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Dame Harriet Walter

Actress Dame Harriet Walter joins Kirsty Young to choose her Desert Island Discs.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the actress Dame Harriet Walter.

She has been a stalwart of the stage for more than three decades - winning great acclaim for her work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Performing ran in the family - her uncle is the actor Christopher Lee and she remembers how, as a child, he would make her shriek by putting on his famous 'Mummy' walk to scare her. She turned down a place at Oxford because she knew she wanted to act - only to find that the drama schools weren't keen on her... she was turned down five times before securing a place.

She says she has never thought about making clever career choices, but, in the year in which she has been made a dame, turned sixty and married for the first time, she says it has all turned out better than she ever expected.

Record: My Baby Just Cares for Me - Nina Simone.
Book: The complete works of Isabella Bird.
Luxury: A flute

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 1 Jul 2011 09:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 3 in E flat major 'Eroica'

    Artist: Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein

    • Beethoven - Symphony No.3 the Eroica.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Bing Crosby & Frank Sinatra

    Well, Did You Evah?

    Composer: Cole Porter

    • Night and Day.
    • River.

  • Ian Charleson

    Full Fathom Five

    Composer: Guy Woolfenden

    • Come Unto These Yellow sands.
    • Ariel.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Dance of the Knights (from Romeo and Juliet)

    Artist: The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andre Previn

    • Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet.
    • EMI.

  • Jackson Scott and his band Mano de Dios

    Volveras

    Composer: Roberto Ares & Mano de Dios

    • Mano de Dios.
    • Monster Deep.

  • Fred Astaire

    Let's Face the Music and Dance

    Composer: Irving Berlin

    • Let’s Face the Music.
    • ASV.

  • Franz Schubert

    Fantasie for Piano for Four Hands in F Minor

    Artist: Evgeny Kissin and James Levine

    • Evgeny Kissin and James Levine – The Carnegie Hall Concert.
    • Sony.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Nina Simone

      My Baby Just Cares For Me

      Composer: Walter Donaldson/ Gus Kahn

      • Nina Simone greatest hits.
      • BMG.

  • Book Choice

    • Complete works - Isabella Bird - Isabella Bird

  • Luxury Choice

    • Flute

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Harriet Walter

Broadcasts

  • Sun 26 Jun 2011 11:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 1 Jul 2011 09:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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