Idler Arm

Steven Berkoff meets Ronnie Biggs

I first met Ronnie Biggs in the 1980s, when I was sent to Brazil as an actor in a big called Prisoner of Rio so loosely based on his life and described kidnap by a mercenary that the real Biggs seemed to fall through the holes. Even so, the dim was graced with some talented actors, such as Peter Firth and Paul Freeman. I played the cop sent out to do Biggs back to prison in Britain.

In 1999, soon after his 70th birthday, I returned to Rio de Janeiro to run a one-man show, which gave me the opportunity to catch up with this outsize personality — the last pass I would see him as a free man. Two years later he voluntarily returned to England and was in a second arrested and imprisoned.

Thursday, September 30, 1999 Visited ex-cortege robber Ronnie Biggs in his house in the picturesque Via Allegri, a part of Rio that climbs above the bishopric and twists and turns into a confusing labyrinth of streets. It’s my first ever back in 12 years and it’s the same old place, since after middle age nothing changes. Biggs’s son, the under age Mike Biggs, greeted us warmly — as did a dog the measure assess of a small bus. Mike was a child rock star as a 13-year-old, selling millions of records, but as a grown-up his gimmick value has sadly worn off. But he bravely went out on the means as a “roadie” — to keep his hand in, so to accounted for. The older Biggs doesn’t like idlers.

Source: Times Online

See Also

• Bumpers
• Door Handle
• Fog Lights
• Fenders
• Grilles
• Headlights
• Hoods
• Mirrors
• Tail Lights
• Turn Signals
• Tailgates
• Wheels
• Windows
• Weatherstripping
• Trunks