Articles/Interviews
Return to Listing'PRISONER' OLLIE PINES FOR HIS FAMILY
From JOHN PEACOCK in Guernsey
ACTOR Oliver Reed angrily paced his suite at a four-star hotel ... the world's strangest prison cell.
For he is trapped by success - a captive of penal taxation who lives 200 miles from his Surrey home, his family and nine-year-old daughter, Sarah.
He stared out to sea from his Guernsey hotel and said: "It's a great view."
"But I need damned good eyesight to see my daughter in bed at night."
"I cannot be with her, every kiss I want to give her would cost me thousands and every cuddle hundreds of pounds."
"She is deprived of my kisses and cuddles."
Ollie, the lonely long distance tax exile, is one of the country's most patriotic Englishmen.
But he cannot live more than 62 days a year in Britain.
CELL
He is also in a unique position. He refuses to sell up and move abroad as many high-earning actors and singers have done. He cannot return for longer because he would not have enough money after taxes to maintain his Victorian mansion. And he refuses to lie about his tax, as he could easily do, or disrupt home life and schooling by moving his family about. "It sounds nice living in a lovely place like this," says Ollie. "But I'm stuck here, in my luxurious cell." "This is what is has come down to, Oliver Reed, the international movie star, living like this." "My Army number was 23324533, I was penniless and lived in a nissen hut. At least it was five times the size of this, although the view wasn't so good." "It's very difficult to keep a family unit going because children understand this situation." "My daughter can understand when daddy is away making a film for money." "What she can't understand is when I am not working why I am sitting in a hotel room instead of being at home with her." STRANGE
"I can only go there during school holidays," said Reed, who has a 19-year-old son Mark from his only marriage and his daughter by Jackie, his girlfriend of the last 12 years. "It is a strange price to pay for success," he said as he read a "missing you" message from Jackie. The 41-year-old hellraiser's eyes misted as he read aloud a letter from his daughter. Sarah's pencilled capital letters accompanied by carefully drawn flowers spelled out more poignantly than any writer could have done the heart-tugging dilemma in which Ollie finds himself.
John Peacock, Revue, 28th September 1979
Return to Listing
He is also in a unique position. He refuses to sell up and move abroad as many high-earning actors and singers have done. He cannot return for longer because he would not have enough money after taxes to maintain his Victorian mansion. And he refuses to lie about his tax, as he could easily do, or disrupt home life and schooling by moving his family about. "It sounds nice living in a lovely place like this," says Ollie. "But I'm stuck here, in my luxurious cell." "This is what is has come down to, Oliver Reed, the international movie star, living like this." "My Army number was 23324533, I was penniless and lived in a nissen hut. At least it was five times the size of this, although the view wasn't so good." "It's very difficult to keep a family unit going because children understand this situation." "My daughter can understand when daddy is away making a film for money." "What she can't understand is when I am not working why I am sitting in a hotel room instead of being at home with her." STRANGE
"I can only go there during school holidays," said Reed, who has a 19-year-old son Mark from his only marriage and his daughter by Jackie, his girlfriend of the last 12 years. "It is a strange price to pay for success," he said as he read a "missing you" message from Jackie. The 41-year-old hellraiser's eyes misted as he read aloud a letter from his daughter. Sarah's pencilled capital letters accompanied by carefully drawn flowers spelled out more poignantly than any writer could have done the heart-tugging dilemma in which Ollie finds himself.