Did Ralph Richardso reject his only so because he was gay? A heartbreaking family secret behind the sale of the legendary actor's 1 million antique collection FB Edition

• Published in: Mail on Sunday
• Main Author: O'Connor, Garry
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Solo Syndication, a division of Associated Newspapers Ltd 22.04.2001

While Fields came out with lines such as 'I like children. If they're properly cooked', Ralph was far more serious. 'I didn't want to have a child,' he once told a friend, 'I can't stand children.' Yet after [Charles] arrived, Ralph said: 'I was playing the night he was born. I went along to nursing home afterwards. "Oh God," I thought, "it will be awful." But then I saw this beautiful thing.' The feeling did not last, Ralph soon seemed only to ignore Charles or find him an embarrassment. The actor Nicky Henson recalled he once arrived at their home for a birthday party for Charles, only to find Ralph sitting outside. 'I can't stand it,' Ralph told him, 'the house is full of children.' Whenever Ralph read Charles a bedtime story it would not be long before he said: 'I'm off to see a little green man named Gordon.' Another of Ralph's friends, Sir John Gielgud, balked at his treatment of Charles, once telling me how Ralph blocked his son's attempt to join one of the London clubs he belonged to. Gielgud also revealed how, when father and son were staying with him at his Buckinghamshire home, Ralph took Charles's hand and led him into the garden, saying: 'Come on, Porky, let us look at the flowers.' The results of the combination of privilege and neglect that marked Charles's life are reflected in an anecdote told by Stephen Marnham, a friend from university days. One day, As Charles grew older, the contrasts between his life and that of his father grew more stark. Ralph spent his later years making runof- the-mill movies such as Greystoke and Time Bandits to maintain his luxurious lifestyle, while Charles found a modest job as a BBC floor manager. When Ralph and [Mu] moved to a grand home overlooking Regent's Park, Charles was living alone in a small flat 'In rooms but with a landlady to look after him in an old-fashioned, theatrical way,' says [Mike Crisp].