appearances, I usually have to prepare myself to ask for an autograph or a picture. I was very much unprepared to see Michael Jayston, but I knew I had to say something. And I was afraid that if I waited until he got off the plane, I would lose my opportunity.
So speaking to him over a couple of other people, I started with “Are you Michael Jayston?”
He replied in the affirmative, and I gushed “I’m a huge fan of yours!”
I still wonder about anyone who overhead that exchange on the plane and if they realized what an amazing moment that was for me.
Michael Jayston seemed surprised to know that I was such a fan, and after de-planing, we were able to talk for a bit. I know that many people have this reaction when a celebrity takes the time to talk to them, but my goodness, he was so nice!
In the course of the conversation, I mentioned that I had a website for him (I was curious to see if he really sent me that email) and he remarked that he knew an American lady who ran a website for him named Charlene.
“That’s me!” I said excitedly.
His surprise at my declaration was fun to see. He later brought up Jung’s theory of synchronicity, and I have to admit, the pure serendipity of the two of us from different parts of the world — taking the same flight and one a huge fan of the other — is breathtaking. And it’s why this is one of my favorite stories to tell.
After that, Michael again expressed appreciation for my work on the website and offered to take me to lunch the next time I was in England. He was off to film a TV movie (titled Albert’s Memorial) there in Germany, and I had to catch my connecting flight. I couldn’t stay to chat but that next year, I decided it was time to visit England again.
The rest of the story is still kind of amazing. I emailed Michael to tell him I was visiting and true to his word, he found the time to have lunch with me and my Mom (who was making the trip with me) at one of his favorite Chinese restaurants. It was surreal to have a long conversation with someone I had seen so much of on my television screen. Of course, he was witty and funny and great to talk to — anyone who knows him knows how easy it is to chat with him, and how he loves getting to know people. I’m afraid I was not very interesting because I was in so much awe.
But he continued to welcome meeting up with me for lunch whenever I visited, and I have shamefully taken advantage of that — but it has been the highlight of my several trips to England. There have also been a couple of times when he was a guest at the “Gallifrey One” Doctor Who convention in Los Angeles, and I was absolutely thrilled to see him again there. He has so many interesting stories about “the business” and of his experiences working with many talented actors and actresses .
It’s been a great privilege to have met my favorite actor and to know that he is happy to see me when we catch up on our lives. More than ten years have passed since that coincidental flight, and I am constantly grateful that after my time in college first discovering his work and admiring it from afar, I now know him as a friend.
If you’d like to visit my website for Michael Jayston, you can find it at jayston.awardspace.co.uk.
