Sarah Marshall - Daniel Craig--The Biography

I t was hardly a plush mansion but Tim and Carol Olivia Craig (later known simply as Olivia) were extremely proud of their humble house at 41 Liverpool Road in Chester. It hadnt been easy for them and for years they had struggled to save enough money to purchase their own property. A former merchant seaman, Tim now worked as a pub landlord. (In later years he was to manage more exotic bars in the Caribbean.) The work was hard and the income often unrewarding, but Tim was happy. He enjoyed socialising and always made customers feel welcome. Occasionally he had to deal with difficult and cantankerous old men, but a few stern words usually put them in their place. He would often come home in the early hours of the morning with just a few pounds in his pocket, but at least he was making an honest living. And even though Carol loved her job as an art teacher, she had never expected to make a million. Many years previously the couple had resigned themselves to a life of financial restraints and, aside from the odd final demand that dropped through their letterbox, they were happy.

When Carol discovered she was pregnant, the couple were overjoyed. Even the logistical considerations of finding the money to feed another did little to dampen their spirits. They already had a daughter, Lea, but Tim reassured his wife that somehow they would cope. At work, his bosses had hinted that some overtime might be available to him and if the situation became really bad then he could always take on a second job. A traditional northerner, he prided himself on being the breadwinner. Carol and their newborn baby would want for nothing and this was a promise he vowed to keep.

Neighbours in the area found the young couple extremely amenable. Tim was a traditional working-class male, a salt-of-the-earth character. Carol, meanwhile, was far more creative and somewhat idealistic in her views. She was involved in several theatre groups and her social circle comprised mostly of actors and writers. Although on the face of it the two seemed worlds apart, together they had forged a relationship that worked. Carol had always been attracted to Tims honesty, not to mention his rugged good looks.

They made arrangements for a home birth at Carols request. She had never been fond of hospitals and was keen to give birth to her child in a friendly, safe and familiar environment. That day came on Saturday, 2 March 1968. The couple had already been in touch with the midwife who was to oversee the birth. Carol coped with the birth remarkably well. Despite the river of sweat pouring from her brow, she refused to scream and complain. Instead she gripped her husbands hand tightly. At one point the pressure became so intense that he almost let out a blood-curdling wail. For days afterwards the nail marks were visible in his skin.

As it turned out, Carol and Tim were ill prepared for the birth, however. As the midwife cradled the new baby, she searched around for a towel or blanket in which to wrap him but there was nothing available. Here, use this, said Tim, passing her an old piece of newspaper. And so Daniel Wroughton Craig was presented to his mother in an old newspaper. Just like a packet of chips! he would later joke. There was, however, a scientific reason for swathing a baby in newspaper print. Midwifes used to lay newspaper down because it prints at such high temperatures that its actually a sterile surface, Daniel later explained. Its the same principle with fish and chips!

Ironically, it was a foretaste of his future as an actor famed for his working-class sentiments and complete disregard for the trappings and luxuries of celebrity life. Perhaps I should lie in interviews and say it was a copy of The Times Literary Supplement, he would laugh.

Recalling his son as a toddler, Tim insists that it was always obvious that Daniel would grow up to become an actor. The signs were plain to see. He recalls an incident in their family pub, the Ring OBells near Frodsham, Cheshire. I remember having some friends over and Daniel was just weaving in and out between their legs, he says. One asked him what he was doing and what he was going to do when he grew up, and without breaking stride, he said, Be an actor. I remember at the time blinking and doing a doubletake because he said it with such certainty and he was so small.

Daniel himself later maintained that his interest in acting stemmed from a desire for dressing up and showing off attention seeking mainly, I think. Its a great way to get rid of your insecurities, he would joke. And find plenty of new ones!

He made his stage debut aged six in a school production of Oliver! Peter Mason, headmaster of Frodsham Church of England Primary School, was impressed by the young lads performance. Both Daniel and his older sister Lea were very good, he enthused, years later. I could tell even then that Daniel was gifted. I was sorry when they left the school.

Ironically Daniels declaration of an ambition to act coincided with a rather difficult and sad time in his life. When he was just four, five, six years old (he is vague on dates) his parents separated and subsequently divorced. He and Lea moved to Liverpool with their mother and they would later relocate again to the Wirral. Eventually Carol was to remarry when she met the painter Max Blond. Fortunately, Daniel survived the divorce relatively unscathed and even today he still enjoys a close relationship with both his step-father and his biological dad.

Were off to Dublin next weekend to watch the last game of the Six Nations, he told one interviewer. A rugby fan since childhood, in later years Daniel has developed an obsession with the game. Its not the coolest thing in the world to like, he shrugged. But Ive been watching it since I was a kid. As a little boy he would wonder why his father used to spend so many weekends in Dublin. As an adult it became apparently clear. Your feet dont touch the ground! he grinned.

Now a single woman, Carols social life was to centre round the prestigious Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, a hotbed of creative talent during the 1970s. Actors such as Julie Walters and Bernard Hill would regularly tread the boards. Carol had studied Art & Theatre Design at college and instantly warmed to the environment. She quickly befriended several set designers, who invited her to watch shows backstage. Daniel and his older sister Lea would frequently accompany their mother and it was during this period that he developed an obsession with the theatre. I knew what the back end of a theatre looked like from an early age and I think that rubbed off, he says. Id see the plays or I would be in the lighting box backstage and I knew that was what I wanted to do. It was as simple as that. When asked to recall any specific productions, however, he shrugs and replies casually, Most of them involved walking around in the nude.

At the time, the Everyman Theatre was one of the most exciting venues in the area. It was the place to be. Wed spend a lot of time at the theatre and then Id see actors in the bar afterwards, socialising, and I thought they were gods I was a sucker for it all, the idea of being taken somewhere, being entertained Then I found out many were drunks!

But Daniels interest wasnt restricted to the theatre he also became a big fan of the cinema and every weekend he would beg Carol to take him to a show. I got the bug in the cinema when I was about six, he grins. I just went and watched movies from Quest For Fire to Blade Runner. I had no idea what was happening but I knew then that I wanted to make movies. Seeing those guys faces blown up on that huge screen, I thought, I want to do that.