Where to begin? What about here: the definition of 'a gentleman actor'? Indisputably, Eddie Redmayne. The most polite, modest and decent guy on the Hollywood circuit. Not only that, but he is indescribably talented. And let's face it, bloody good looking to boot. He's won a legion of awards and honors and yet his feet reMAYNE (sorry!) firmly on the ground.
This is why today, on the day of his 35th birthday, we can think of no better way to celebrate the fantastic talent that is EDDIE, than by naming the 35 things we absolutely love about him...
1.) His acting
This had to be number one. We first noticed him in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (as the baddie who tried to assassinate Queen Bess), after which he was firmly on our radar. Then there was Les Misérables (more on this later) before he starred as Stephen Hawking in James Marsh's The Theory of Everything (a film during which the author of this piece cried and cried and cried). With that came Oscar and BAFTA and Golden Globes glory, and he's been in great demand ever since.
2.) His eyes
As deep as the deepest bluest ocean underneath the bluest of bluey-blue skies with... [alright, we'll stop.]
3.) His Oscar acceptance speech
'Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to the Academy. Umm, I don't think Im capable of articulating quite how I feel right now. But please know this, I'm fully aware that I am a lucky, LUCKY man.'
WE'RE lucky...
4.) His BAFTA acceptance speech
'I was lucky enough to come to the BAFTAS a year or three ago, and I was suffering from a severe bout of food poisoning. And just as Stephen came on to start announcing the awards I had to bolt through that that door there, and I proceeded to redecorate the corridor of the Royal Opera House in an incredibly unfortunate fashion. It was one of the worst nights of my life. This is one of the best.'
Another reason we love him: he's HILARIOUS.
5.) That he still uses the tube
'How else do you get around in London?' (How else exactly Eddie?) 'I've always travelled on the Tube and I love the Tube.'
We wouldn't go as far as to say we LOVE the tube [we're thinking back to this morning's commute with that man's armpit in our faces and grimacing a little bit] but we'll go so far as to say it's ok, some of the time.
6.) That he snubbed his iPhone in favour of an 'old fashioned' handset
'I tried switching back to a simple, old-fashioned handset in place of a smartphone,' he told The Independent last year. [Quick moment here to acknowledge the cuteness of the phrase 'old-fashioned', and also to say, please tell us it was a Nokia 3210 Eddie, pleeeease?!] 'It was a reaction against being glued permanently to my iPhone during waking hours,' he continued. 'The deluge of emails was constant and I found myself trying to keep up in real time, at the expense of living in the moment.'
He went on, 'I love the idea of a more analogue phone in theory. During the day, I felt far more alive.'
However, he concluded, (as we would frankly): 'I was tied to my laptop answering emails for two hours first thing every morning and last thing at night instead, which was a different kind of intrusion. I wasn’t very popular with [his wife] Hannah, so today I’m back on my iPhone and trying to master a healthier relationship with it.'
7.) That he got so nervous playing Stephen Hawking, he didn't sleep
As he recalled to Graham Norton, he 'persuaded people' to give him the role of Stephen Hawking (who, as we all know, is the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein and who suffers from motor neurone disease){
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Poor Eddie!
8.) That he tried to win over Stephen Hawking by telling him they were both Capricorns
'[Stephen] makes a big point in his books that he was born on the eighth of January, which is the date of Galileo's death,' Eddie told M Magazine. 'I said, "You're the eighth, and I was actually born on the sixth of January, so we're both Capricorns!"
There was a long pause before the theorist replied, "I'm an astronomer, not an astrologer".
'I thought, "Holy s--t. Stephen Hawking thinks the actor who's playing him thinks he's Mystic Meg!'
In all fairness Eds, we'd probably have led with that.
9.) That his favorite moment of 2014 was...
Not starring in The Theory of Everything but getting engaged{
10.) That he's head over heels in love with his wife, Hannah Bagshawe
In an interview with Ellen just after his wedding, he started an anecdote saying: 'My wife... God, it sounds so amazing, just after you get married, even the term sounds new...'
We're not jealous. Not at all.
11.) That he caught Hannah's eye whilst topless at a charity fashion show
Ding dong!
'Hannah was at a girls’ school near Eton [his school] and they invited some of our guys over to do a fashion show for charity,' he told The Daily Mail. 'I had to walk across the stage topless – I was this pasty, freckly guy and when I came on the girls in the audience didn’t take much notice of me, but I was followed by the best-looking boy in the school and all the girls erupted in cheers, which was emotionally scarring!
'I saw Hannah across the room at a party afterwards and she was very beautiful and very funny and she loves the arts and theatre just as I do, so we became friends.'
12.) That on their first date, he took her to Florence.
We mean, ROMANTIC!!
They had been friends for years and Eddie was about to start shooting Les Misérables. He'd just finished rehearsals and thought he'd take himself off for a quick mini break to Florence...
'Before I went, Hannah and I were on a sort of date — we’d been good friends for 12 years — and we had a wonderful evening,' he told The Daily Mail, 'and I suddenly said, “You don’t want to come to Florence with me next week, do you?” She said, “That’s absurd, you don’t mean it.” I said, “Yes I do!” So our first proper date was in Florence.'
[We're currently green with envy.]
13.) That he asked Hannah's father's permission to marry her
A man of tradition. We LOVE.
14.) Empty Chairs and Empty Tables
No, we haven't lost the plot. This was the song Eddie sung in Les Misérables (le film) when he took on the role of Marius Pontmercy. In fact, we're listening to it as we write this piece... Keep drifting off, as the dulcet tones of Eddie transport us to that empty house of 19th century France where... ok, we'll stop now. IF WE HAVE TO.
15.) That he went to Cambridge
And is therefore clever AS...
He studied History of Art at Trinity College, in case you're wondering.
16.) Even though he's colourblind, he wrote his dissertation on colour
That's right – he wrote it on Yves Klein's signature colour, 'International Klein Blue'. He graduated with a 2:1 so we're guessing it was pretty good.
17.) He cried when he watched an interview with Pharell
And he's not afraid to admit it! When Pharell was interviewed by Oprah he got emotional over the success of 'Happy'. As Eddie told GQ: 'He cried... then I cried...'
18.) That he has no qualms about playing the woman
You might think The Danish Girl was the first time the fella donned a skirt, but you'd be wrong. His first professional acting role was as Viola in Twelfth Night for Shakespeare's Globe at the Middle Temple Hall in 2002 (alongside Mark Rylance), but before that, he'd played tonnes of ladies at school in school plays. Of it, he's said, 'I’m sure the only reason I got [the Twelfth Night] job was because I played girls’ parts in school plays.'
Actually, we think it's down to talent Eds, but whatever you say...
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19.) That he still credits his old drama teacher
Eddie has said he owes his career 'entirely' to his school drama teacher, Simon Dormandy. He told London Evening Standard, 'Occasionally I’ll call up Simon and say, ‘Can I just come and run through some stuff with you?’ He is still the person whose advice I seek.'
20.) These comments he made on being awarded an OBE by The Queen
'It was absolutely wonderful,' he told The Telegraph. 'Also being with such extraordinary people, the whole experience is incredibly humbling and also getting to be in Windsor Castle is breathtaking, around Christmas as well with all the decorations.'
Trust Eddie to acknowledge everyone else and notice the decorations.
Eddie holding up HIS decoration
21.) That if he could have nominated a Man of the Year in 2014 he would have choosen Ralph Fiennes
A true talent, we agree. Although it's amusing to note Newt Scamander (Eddie's character in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them) would have had different ideas... if he'd been born a few decades later and witnessed the terror that was Voldemort, that is.
22.) That when he goes to the loo he can expect to get fan mobbed by Puff Daddy
During the Golden Globes of Les Mis (2013) Eddie nipped off to the loo. And it was at there that Puff Daddy leaned over and told him: 'I like your work'.
KUDOS Eddie!
(If you're thinking 'how arrogant!' for Eddie to have relayed this anecdote, know he swiftly followed it up with the admission that he got stage fright whilst trying to, erm, go. Awww Eddie, so self-deprecating.)
23.) Like us, he tells everyone he's crap at karaoke, but a few drinks down, he tries to hog the mike...
'I find the idea of singing randomly in life mildly terrifying,' he told The Metro. 'I’m one of these hideous people that’ll go to karaoke and I’ll sit there going, “No, no, not me; you sing." Then I’ll have a few drinks and you cannot take the microphone off me. I hog it aggressively.'
Atta boy, Eddie.
24.) That he was so chilled when his wife turned up half an hour late to their WEDDING
'She's never been on time for anything in her life... everyone else was really stressed but I was kind of relaxed.' he told The Ellen Show{
We can see his point. Who wouldn't turn up to marry Eddie?
25.) That he continues to joke about her lateness
When he next went on The Ellen Show{
26.) He likes to sing Katy Perry
'I do love Katy Perry' he told The Metro.
Who doesn't?
27.) He lied to land a role
The part of Southampton for the miniseries Elizabeth I, directed by the Oscar-winning Tom Hooper, required someone aptly skilled in the art of riding horses. To get the role, Eddie lied and said that, yes, of course he could ride...
'Cut to Lithuania, two weeks later, a huge Elizabethan street, Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons are standing at this balcony, and there's Tom, cameras, rain machines, 50 Lithuanian extras, spurs attached to my feet, and I'm thinking, "At what point do I tell them that I have never, ever ridden a horse?"
'It was then that I realised a big part of the cliché of actors lying in auditions is that you should probably try to do the thing you said you can do before filming starts. Anyway, I nearly killed people as the horse galloped off at a hundred miles an hour after I gave it the slightest nudge. Tom came out with his megaphone and shouted, "You're a fXXXing liar, Redmayne!"
Eddie, a liar? Never!
28.) Like us, he steals shampoo from hotels
As he relayed to Jonathan Ross, 'You have to reeducate yourself on using the minibar. You know when you’re younger and you go to hotels with your parents and they say, ‘Under no circumstances touch the minibar’?
'And now you have a certain amount you can spend each day, so you have to retrain your mind [not] to abuse, steal everything. I genuinely, embarrassingly, arrived back from Los Angeles today with a load of shampoos in posh little bags. I don’t know what I’m going to do with them.'
Keep them in your cupboard for that shampoo emergency, like OVS Eddie, come on!
29.) How he describes his 6-month old daughter, Iris
'HEAVEN.'
[Cue: hearts melt]
30.) One of his first modelling jobs was for a jumper you knit yourself
ALL YOU READ IS TRUE.
31.) His first crush was on Nala from The Lion King
'Look at her face, she's so sweet! And she can sing really well,' he said to Graham Norton{
Can you feel OUR love tonight, Eddie? (CAN YOU?)
32.) He spoke out for the homeless LGBT Youth in LA
In a heartfelt video{
33.) He occasionally pays the London rent of struggling actors
We mean, swoon!
'I get letters from people trying to go to drama school and needing to pay their rent. And so that’s something I occasionally do. It’s impossibly expensive to live in London,' he told The Independent
34.) That he joked how big his lips looked on IMAX
Chatting away to Jonathan Ross{
35.) He's gracious about his privileged upbringing
'I had an incredibly privileged upbringing,' he once said. 'When I was working in a pub and going to endless unsuccessful auditions, I could live at home rent-free in London. That was the really great privilege.'
AND A BONUS ONE COS WE JUST TOTALLY LOVE HIM
35 and a half.) Like many of us, he says he's just winging it at work
'I didn't train to be an actor,' he once said. 'I blagged my way into it, and I always feel I'm waiting to be found out.'
Yes, just like us... (although, with an OBE/Oscar/BAFTA/Golden Globe/Screen Actors Guild/Laurence Olivier Award and-we-could-go-on, he's not really like us at all. Sigh!)
READ MORE: Eddie Redmayne Opens Up About 'Extraordinary' New Role As A Father