Ray Winstone

Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is perhaps best known for his "hard man" roles (usually delivered in his distinctive London accent). The first of these was the character Carlin in '' Scum'', the 1979 film remake of a BBC television play in which Winstone had originated the role, and which was not broadcast due to its violent nature. The same year he played ex-army soldier Kevin in the cult classic ''Quadrophenia''. In the 1980s he rose to prominence starring as Will Scarlet in the successful television series ''Robin of Sherwood''.

Winstone has been described as one of the UK's "seminal screen hard nuts", while ''The Guardian'' has said that he "plays troubled hard men with such conviction, it's easy to believe he's not acting", adding that he is "the East End's answer to George Clooney". He has appeared in a wide variety of feature films, including '' Nil by Mouth'' (1997), ''Sexy Beast'' (2000), ''Ripley's Game'' (2002), ''The Magic Roundabout'' (2005), '' The Proposition'' (2005), ''The Departed'' (2006), ''Beowulf'' (2007), ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' (2008), '' 44 Inch Chest'' (2009), ''London Boulevard'' (2010), ''Hugo'' (2011), ''Snow White and the Huntsman'' (2012), ''Point Break'' (2015), ''Cats'' (2019) and '' Black Widow'' (2021).

Early life

Winstone was born on 19 February 1957 in Hackney Hospital, London. He first lived in Caister Park Road, Plaistow E13, and attended Portway infants and junior school. He moved to Enfield when he was seven and grew up on a council estate just off the A10 road. His father, Raymond J. Winstone (1933–2015), ran a fruit and vegetable business while his mother, Margaret (née Richardson; 1932–1985) had a job emptying fruit machines. Winstone has recounted how, as a child, he used to play with his friends on bomb sites (vacant lots with rubble from World War II bombs). He joined Brimsdown Primary School and later he was educated at Edmonton County School which had changed from a grammar school to a comprehensive upon his arrival. He also attended Corona Theatre School. He did not take to school, eventually leaving with a single CSE (Grade 2) in Drama. He recounted an early encounter with a notorious gangster:

Winstone had an early affinity for acting; his father would take him to the cinema every Wednesday afternoon. Later, he viewed Albert Finney in ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'', and said: "I thought, 'I could be that geezer'." Other major influences included John Wayne, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. After borrowing extra tuition money from a friend's mother, a drama teacher, Winstone took to the stage, appearing as a Cockney newspaper seller in a production of ''Emil and the Detectives''.

Winstone was also a fan of boxing. Known to his friends as Winnie, he was called Little Sugs at home (his father already being known as Sugar, after Sugar Ray Robinson). At the age of 12, Winstone joined the Repton Amateur Boxing Club. Over the next 10 years, he won 80 out of 88 bouts. At welterweight, he was London schoolboy champion on three occasions, fighting twice for England. The experience gave him a perspective on his later career: "If you can get in a ring with 2,000 people watching and be smacked around by another guy, then walking onstage isn't hard."

School

Deciding to pursue drama, Winstone enrolled at the Corona Stage Academy in Hammersmith, when he was aged "about seventeen". At £900 a term, it was expensive considering the average wage was then about £36 a week. He landed his first major role in ''What a Crazy World'' at the Theatre Royal, Stratford in London, but he danced and sang badly, leading his usually supportive father to say "Give it up, while you're ahead." One of his first TV appearances came in the 1976 "Loving Arms" episode of the popular police series ''The Sweeney'' where he was credited as "Raymond Winstone" (as he was in "What a Crazy World") and played a minor part as an unnamed young thug.

Winstone was not popular with the establishment at his secondary school, who considered him a bad influence. When he discovered that he was the only pupil not invited to the Christmas party he decided to take revenge for this slight. Hammering some pins through a piece of wood, he placed it under the wheel of his headmistress's car and blew out the tyre, for which he was expelled. As a joke, he went up to the BBC
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