Elaine C Smith has told how Robbie Coltrane ’s comedy genius laid the groundwork for Rab C Nesbitt.
The star was given her big break alongside the TV and cinema legend, who died last week, in BBC Scotland’s Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee, in 1984. She revealed Robbie’s hilarious parody of a ranting Glaswegian who confronted them on a city street was a clone of the character that would later make Gregor Fisher a household name.
Elaine also told how Robbie’s success has inspired a generation of Scottish comedians. Starring as alcoholic Rab C Nesbitt’s long-suffering wife Mary Doll, Elaine was struck by the similarities drawn from a character invented by Robbie.
She said: “One of the first things we did in 1984 was the Glasgow Song, which has been circulated on YouTube since Robbie died and it’s really made me smile to see it again. I remember the days when we were creating the show and there was a moment when some guy came up to complain about us filming on the street, which happened all the time in those days.
"We couldn’t make out much about what he was saying, as it was a rushed Glaswegian rant. Robbie had an eye and ear for things and started to impersonate the guy – he was a great mimic.
“He quickly adopted the guy’s behaviour into a character who basically jabbered away and whose only intelligible words were the swear words. He certainly shared a few personality traits with Rab C Nesbitt.”
Robbie’s critically acclaimed straight-acting role in Cracker came as no surprise to Elaine or anyone who worked with him in the Comedy Unit in Glasgow.
She said: “There was a great well of talent in Scotland but there wasn’t enough being made up here, so he was always going to go to London. He was so confident in himself and he would never have been out of place, even with the top names.
“I remember the premiere of The Thomas Crown Affair and he was such a big presence in the room, while I was a bit star-struck among people like Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo."
Elaine recalls Robbie’s charisma and down-to-earth, easy charm. She said: “I remember the first day I met Robbie as I was working in the Cafe Royal in Edinburgh as a waitress and he walked in, larger than life. I’d been a teacher for three years and was trying to make it in showbiz, so he was someone I knew was fast emerging as a big star, as the talent and charisma were really shining off him.
“He was eight years older and further down the line but already on a path towards real stardom. To this day I always say you learn a lot about a person from the way they treat waitresses. And he was a gentleman, with a really warm personality that put you at ease.
“He was a force of nature, an extraordinary character, larger than life and he was always going to be going places. He always had that glint in his eye.”
Elaine joined the Comedy Unit in Glasgow and was a stalwart of Scottish TV with Jonathan Watson, Tony Roper and Andy Gray. She said: “Robbie would refer to us as ‘the pups’, meaning the next generation.”
Elaine said Robbie was not changed by the fame that came with his role as Hagrid in Harry Potter.
She said: “A few years ago when I was in the restaurant at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, Robbie walked in while I was with my daughter Hannah, who was only 19. We had a chat and then I had to dash back into the theatre, so Robbie suggested that he just hangs out with Hannah and enjoy his tea.
“Hannah was a massive Harry Potter fan and meeting Robbie was such a big thing for her. I just left her there as though it was any old guy that walked in. By the time I got back out, she was in a state of shock. She was saying, ‘You just left me with Hagrid’.”
Elaine said Robbie appeared to be happiest talking about the ordinary.
She said: “He liked to chat about simple stuff like nature. When he bumped into my husband Bob and I, they would be more likely to have a natter about fly fishing.”
Robbie died last Friday, aged 72.
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