He was recently seen in Celebrity 5 Go Barging on Channel 5 (still available on My5 catch-up) and in the film Paddington 2, which is out now. Tom, 76, lives in London with his wife Kara.
His daughter is the actress, comedian and ventriloquist Nina Conti.
Tell us about your role in Paddington 2…
I play a judge. Paddington does something dreadful to my character’s hair and so I become his enemy. It is a real feel-good movie. Lots of adults have told me how funny it is.
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
Mirette has just come out, which is a delightful little children’s short movie. And later in the year, I will be appearing in a new production of Chekhov’s The Seagull with Tara Fitzgerald.
It will be very funny and also tragic. Rehearsals for that start in August.
Which has been your most challenging role to film so far?
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence as half of my dialogue was in Japanese so that was quite tough.
I worked with a great bunch of people though, including the late David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto.
And what’s been your most enjoyable?
The Dumb Waiter. It was just myself and John Travolta, and it was very funny. Travolta and I were laughing so much we couldn’t film at times.
And Shirley Valentine was enormous fun to do, too.
Did you enjoy Celebrity 5 Go Barging?
I did. I tend to avoid shows like this as a rule, but it was fun.
Do you have any unfulfilled career ambitions?
I am writing another novel and I have one I must find a publisher for. I don’t have any particular ambitions to play certain parts.
But I get asked to do different things, so life is never boring.
What’s the best showbiz party you’ve been to?
A party at Walter Matthau’s house in LA was memorable as Jack Lemmon was there, as well as other people I revered.
Who would you like to swap places with for 24 hours?
A brilliant pianist, like Yuja Wang. I play the piano myself, so to be able to play as well as she could would be heavenly.
What’s been the most embarrassing moment of your career?
I once went to a meeting and didn’t recognise the person interviewing me.
It was Lord Snowdon, the photographer, who was married to Princess Margaret, and I remember asking him if he ever took his wife abroad to work with him and if she was an actress.
