His 20-year stint as one of Britain’s best-loved soap characters has always been a source of pride for Kevin Kennedy. But the actor is about to hit another milestone for which is he prouder still… 25 years sober.
Kevin played loveable Norman “Curly” Watts on Coronation Street from 1983 to 2003, but while he became a fans’ favourite on screen he was secretly battling a self-destructive addiction to alcohol behind the scenes.
He turned his life around after collapsing and being rushed to hospital in May 1998. Yet while Kevin, now 61, acknowledges this year is an important one on his recovery journey, he says he won’t be making a big thing of it.
The star says: “The last time I had a drink will be 25 years ago in October. I haven’t thought much about it as it’s never the last drink I worry about, it’s the next one. That’s what I’m always concentrating on. But I’ll probably raise a cup of tea in salute, because tea is the answer to everything.”
At the height of his addiction Kevin would drink a bottle of vodka on his way to set every day, followed by three bottles of wine a night, and also took speed and cocaine to help him drink more.
He credits the soap’s bosses with saving his life after sending him to The Priory, after which he never touched drink or drugs again.
Kevin says: “It wasn’t the pressure of the job that made me do what I did, I did it because I liked it and liked I so much I got addicted and couldn’t stop it.
“But playing Curly was the perfect job for an addict, because when I performing I was someone else, and he was a lovely guy who everyone loved.
“To be honest, being Curly, it was a bit of a reprieve from being me.”
Ironically clean-living Kevin is now starring as the opposite of himself again, the party-loving, drug-addicted club owner Dennis Dupree in smash hit musical Rock of Ages – now on a UK farewell tour.
Kevin says: “He’s as extreme as I used to be, he’s very hedonistic and takes a vast amount of drugs. But although there is a lot of ‘cocaine’ on stage and I’ve always got a bottle in my hand, it doesn’t bother me or trigger me any more.”
And he says he is glad Dennis is so different from Curly.
Kevin adds: “They’re chalk and cheese. To play someone like Norman for 20 odd years and then to play Dennis is great fun, it stretches you as an actor.”
But it is as hapless Curly that Kevin, who has two daughters Katie May, 19 and Grace, 16, is still known to millions. He says: “People would stop and talk to me as if I was Curly.
“A lot of people grew up with Curly. These were the days when we were pulling in 20, 30 million views a week, so every third person in the country knew who you were. My daughters thought I knew everyone in the world.”
Kevin says he still keeps in touch with former cast and crew, including his on-screen wife, Sarah Lancashire, who played Raquel Watts.
She recently starred as police sergeant Catherine Cawood in BBC drama Happy Valley. Kevin says: “Coronation Street is very much like a family, and if you’ve been in it for any length of time there’s a brotherhood.
“I’m still good friends with Sarah. The last time I saw her was when we were both doing shows in the West End. She’s excellent on Happy Valley, I’m so pleased for her.”
Although he still gets called Curly by fans, Kevin does not think he was typecast by the supermarket role he played alongside Reg Holdsworth, who was his boss Ken Morley.
He says: “Since I left I haven’t been out of work. Rather than restricting me Corrie opened a lot of doors.”
In fact Manchester-born Kevin, who started on the soap at 21, became a star of stage musicals.
Perhaps the only ones who were less impressed at how much work he was getting were his family. Kevin married his second wife Clare, a recovering addict, in 1996.
He adds: “With the stage shows I’ve had to spend weeks and months away, but at least with Corrie you get to go home at night.
“When my first daughter was born I’d just finished a theatre in Brighton. I drove up to Manchester then was on a plane three hours later to start rehearsals for Chicago in the West End. I didn’t see her again for another three months. When younger, my daughters wanted me to work in Costa Coffee.
“But they have also had some remarkable experiences because of my job. They’ve flown in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and when I was in panto they would meet all the princes and princesses.”
Kevin says he does not worry his girls might end up, like him, wasting their best years in a blur of addiction.
He and Clare set up a charity, Kennedy Street, to help others with drug and booze problems in Brighton where they live.
Kevin says: “They have been brought up with two recovering addicts and understand the problems. More importantly, they understand there is an answer too.
“I don’t put my foot down and say you must not drink or take drugs. We’ve always been open and honest about what happened to us, and that’s the most important thing, that they have an education and knowledge.
“My daughters have grown up and never seen me touch drink or drugs, and touch wood they never will. It’s been 25 years since the last drink, and there won’t be a next one.”
- Kevin stars in the UK Tour of Rock of Ages. rockofagesmusical.co.uk/
