With a celebrated 70 years in the industry, Susan George is an award-winning actor who has graced stage and screen, making waves in the British film industry and in Hollywood. Rachel Mead was invited to Susan’s Somerset home to talk about her illustrious career and heartfelt charitable work
On the day I am driving to meet actor, filmmaker and author Susan George, Exmoor has decided to play one of its quirky weather cards and doused the lanes in a dense impenetrable fog. Had it not been for my satnav alerting me to the tree-lined lane on the left, I would have easily missed the turning for Susan’s farm and no doubt forever be lost out on the moors. It didn’t slip my notice either that this weather was exactly the same as the conditions experienced by Susan’s character Amy and Dustin Hoffman’s David that fateful night in the film Straw Dogs, which catapulted Susan’s film career and garnered her international acclaim.
Thankfully, on finding the farm, any similarity to Sam Peckinpah’s 1971 film was left behind me on the murky lanes, because the moment I enter the gateway I am warmly greeted by her stud manager Ben and Susan’s beautiful and bouncy Irish setter Martha. I’m ushered in from the mizzle and welcomed into the farmhouse kitchen. It doesn’t take me long to migrate to the AGA, adopt the AGA lean, and embrace the warming cup of tea that is placed in my hands.
While Susan waves from the adjacent room, gesticulating that she’s just wrapping up a Zoom call, I chat with Ben about Susan’s Arabian horses. Susan’s esteemed film career may precede her, but for those in the know Susan is also renowned for being an expert breeder of pure-bred Arabian horses for the past 25 years. Ben is there to sort all the day-to-day requirements of the stud farm, while Susan concentrates on the breeding programme and liaises with ‘the right people to buy the right horse’. Susan’s stallion, SG Imagine, was awarded British National Champion Stallion and the bloodline has created some highly sought-after Arabians the world over. With over 20 horses on the farm, and 12 all with careers ahead of them and available for purchase, a busy winter lies ahead.
‘Rachel, I’m so sorry, charity trustee calls always overrun. We’re planning our charity ball in London and there’s still plenty to do! Come and sit down.’ Susan leads me into her office-cum-dining room and we sit around her circular table, and as she ups the temperature on the heater Martha joins us and we settle down with our cups of tea. We begin by chatting about Lasting Life, the Simon MacCorkindale Legacy, the charity that Susan has created to help support those living with cancer in their time of need. ‘We’re a small charity with a big heart.
There are hundreds and thousands of people that are in some way touched by or living with the cruel disease of cancer. We can’t by any means solve problems, but through our fundraising we can give a helping hand. We’ve supported small organisations and individuals, and the biggest personal thrill is when someone asks us for something and we’re able to deliver and make their life easier.’
This year’s Love Letters Gala Dinner is being held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on November 29. Susan hosts the event and is joined by many of her friends from stage and screen who are invited to join even more famous faces on the stage to read and interpretlove letters, as well as share musical performances. She’s eternally grateful that her friends give their valuable time for her charity, and this year she will be joined by a star line-up including jazz singer-songwriter Ian Shaw. For the first time there will also be an auction of incredible prizes, with auctioneer Nick Bonham rousing the guests to bid for them on the night.
I truly believe that this event will turn a corner for the charity,’ says Susan. ‘There has been so much planning, and Simon would be amazed at everything we’ve achieved so far. Though he knew well about my energy and drive, so I wonder: would he be amazed? I must admit that juggling and jumping from one subject to another can be daunting at times and I have probably more websites and social media platforms than I can handle,’ she laughs. ‘I am grateful I have genuine fans and followers who continue to be so supportive along the way and it means a lot. At the end of the day, I just want to make Simon proud.’
Susan shares how she has been writing her autobiography on and off for the past 17 years: ‘I can’t believe I’m saying that, but it’s true. Anyone who has written in their own hand, as I’m doing, knows it takes months, sometimes years, of dedicated time without interruption to complete a memoir and I’ve never been able to hide myself away. But now the time is right, and hopefully you’ll see it on the bookshelves next year.’
‘I had once thought of calling it Smile, because that’s not only a word that I love but an action that’s been a large part of life for me, and just by offering it can mean so much. My 99-year-old mother-in-law is a fabulous example. When I visit her at the care home, her smile when she sees me is a heart-stopper. I remember as a child walking in a street with my own mother when someone on the other side saw me and smiled. I smiled back and she said how lovely that was, and did I realise I would have made someone’s day? It’s important for every one of us to remember that.
‘However, in 2010 my world turned upside down [with the loss of Simon] and I sort of shut down and stopped engaging with people when I was out as I always had before. It might have been my own perception, but friends seemed to avoid visiting. I guess not knowing what to say. I went to a close friend’s birthday party in London – in hindsight too soon afterwards – and when I entered the room the reaction from everyone was a look of sadness, which I understand. I am not lonely in my home, not ever, but sometimes out in crowds is when I feel it.’
‘The turning-point for me – and I point to the sky when I say this – was when out of the blue in 2017 I was asked to join the cast of the BBC documentary series The Real Marigold Hotel on a journey to India. Simon and I were always such private people, and this was something so far out of my comfort zone that I never would have thought about doing it with him, let alone without. But something about it seemed right and no once did I evaluate or analyse the reasons.Ijust said yes. The producers asked whether I had seen the show, and I told them I hadn’t, as I wanted my first sight of India to be through my own eyes.’
‘The filming schedule was a full month on camera with microphones in place from 7.30 in the morning until 10.30 at night, without a day off. I fell in love with the vibrancy of the country, the colours and the people of India. It was exhilarating, challenging, tough at times, but above all the experience of a lifetime and one I’ll never forget. When I got home I was exhausted; and numb with tiredness.’
At the sound of horses’ hooves beyond the window, I turn and can see the fog is beginning to slowly lift and I’m hoping that in a little while we may be able to see some of Susan’s farmland and the view beyond. ‘I love Somerset with a passion,’ enthuses Susan. ‘It is one of the most beautiful places in the world.
‘Simon and I first saw this house when we were staying with our friends Noel Edmonds and his wife Helen, looking through newspapers one Sunday afternoon. Noel decided to fly us in his helicopter over Exmoor to see all the land surrounding the farm, so we were planning our future home from the sky! It needed a lot doing to it but had masses of potential to become what we wanted – for ourselves and the horses. Simon loved creative development and he was the one with the vision. It was a sheep and cattle farm with five unused stables, but now it has an indoor school, a built-in horse walker and 50 loose boxes. We viewed the house seven times and every time it rained, every single time!’
‘On the day we moved in, a neighbouring farmer pitched up at our front door and instead of a welcome, he said: “Are you sure you want to do this? You’ll never see the sun again here!” They don’t know what we’re made of, we thought, they think we’re hoity-toity actors – we’ll prove them wrong. When we moved from our old house in Northampton, it was like the circus leaving town as we drove out of the tiny village with four horse-boxes, twelve horses and five Irish Setters. But whatever elements are thrown at you, Somerset has a beauty all of its own and although itis a journey of several miles merely to get a pint of milk, every time I drive out of our gates it’s not a chore but a pleasure.
Simon and I loved our times in Austria, France, Italy and California, and Somerset contains all of those places in one county. When you drive along the River Exe, for example, you could be in Austria. The pine trees are a reminder of France, the mountains and rugged moorland parts of America. And the trees! The trees in Somerset are like no other. I love that because of the harsh climate and winds they bend and become an archway over the roads. And the big old trees too, with their fabulous, intertwined roots. Why they grow so well here must be the type of soil. The year before Simon died, we planted our Christmas tree and it now stands some 30 feet high, it’s so special.’
Susan explains however, that she is starting to feel the time for a relocation away from Exmoor is just around the corner. For all its beauty, life in this part of Somerset can be isolating, and with new filming work on the horizon a closer proximity to London would be welcome.
I have loved my home here and my horse family were a saviour in darker times, but I don’t ride anymore, and they have so much to give. I want others to have the opportunity to love them as I have and the beautiful times I’ve experienced with them. My big wish is that I could find a young couple to take on our dream and continue the legacy. It’s a big wish – but even those do come true!’
Susan offers to take me outside to meet her horses, but before we head out I really must ask her about her film career. ‘It’s been colourful, to say the least. But I don’t feel I have achieved all I am capable of. I often get asked which is my favourite picture and I can’t choose a favourite. Straw Dogs? Well, it’s practically my middle name – Susan ‘Straw Dogs’ George – but what’s not to like about that? I live with that character of Amy. It was a powerful film, and it certainly wasn’t a comfortable one to make. There was underlying tension from beginning to end. Everyone had their own agendas, on screen and off, but it was undeniably a fantastic time. Spring and Port Wine is another film where I genuinely feel as though I lived that actual life with the Crompton family. But I’m proud of so many.
‘I don’t have many regrets in life, but it’s a sadness that every time you finish a movie, despite actors all saying we will stay in touch, one rarely does. I was very lucky to work twice with James Mason and I miss him dearly, and I wish I’d kept in touch with our director Peter Hammond who adored me and believed in me so much. When years later I went to find him, like so many others, he was gone. I remember my parents at my age saying how heartbreaking it was to lose so many friends, which of course I couldn’t relate to at the time, but my goodness now I know how they felt.’
Looking forwards, Susan has several film offers being discussed for next year which she is very excited about. ‘I’m also partnered with three other producers developing a western television series which is currently in pre-preproduction, with a scrumptious role for me. Simon and I had a production company for many years and although raising finance was always tricky, we produced four celebrated pictures.’
As we stand up and walk towards the stables the dense fog has now completely lifted and the glorious views across Susan’s Exmoor farm are revealed. ‘I’m a great believer in visualising,’ says Susan with her warm smile, ‘and I have always believed that if you want anything badly enough in life, hard work and commitment can make it happen.’
Keep in touch with Susan
• Support Lasting Life
Susan runs a shop ‘My Things & Others’ from her farm selling coveted celebrity items. Stock includes items from some very famous names and, as she says, what could be nicer than buying something second-hand worn and passed to us by someone you might admire. Plus, second time is so good in helping to sustain our planet. The charity is keen to find a local volunteer who can help promote and package items and to run the social media side of the shop. Please contact it via the website mythingsandothers.com via the ‘message us’ page. INSTAGRAM @mythingsandothers
Further information about ‘Lasting Life, the Simon MacCorkindale Legacy’ can be found at: https://lastinglife.org.uk/ Tickets for the Lasting Life Love Letters Gala Dinner are also available via the website.
• Georgian Arabians
If you are interested in owning a beautiful home-bred Arabian horse, please make contact via the website: https://weselldreams.co.uk/
INSTA @weselldreams @susangeorgearabians
• Susan George
For fans of Susan George, please connect via her website or the following Instagram accounts. The_susan_george or film career website susangeorge.co.uk
susangeorge.co.uk
INSTA @the_susan_george @sg_martha_and_me
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