Rory Kinnear says his father’s death when he was 10 gave him an early sense of life’s bigger questions, shaping both his personal outlook and his work as an actor. Roy Kinnear, a much-loved comic actor, died aged 54 after being thrown from a horse while filming The Return of the Musketeers in 1988.
Speaking in an interview at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket, Kinnear recalled that the loss divided his childhood into a before and an after. His grief surfaced more strongly in his teens, and he says he felt connected to his father’s own experience of bereavement: Roy had been eight when his father died during a rugby match.
Kinnear described the perspective he believes they shared. “There was a sense that he was unmoved by the little stuff because he had been given the big picture early,” he said. “And I was given the big picture early, too.” He added that music, including Mozart’s Requiem, helped him find a way to mourn.
The accident has also influenced Kinnear’s response to safety concerns on film sets. He said he has encountered pressure to take risks and has refused work he considered unsafe. In one instance, he told producers that his father had died while riding a horse on location, and they abandoned the request. Kinnear is a patron of the Mark Milsome Foundation, which is named after a cameraman killed during a car stunt in 2017.
Kinnear said the experience has made him clear that no shot is worth risking a person’s life. He also reflected on the death of his sister Karina, who had profound disabilities and died from Covid in 2020. He described her as joyful and said her life helped shape his understanding of what makes a good life.
The interview also touches on Kinnear’s career, including his roles in the Bond films and The Diplomat, and his work in James Graham’s play The Standard of Living. Kinnear said he was drawn to the play’s questions about how people can live well and how more people can be given the opportunity to do so.
Sources: The Guardian Film.