Glaswegians might be more familiar with Alex Norton starring as DCI Burke in Taggart or Eric Baird in Taggart but we wanted to take a close look at his Glasgow story.
His journey from the streets of the Gorbals to star in Hollywood movies has rarely been smooth, but in a career spanning six decades he has enjoyed success at home and abroad.
He has worked with Billy Connolly, Dudley Moore, Rowan Atkinson, Johnny Depp and Clint Eastwood; appeared in classic Scottish movies like Gregory’s Girl, Local Hero and Braveheart and made an everlasting mark on television in Taggart.
These are some of the streets and places connected to Alex Norton in Glasgow.
1. Citizens Theatre
“I started to go there when I was about 14 I think, and I used to get in to sit in the Gods. I was at the junior course in their drama college, probably about 1964. They were acting classes on a sort of part-time basis, Wednesdays and Saturday. I got the bug for acting and I used to go – there was this wonderful woman called Molly there, she took the tickets and you came into the Gods in the Citizens and she was called Molly the Queen of the Gods and she used to let me in for nothing, she was great. I’d sit at the Citizens and watch all these plays. I got a real taste for the theatre, and then I went back years later and I played Dame in the pantos there.” | Supplied
2. Gorbals
"That’s pretty much where I started life was in the Gorbals. Going back there to put on a show is like going back to your home turf and you can only hope for the best." | Getty Images
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3. Pollokshaws
“The family moved from The Gorbals to a room and kitchen in Pollokshaws. I loved growing up there, it was great, and then in the early 1960s, they started to flatten it all. Part of the comprehensive re-development scheme. They just demolished this lovely wee burgh that people were proud to be part of, and put up these high rise flats that they eventually pulled down. There’s that bittersweet thing when I go through it of knowing what it looked like before and seeing it now.” | Glasgow City Archives
4. Charles Rennie Mackintosh attractions
“I’ve been taking my boys up to Glasgow since they were tiny, I always take them round the Mackintosh stuff. I take them to the art galleries. They grew up loving Glasgow and every time I suggest they come up they jump at the chance. I’m very proud of the city and I love showing people round it.” | House for an Art Lover